...anyone sailed a corsair? (see link)

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Jul 5, 2007
196
Kenner Privateer 26 schooner, Carlyle Illinois
There is one at our lake in Southern Illinois. The owner keeps it on a trailer, but launches and pulls with a hoist. He said he has trailer launched at least once. Last month, he was out in winds up to 30mph and doing fine.
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
I've sailed the on the Corsair 24, 27, 28, and 31. They're fun boats, but they're awfully wet most of the time. However, when it came time to buy a boat of my own, I bought a Telstar 28. The reasons I own a Telstar and not a Corsair are as follows:

1) The Telstar 28 is designed for cruising, not racing
2) The Telstar 28 has a real head and galley—not a porta-pottie and camping stove
3) The Telstar 28 has 6' of standing room in the cabin, unlike the Corsair 24, 27, & 28. BTW, I'm only 5'4" so asking for standing room isn't that hard, and I can't in those Corsairs
4) The Telstar 28 has almost as much cabin space as a Corsair 31 at about half the price
5) The Telstar 28 doesn't require tools to extend or retract the amas
6) The Telstar 28 can raise or lower the mast using a single line on or off the water
7) The Telstar 28 has a centerboard, not a daggerboard, which is a better design for a cruising boat IMHO, since it will kick up if it hits something rather than stopping the boat, shearing or cracking the daggerboard trunk
8) The Telstar 28 is a lot drier a boat than the Corsairs generally, due to the ama design
9) They're now made in Vietnam and the QC has slid badly (the Vietnam part wasn't true when I bought, but the QC has been sliding ever since Farrier parted ways with the company)

I'd highly recommend you look at the Telstar 28, if you're interested in a folding trimaran design. BTW, here's a video of us out in about 28-30 knots of wind, with gusts up past 35 knots, 7-9' seas. Three or four boats blew off their moorings on this day in Newport, a bit to the west of where we were sailing.

http://www.youtube.com/v/R6u9upeIB7g
 
Jun 16, 2004
203
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I looked at some stats...the telstar 28 does seem like a pretty good deal. It is kinda hard for me to imagine sailing w/o heeling, but I like the speed and comfort aspects. The price, though still kinda high for me, is much better than a corsair.

Would you say they could take one to the west indies...and maybe north, central, and south america coastal? Be cool to have a trailor sailor for more 10 years than leave the job and cruise with it!
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Bio-

One of the sister boats to mine went from St. Petersburg, FL, down to Dominica, east to the Bahamas, south and west to the Caymans, and then to Honduras and is now in Guatemala, a total of about 3500 NM. Mind you, this was basically the guy's maiden voyage in the boat. :) So, yeah, it can do it.

If you want to know more about the Telstar 28, you might want to read my blog, where I've written quite a bit about it.
 
Jun 16, 2004
203
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Very informative post's sailingdog. You have tweaked my interest...not planning on a new boat within the next year though. My thoughts are 1) get a nice trailorable boat I can enjoy with my career and then take on some extended cruising in 5/10 years later owning the boat by that time. 2) Keep my mac 26s which fulfills much of what I need and want in a boat as a coastal/lake sailor. Take the money I would be paying on a new boat (like the telstar perhaps) and invest it over the next 5-10 years. Take the earnings (hopefully!) and buy a good used boat to go cruising with.

Question for you sailordog. From your profile I assume you work for performance cruising? How do we know this does not bias your information/opinions on the telstar 28? Reason would imply that your reviews would be bent towards the positive, limiting the negative. I'm not writing that your words are not valid to a large degree....just that their may be some bias there...
You for sure have lots of good info in one spot...which is nice to be able to see!
My condolences to you concerning your late wife...sad story that must have been tough.
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Actually, I don't work for Performance Cruising. I'm an IT guy up here in New England. The Performance Cruising, Inc. under my name is because I entered it in the Brand slot in the user profile... since that is the "brand" of my boat. I didn't realize it'd show up in my avatar the way it does, and have since changed it.

Performance Cruising is a small family owned boat manufacturer down in Annapolis, that makes two boats. They make the Telstar 28, which was introduced back in fall of 2003 or so, and they make the Gemini catamaran, which has been around since the 1980s IIRC.
 
Jun 16, 2004
203
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well you have me interested in researching more/maybe getting one! It's just alot of dough...be like another morgage almost. So many decisions in life...
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Bio-

Compared to other boats in its class, a small, trailerable, cruising sport trimaran, the Telstar is easily by and far the most affordable of them. The Corsair 28 doesn't even have standing head room for me, much less my 6' tall crew, and I'm only 5'4" or so. The Corsair 31 has about the same cabin room as the Telstar 28, at nearly twice the price. The Quorning Dragonflies are certainly the nicest of the folding trimarans, but cost significantly more expensive than the Corsairs, much less the Telstar 28.

Also, only the Quornings and the Telstar 28 are really designed as cruising boats. Most of the Corsairs, up to the 31, only come with a porta-pottie and camping stove. The Telstar 28 has an option for a refrigerator—an Engel M27, which I did get. It comes with a marine head and holding tank, which is a necessity if you sail on an NDZ like Buzzards Bay. It comes with a propane two-burner stove/broiler.

Granted, it's got some shortcomings. I wish the boat came with a bridgedeck, as the standard cockpit tends to get the interior of the boat wet when sailing in the 7-9' seas and 20-30 knots of wind like I normally do. I built a bridgedeck for mine, so not that isn't a problem.

I wish the boat had more stowage—a common problem on almost all the sport trimarans—since the bilge is two-inches deep, and there's little stowage in the cockpit lockers or under the cabin settees (in the case of the Telstar none) since they're basically right over the hull flare, so have very little depth below them. Adding the bridgedeck helped quite a bit with this problem as well.

The Telstar has done away with some of the problems in the Corsairs and Quornings. The folding system makes the boat a bit more stable when they're retracted—not as stable as with them extended, but you can motor with them retracted. The ama folding system doesn't require tools as they do on the Corsairs—dropping the wrench or bolts overboard when retracting or extending the amas on a Corsair would suck.

The mast raising system is much more reliable and can be done in about 15 minutes by a single person, either on the water or on the trailer. The Corsair system requires the trailer winch and several of the Corsairs I had looked at were being sold due to the dangers posed by dropping the mast, in one case more than once.

The Telstar and the Quornings can be stored in a single width slip. However, the Quornings require you to pay for a longer slip than the Telstar does, since the amas on the Quornings swing back and effectively lengthen the boat when retracted. This also makes steering a Dragonfly with the amas retracted a bit more awkward.

If money were no object, I probably would have gone with a Quorning Dragonfly. The fit and finish of the Quornings is very nice, and they have some features that I like and had to add to the Telstar. Given my budget and such, the Telstar was definitely the best option for me.

Personally, I'd love to see PCI come out with a 35-37' version of the Telstar 28. That would be an ideal cruising boat IMHO. I don't think it'll happen any time soon though.
 
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