Which Island Packet?

[sidney777]

Good for YOU ! I read your discussion, start to finish. Very interesting, informative.

[bobo]

for the record my ip 35 when beating sails 42%-45% off the wind and is best in 10 -20 knots -easily sails at 6.5-6.9knots/hr in these conditions- first reef put in at 21-23 knots of wind over the deck - the cutter rig allows easy balanced sailing in higher wind range and adds a 1/2 knot on a reach .
Very comfortable motion in an seaway .
The build quality is fantastic ,most 2nd hand owned IPs a have been well looked after and tend to hold their value.

The full keel protects rudder and prop ,very useful going through field of lobster pots. The shallow draft is a great comfort in thin water and making excessive lee way not an issue given area of full keel.

The support provided by manufacturer even to 2nd /3rd owner boats is outstanding

[Techman]

ConchCruser,

Congrats! I guess that''s why they make all of these different boats.

Techman

[dman]

Excellent discussion and thanks for the follow up.It is always interesting to hear the final assessment.Cruisers talking about cruising boats and the racing crowd crunching numbers.Glad to see you are happy with your purchase although i knew you would be from the expectations and requirements that you needed.

[CrusCaptDan]

I think your observation of the number of Island Packets actually cruising
in the Carribean (not just pontificating ) says it all.

There is no doubt in my mind there are better sailing boats in the market
but I don't know how you beat it when you realize 80 to 95% of your time you will be on the hook and all the other vertues of the boat are more important.

[kazmeister]

I'm entirely new to the world of sailing, and have yet to buy my first boat, and so I've been reading many of the threads in the forums, all of which are educational to some degree, and some far more than others. But this thread was one of the most genuinely entertaining and inspiration-provoking of them all. I guess it just shows that everyone, no matter what their previous sailing experience, or degree of expertise in all things nautical, is going to be a little bit biased in their opinions of what makes an ideal sailing platform.

All in all, thanks for a good read.

-James

[Denr]

One more thought to ponder before pulling the trigger on an IP. Some day you're going to have to sail the boat in to a crowed harbor or anchorage, all engines conk out from time to time, I've had to sail my boat under these conditions twice in as many years. The point is that I was able to bring the boat back to safe refuge under sail power alone in a wide variety of conditions, something I doubt an IP owner could claim. Island Packets are sailing pigs, unless you plan to use the boat only under power, I’d look at others.
Capt. Denr

[Jim H]

Come on, Denr, tell us what you really think!

So, basically you're saying that all those happy IP owners are completely deluded, and they're going to be sorry, sorry, sorry when the engine conks out in the crowded marina. They may be happy for years, the foolish victims, until the embarrassing tragedy strikes and they drift out of control with sails up and nothing happening. Woe, woe, woe.

Honestly, I'm not even interested in owning an IP, but I don't think FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) is any way to win an argument. In fact, I'm not even certain where the argument is in this matter.

And your supporting evidence of having your motor fail twice in a harbor or anchorage in as many years is an example of what? Impending embarrassment of IP owners, or the need to improve the maintence of your engine?

[Sailormon6]

I think we tend to expect boats to do everything well, and we forget that all boats are compromises. A boat doesn’t have to do everything well. It only has to serve the owner’s purposes well. The IP is designed and built with compromises that are aimed in the direction of a specific purpose, i.e., making long, open water passages. Other boats are designed and built with compromises aimed toward racing and coastal cruising. Within each of those three categories, even more compromises can be made in the design and construction of boats, so that some passagemakers will be lighter, faster, more weatherly, etc., and others will be heavier and slower, but stronger.

For some of us, a faster, livelier boat might be too physically challenging for us to handle over the long haul, and for others, a slower, heavier boat would drive us nuts, but we don't have to be satisfied with the boat. Only the owner does. A lot of experienced long-distance sailors stand foursquare behind their IPs, and the bottom line is that conchcruzer’s boat took him safely and comfortably to Venezuela. Once the boat got into the tradewinds, it probably had enough wind to keep it moving nicely, and that’s where the boat is at its best. Conchcruzer isn’t recommending the boat as an ideal Chesapeake Bay cruiser, but it appears to me that it has served his needs well and met his expectations.

[sailortjk1]

Very well stated.