[C320-list] How far offshore?

[Troy Dunn]

Graeme-

I think this video does a good job of answering some of the mail.   In the
end ... it's a balance of your wallet, comfort, safety, and of course...
style.

https://youtu.be/nCIG_LPcqu8

FWIW-

Troy Dunn
Hull #514

On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 11:46 PM Larry Frank <WindSwept at stx.rr.com> wrote:

> Graeme,
>
> What makes an offshore boat is a subject that has been debated at all
> yacht clubs and harbor bars for hundreds of years.   I won't get into that
> but will support the observations that a 320 will pound going to weather in
> ocean waves.  Maybe not so much in swells like you might encounter in the
> pacific, but definitely in the short choppy waves that are the norm in the
> Gulf of Mexico where I sail.
>
> No one mentioned how far they have sailed offshore.  I know my trips are
> not the longest but I have sailed 500+ miles from the coast of Texas to
> Veracruz Mexico in a race back in 2006.  I think Catalina Yachts used to
> have a spot on their website where significant cruises completed on
> Catalinas were logged.  You might want to see if it is still there.
>
> As far as the open transom, I think your concerns might be misplaced.
> When we purchased WindSwept, my wife liked that feature for swimming and
> boarding the dink.  I thought it was very poor design that would put the
> boat at risk in a large following sea.  I was wrong.  On one trip in the
> Gulf we were sailing in a large following sea with winds in the 25 kt
> range.  Of course it was dark, everything always seems to happen at night.
> We were watching in amazement as the big waves would come up behind the
> stern and the stern wound then rise up and the wave the passed under
> WindSwept.  Until one didn't.  It broke in the cockpit.  The cockpit filled
> to just where the first hatch board should have been.  The water then ran
> out the transom under the insert in just a few seconds.  It could never
> have drained that quickly through a more normal scupper arrangement.
> Take a look at the offshore racing monohulls in races like the Volvo.  They
> all have wide open transoms.  I now see it as a good thing.
>
> Larry
> WindSwept
> C320#246
>
> On 8/27/20, 11:49 AM, "C320-list on behalf of Graeme Clark" <
> c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com on behalf of cg at skyflyer.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>
>     Curious to know if anyone has sailed any significant distances
> offshore in a C320.
>
>     I recall reading somewhere that it’s “not an offshore boat” but I have
> no idea why, nor at what point you are considered to be offshore. I think
> it’s a bit more than just out of sight of land?
>
>     Similarly I don’t really uNderstand the phrase “blue water sailing”
> beyond the fact that if you’re doing it, you’ve got a good chance of waves
> breaking over the coachroof and pouring down the companionway if you’re
> foolish enough to leave it open!
>
>     Here in Britain the furthest I’ve gone is 110nm across the English
> Channel to France but I’d like to sail down to the Mediterranean one day
> (no, not IN one day!) which Means crossing the Bay of Biscay. 300nm
>     In some notoriously poor conditions if you’re unlucky Or the
> forecasters get it wrong!
>
>     Is that a foolish prospect in a C320?
>
>     Graeme
>     #366, 1996
>     Sent from my phone. Excuse typos!
>
>
>