Obsessed

[mvk]

I need help! I’ve become obsessed and most likely completely irrational in the quest for my next boat.

Brief background: I’ve been sailing off and on for the past 35 yrs. I currently own a ’67 Cal-25 which is used mostly for racing. I typically average about 65 days a year racing (beer cans, PHRF and singlehanded races), 20 days a year daysailing with family and/or friends, and about 2 or three weekends a year cruising to the local So. Cal Channel Islands. Whenever I can’t pull together crew for a race, I’ll usually either crew on other’s boats, or volunteer on the race committee boat. Most of my family and friends think I’m obsessed.

Now for where I’m heading... Obviously I’d love to have a boat that does everything well... but I realize I’ll need to compromise. I want to keep doing all the beer-cans and PHRF races... I’ve also been obsessed lately with offshore singlehanded racing.... and I want to cruise with my family more (and more comfortably). I know I’m looking for the impossible. I’ve been looking at lots of boats (crewing on as many as I can). I really like the J105’s... lots of fun to sail, but not a boat my wife would like to cruise in. My obsession now has vectored towards the C&C-99. Any thoughts? Any purchase would still be a couple of years away.... the obsession will continue.

[Jeff_H]

The C&C 99 is a really neat boat but if I were looking for a dual purpose boat and thought that I was going to be doing offshore single-handed racing I would probably be looking at the J-109, or perhaps something like a Quest 30.

Jeff

[max-on]

We have looked at the C&C 99 and many other boats, with goals similar as yours; however, I prefer a boat with a fractional rig for single/short handing and for offshore, and I wanted a boat with more a traditional look and solid fit-out than the C&C offers.

The J109 is a nice boat and deserves a look, depending on your budget. For a quality boat under 10K lds. displacement in the 33-34 ft. range, I have been impressed with the design and build quality of the Dehler 34. We were able to test sail one in Boston a few weeks ago (thanks Bill), we had a great time, and walked away with many positive comments, and only a few minor negatives, as any boat is a compromise to individual taste.