If I were to do another solo circumnavigation and decided to do so in a 32 foot boat or smaller I would choose a Westsail. I have sailed on one many times including a voyage around Cape Scott on the top of Vancouver Island and down the coast to Tofino. This can be and was a knarly piece of ocean and I was glad to be on a strong, blue water sea boat like the Westsail. Her virtues include: tremendous storage, full keel, tiller steering, cutter rigged and a kindly motion in a seaway. She heaves-to well and is forgiving to mistakes made by the crew. Off the wind she sails like a witch. Because of her wide beam carried forward she sails well dead down too. That wide beam, however, hampers her pointing ability as compared to a racing boat and trying to sail closer to the eye of the wind than 45 degrees is pinching. There is one other limitation not often mentioned with this vessel and that is the prop. It is not far below the water
line. If a skipper is trying to motor directly into a chop or head sea, the wide beam carried forward will slow his progress. Hobby horsing will then cause the prop to spin in the air. Best to fall off at times like these and tack to windward. The engine can still be used if time is a factor to get some where but by tacking at say 35 to 40 degrees to the wind the prop remains in the water where it belongs.
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Linear Mode
