[C320-list] How far offshore?

[John Morrison]

So is the 320 category C?
JohnM 
1999#574

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 29, 2020, at 11:04 AM, Allan Field <allanfield47 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> (Not sure this went out the first time...)
> 
> According to Catalina, all Catalinas over 30-feet are rated A by the
> Recreational Craft Directive, as stated below:
> 
> In 1998 the European Union created a Recreational Craft Directive that
> established design standards for most recreational boats from 2.5 to 24
> meters (8 to 79 feet). New and used boats sold in Europe, including boats
> built in the US – or anywhere else – for export to Europe, must be
> certified as complying with one of four design categories.
> 
> The following four design categories help to quantify a boat’s degree of
> seaworthiness, based on the wave height and wind speed the boat is designed
> to encounter and handle. The further offshore the vessel is expected to
> venture, the higher are the expectations for construction strength,
> stability, freeboard, reserve buoyancy, resistance to downflooding, deck
> drainage and other seaworthiness criteria.
> 
>   - *Category A – Ocean:* covers largely self-sufficient boats designed
>   for extended voyages with winds of over Beaufort Force 8 (over 40 knots),
>   and significant wave heights above 13 feet, but excluding abnormal
>   conditions such as hurricanes.
>   - *Category B – Offshore:*  includes boats operating offshore with winds
>   to 40 knots and significant seas to 13 feet.
>   - *Category C – Inshore:* is for boats operating in coastal waters and
>   large bays and lakes with winds to Force 6, up to 27 knots, and significant
>   seas 7 feet high.
>   - *Category D – Inland or sheltered coastal waters:* is for boats in
>   small lakes and rivers with winds to Force 4 and significant wave heights
>   to 18 inches.
> 
> Since the number of people onboard can impact a boat’s seaworthiness,
> changing the number of people on the boat can also change its category,
> with more people aboard -- and more weight and potentially less stability
> -- putting a boat into the next lower category.
> 
> Allan S. Field
> 
> Sea Shadow - C387, #103 (formerly C320, #808)
> 
> Columbia, MD
> 
>> On Sat, Aug 29, 2020 at 9:13 AM Larry Frank <WindSwept at stx.rr.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Troy,
>> 
>> Could not be said better.  I have met John a few times after his seminars
>> and almost went on one of his training cruises.  He is the consummate
>> expert, if there is such a thing.
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
>> Larry
>> WindSwept
>> C320 #246
>> 
>> On 8/29/20, 6:53 AM, "C320-list on behalf of Troy Dunn" <
>> c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com on behalf of
>> troutwarrior at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>    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!
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>>