Best combo of traditional lines & sailing ablility

[Fishboat]

It seems traditional looks & lines are always at odds with the ability of the boat to sail well (reasonable SA/D, upwind performance, light air performance, stability, adequate accomodations, motion comfort...). As I look for a boat I too feel the tug of both camps.

Are there any suggestions for the best combination of traditional looks & lines and good sailing ability?

Target around 30-32 feet, Great Lakes venue, day sailing & yearly 3-4 week cruises. Boats are always a compromise, but this one is a bit harder to work through than others.

[aflanigan]

The answer to your dilemma is obvious. Buy two boats, a Herreshoff sloop and a modern racer/cruiser. Keep them in adjacent slips. Host all your dockside parties on the Herreshoff, and then when noone is looking, put on a disguise, back the racer out of the adjacent slip and go have fun.

Allen Flanigan

[msl]

I have wondered about this too. Would an Alberg 30 fit the description you have in mind?
What do the rest of our Sailnet group think?
Mark L.

[jkumin]

Look at an Alerion-Express, designed by Carl Schumacher. Has the underbody of an Express 27 with above water lines that echo a Herreshoff.

[DirtManly]

Hello Fishboat,
I just went through this same adventure. I actually tried to buy a Cape Dory, but the deal fell apart because of the survey. I ended up buying a Morgan 34. This boat seems like it will do about every thing that your looking for, with reasonable sailing performance. Alerion''s are quite nice, but I found them cost prohibitive.
There were several other boats that I looked at pretty close that might work for you as well.
Seafarer 34 ( McCurdy & Rhodes )
Seafarer 31 ( Bill Tripp )
Morgan 30 Traditional ( Charlie Morgan )
Islander 34
I would more than likely have bought the Seafarer 34, if it had been local. The biggest problem is that all these boats are getting pretty old at this point and you will have to be very carefull about your choice. I found that my choice of surveyor was even more important than my choice of boats.
Very best of luck to you
Dirt

[Jeff_H]

I would not say that traditional looks and reasonable performance are mutually exclusive but in many ways there are conflicts between the hullforms found on traditional boat above the waterline and the hullforms that are understood to offer superior performance below the waterline.

When you look at the waterline shape of a traditional working watercraft, the entry was pretty full, the beam comparatively narrow and the stern fairly fine. That is a shape that makes sense when you need to carry a lot of weight, when you have minimal stability, when you have an inefficient sail plan, and underbody and when speed is less important that cargo capacity.

With the ability to produce efficient sail plans, enormous stability relative to drag, and lighter construction, the hull form of choice has a comparatively fine entry, has its center of buoyancy quite far aft, and a compartively flat run that terminates in a comparative wide transom. To prevent the kinds of bow down trim changes that were typical of early higher performance boats the topsides on modern boats are very carefully modeled to minimize heeled trim changes.

Placing a traditional topsides on modern underbody is essentially placing an eliptic top on triangulr bottom. They do not align and it results in a mix that is bound to be trouble when heeled.

It is not that there have not been some reasonably successful blends of traditional and modern. The Alerion Express, Ericson Independence 31 (31c), and to a lesser extent the J-32 fall to mind, but it is hard to successfully blend the most current thinking with the gentler ideas of the past.

Respectfully
Jeff

[maestro]

Anybody look at the new Morris Yachts yet?? From the ads, they look traditional but have a quick hull???

[Sailmc]

Sure, if you have $500K to $750K

[pma_foyl]

... HINCKLEY

(right after I rob that bank, win that LOTTO, or sail off in the neighbors''s...)

[msl]

Morris??
Hinckly??

Well, that leaves the old Alberg 30 question in the back of a dusty corner. (smiling)