Is the 26x seaworthy enough to make Bahamas crossing?

Dec 6, 2018
40
MacGregor 19 Lake Isabella
Will Gilmore mentions a larger outboard as a positive for the Mac26x allowing it to make better time in absence of wind. My question is how MUCH better time? I know it is advertised to be able to get up on a plane to 20+ knots. Can it do that in an open rolling ocean with no wind? less than 5knots wind? Or is that on a flat glassy bay or lake? What kind of speed can it make over open ocean with little to no win? I am from Southern California, considering the purchase of the Mac26x to travel (by sail and motor) the 26miles to Catalina Island or Santa Cruz Island. So, I am interested in the question of whether it can power at full speed to Catalina on a calm morning, and make the trip back under sail with winds from 10-25 knots with white caps.
 
Jan 1, 2019
14
Macgregor 26x Cincinnati
Will Gilmore mentions a larger outboard as a positive for the Mac26x allowing it to make better time in absence of wind. My question is how MUCH better time? I know it is advertised to be able to get up on a plane to 20+ knots. Can it do that in an open rolling ocean with no wind? less than 5knots wind? Or is that on a flat glassy bay or lake? What kind of speed can it make over open ocean with little to no win? I am from Southern California, considering the purchase of the Mac26x to travel (by sail and motor) the 26miles to Catalina Island or Santa Cruz Island. So, I am interested in the question of whether it can power at full speed to Catalina on a calm morning, and make the trip back under sail with winds from 10-25 knots with white caps.
Our Mac does 15knts realistically. It could probably be stripped down and with the right conditions get up to 20knts.
 
Oct 31, 2017
5
Macgregor 25 Somerville
Prepare as you would for any sail that is more than a day sail. Be sure to have safety equipment and as much redundancy in the basic systems as possible. You can do it, but preparation is everything. There is no perfect checklist, but think it through and plan for various contingencies. Seamanship is having a good plan "G" available and ready to go, and every letter before that after the others have become untenable.
I've sailed my 1984 MacGregor 25 several times per year across Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays, I did it solo, and that crossing is something like 60 nautical miles and so, it is longer than the crossing from Miami to Bimini. There is a point in sailing from Boston Harbor (I live in Somerville, MA) to Provincetown Harbor (I have a mooring there SY Kymopoleia), when I might be surrounded by more than 20 miles of the Atlantic Ocean all around.
With a few more upgrades, I would sail my boat, SY Kymopoleia, almost anywhere. Kymopoleia
Fair winds and full sails!
Rick