[C320-list] Handling chop & short period waves

[Jim Sweet]

We're on the Great Lakes and they build a quick, short chop with great 
regularity.  While some of the pupose built Great Lakes boats (older C&C's, 
Niagara's, et al that are quite narrow in beam vs the newer boats) handle it 
a bit better than the fuller bodied newer Catalina's we have never had any 
real issue.  The one time that the "fat ass" of the 320 gets a bit tiresome 
is in a rolling situation when you are abit abeam of the waves but a course 
change can fix that.  We've seen some pretty big waves with this boat and it 
hasn't been a disappointment.

Jim Sweet
TGIF (Thank God It Floats) 901
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Barrowman" <watercayman at hotmail.com>
To: <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 9:29 AM
Subject: [C320-list] Handling chop & short period waves



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