Ok so...

[123456Wannasail654321]

I've been guilty of assuming that the boat is the most important thing but now I am having a change of heart.

Hunters are seemingly bashed many places I read. Its a dock sailors/chop gun boat etc. but now since one has gone around the horn (and just getting there is something as well) I am starting to believe that maybe its more the sailor and his judgement and skill that counts for more.

Thoughts?

Also I know there are not absolutes in life but are there any boats say 25 to 30 feet that have absolutely no business being out of protected waters on in the open sea.

Just curious.

Oh and just as there were cars that were complete dogs (say like the edsel or pinto or the AMC pacer etc) are ther sailboats like that.

[night0wl]

This was a *LARGE* hunter....a 49. Fundamentally, those big production boats are just different than smaller production boats that most people try and pick up for a song. Also, this was a *new* Hunter 49...2007 model year and not some beat up, old, ex-charter boat that many delusional newbs try and pick up.


But other than that, sure...the crew matters more than the boat when making a serious passage.

[Faster]

People have sailed/drifted across oceans in the most unlikely of craft and made it.. others have departed on well prepared, so-called 'proper' boats and not. But the opposite happens too. Having a good solid well built boat means that barring catastrophe the boat itself should not become an issue. The people on that same boat may well do so.

I'd say on average most boats will survive more than most people would want to put up with.. but that doesn't make them ideal for the task.

Like so much else boating it's all about the compromises chosen and the resultant 'sum of all the parts' of the equation. You see people being taken off floating, substantial vessels that should not have been abandoned, you see people making poor decisions about entering passes or harbours and ending up aground, seriously damaged and occasionally with fatal results.

I think there are certain boats that I would not take outside a harbour, but every one of those is probably owned by someone that thinks it would be fine... at least until they try it..

There are plenty of books and stories out there of remarkable sailors, managing to survive ridiculous conditions on boats some would say should have sunk... others survived long periods in a raft after a catastrophic collision. And there are soo many more uneventful, non dramatic successful cruises carried out by all sorts of people all over the world.

The boat is just a part of it...

[jackdale]

With respect to boats, it might be better to list one on which you would feel safe.

One smaller one in which I would have some faith would be a Dana 24. I have sailed one in confined waters (San Juan Islands) and was impressed by the design and the build quality.

With respect to crew, some folks have jumped "sight unseen" and succeeded. One highly qualified and experienced instructor that I knew was quoted as saying that anyone who went offshore was an effing idiot. He had a highly touted boat.

[night0wl]

In reading my note again, I think I came across as too negative. As an owner of a production boat, I obviously made the cost/benefit calculation between our Beneteau vs. a traditional "bluewater" boat...and decided that for the type of sailing I do, the Beneteau would be best for us.

What I *supremely* fear is that people will see this as validation that any ol' production boat...regardless of things like age and condition...is capable of crossing Capes at any time. "See...Sequitor did it and its a Hunter, just like this 1975 Hunter 30 I'm thinking of getting for $2000 off of Craigslist."

Context is everything here...especially when you're talking about crossing Capes & Oceans. I have said that I would, myself, take any large new production boat near anywhere in the world. I would *NOT* take an old, ex-charter production boat across the Gulfstream to the Bahamas let alone Cape Horn. Not at least having done a lot of work to fix 'er up.

[Don0190]

The problem is that everyone normaly talks about the "production" boats as a total instead of a specific model. There is a big difference when discussing a 40+ foot Hunter as to being bluewater that a 28' Hunter. The two were built for completely different things!

I would take my 2001 Hunter 410 ANYWHERE I would be willing to take any other fiberglass boat (wouod be my respinsibilty to fit it our for the trp). To go somewhere else I would be taking so much risk that I would want a steel boat but I would then also be taking a chance to start with, which would make me a semi poor decision making sailor.

[Don0190]

Originally Posted by 123456Wannasail654321

.

Hunters are seemingly bashed many places I read. Its a dock sailors/chop gun boat etc. but now since one has gone around the horn (and just getting there is something as well) I am starting to believe that maybe its more the sailor and his judgement and skill that counts for more.

.

Every current Hunter that is sold in South Africa is sailed there from the factory. Wonder what that makes those boats?

[killarney_sailor]

Originally Posted by jackdale

One highly qualified and experienced instructor that I knew was quoted as saying that anyone who went offshore was an effing idiot.

I resemble that remark. Perhaps as a former teacher I can get away with saying that 'those who can do, those ..."

[bljones]

Originally Posted by Don0190

Every current Hunter that is sold in South Africa is sailed there from the factory. Wonder what that makes those boats?

Used.

[Don0190]

Originally Posted by bljones

Used.

or maybe proven or tested