[C320-list] Handling chop & short period waves

[David Nolte]

Hi Mike,

You posted just fine - welcome!

We know chop here on the Chesapeake. On the Northern Bay where a number of us sail, the water is relatively shallow and we experience the Chesapeake chop of short period waves in a number of wind conditions.

Before we bought our 320 I positioned myself on a powerboat at the mouth of our river one day and watched the parade of boats coming in & out for awhile, specifically watching their attitudes and how they handled the local chop. My conclusion was that you needed at least 30 feet to slice through comfortably, and of course more was better. 

In our 7 years with Beach House we have found that to be true. Very comfortable for us (and the kids!) in most conditions. Of course 30 knots on the nose can be a bit challenging........

Oh, and we usually beat the 34s we see out there.

David Nolte
Beach House #4



On Dec 15, 2010, at 9:29 AM, Mike Barrowman wrote:

> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> My first post here - please forgive me if I've done this wrong.
> 
> My family currently has a C250 which we are selling, looking for a larger boat.  I've narrowed the list to the C320 and the C34, leaning toward the 320.  I will need to sail (or have sailed) the boat from the US upon purchase to Cayman, so it needs to be able to handle the trip -- which I believe the 320 can, and know for sure the 34 can.  Any comments?
> 
> 90% of my sails will be day sails solo, and it seems the 320 is a good boat for this.  But, with my wife and young daughter on the boat, one of my key needs is a boat that handles chop well.  Our current 250 bounces over the waves a bit too much, which prevents my daughter from enjoying it.  Our bay is very shallow and typical winds of 15kts build very short period 1-2 foot waves.  How would the 320 handle these conditions?  The weight of the 250 is only 4K #, so I'm hopeful the 11K # 320 will slice right through, but after searching the archive, I'm not sure I've seen a direct comment on this.
> 
> Many thanks,
> Mike
>