I have been told that conditions in the San Francisco bay and Hawaiian waters are not condusive to Hunters. The reason being that heavier boats do better in those conditions. I have close to 5000 nm sailing a 2001 410 and have yet to experience a situation where I was fearful that my boat was not capable of making it through. I would really appreciate some feedback on this subject. Don't limit yourselves to just these two locations. I realize that SF can get really rough and I have seen the Molokai channel off Maui. But, then again, our boats are made to withstand a lot worse. John Richard s/v Jack's Place
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Just briefly!
John: There are several hundred Hunter's sailing on the SF bay. That does not necessarily mean that they are the BEST boats for those condition, but they do fine. The chop in the bay can be very bad. Our Hunter Vision 36 does quite well in the choppy conditions.
John: There are several hundred Hunter's sailing on the SF bay. That does not necessarily mean that they are the BEST boats for those condition, but they do fine. The chop in the bay can be very bad. Our Hunter Vision 36 does quite well in the choppy conditions.
Hunters and Rough Water
HI, we have a 1995 430 and have experienced a little Rough water & high winds doing some coastal cruising last year, and a couple years ago on a friends 42 Passage in The Bay. Most of the anxiety was caused by us being a bit 'macho' instead of the boats not handeling things well. On the Bay we knew we should have reefed, but the wives were not along on this ride so we wanted to push the limits (a) for the fun of it, and (b) so we'd know what the boat would feel like in pretty overpowered conditions. We were going like hell on a reach, had the rail down on the 42 and copuld not hold the boat back from rounding up, so I think the boat had more good sense than the guys sailing her, she's safe. On the way up the coast on out 430 we spent a couple days with wind & waves on the nose. Especially around Pt Sur we had winds of 20 to 25+ kts with waves in the 15 foot range sort of blowing off the tops. We had water coming from a lot of places that we didnt know had leaks, a lot of water coming over the bow and occational waves that would hit the dodger prety good, the boat did fine. The thing you will notice with any boat like a Hunter, rather than a good deep hull, is a LOT of pounding. But we learned that taking it easy, and if we had stopped one more day to let the weather window fully develope, the Hunter hull will not be a big problem. The problem we are having a hard time overcoming is the lack of storage compartments, extra batery, fuel & water areas. A true blue-water hull does make a diference. But hey, life is a bunch of swap-offs. I am glad we have the 430. If we sail smart we will have a lot of fun for a bunch of years. Both the 42 and the 430 have stood up well when we pushed them very hard, so it is up to us to make good choices as to when to go / no-go. Pat
HI, we have a 1995 430 and have experienced a little Rough water & high winds doing some coastal cruising last year, and a couple years ago on a friends 42 Passage in The Bay. Most of the anxiety was caused by us being a bit 'macho' instead of the boats not handeling things well. On the Bay we knew we should have reefed, but the wives were not along on this ride so we wanted to push the limits (a) for the fun of it, and (b) so we'd know what the boat would feel like in pretty overpowered conditions. We were going like hell on a reach, had the rail down on the 42 and copuld not hold the boat back from rounding up, so I think the boat had more good sense than the guys sailing her, she's safe. On the way up the coast on out 430 we spent a couple days with wind & waves on the nose. Especially around Pt Sur we had winds of 20 to 25+ kts with waves in the 15 foot range sort of blowing off the tops. We had water coming from a lot of places that we didnt know had leaks, a lot of water coming over the bow and occational waves that would hit the dodger prety good, the boat did fine. The thing you will notice with any boat like a Hunter, rather than a good deep hull, is a LOT of pounding. But we learned that taking it easy, and if we had stopped one more day to let the weather window fully develope, the Hunter hull will not be a big problem. The problem we are having a hard time overcoming is the lack of storage compartments, extra batery, fuel & water areas. A true blue-water hull does make a diference. But hey, life is a bunch of swap-offs. I am glad we have the 430. If we sail smart we will have a lot of fun for a bunch of years. Both the 42 and the 430 have stood up well when we pushed them very hard, so it is up to us to make good choices as to when to go / no-go. Pat
some good news from a newly retired 410 sailor
Hey John. I've just sold my 1998 410, and have logged over 500 sailing days with it in SF bay. Gotta say that it performs far better in heavy air than light, but you must have a good sense of when to reef. Because of the beam, it hates being overpowered. The only deficiency I've noticed in heavy air--and I'm talking about sustained winds of over 25 knots--is that you can't crank on the backstay for more forestay tension, so there's a point when the 410 won't point as high as it ought to in serious wind. At the same time, it's an easy boat to balance and it handles chop well. I've had her offshore in some serious gales, and the worse it got the more I was impressed. And I've been on a couple yacht club cruisouts where everyone else turned back because of nasty headwinds but the 410 just hunkered down and kept bashing. Bottom line: no worries.
Hey John. I've just sold my 1998 410, and have logged over 500 sailing days with it in SF bay. Gotta say that it performs far better in heavy air than light, but you must have a good sense of when to reef. Because of the beam, it hates being overpowered. The only deficiency I've noticed in heavy air--and I'm talking about sustained winds of over 25 knots--is that you can't crank on the backstay for more forestay tension, so there's a point when the 410 won't point as high as it ought to in serious wind. At the same time, it's an easy boat to balance and it handles chop well. I've had her offshore in some serious gales, and the worse it got the more I was impressed. And I've been on a couple yacht club cruisouts where everyone else turned back because of nasty headwinds but the 410 just hunkered down and kept bashing. Bottom line: no worries.
2005 H36 in "Fresh Breeze" conditions
Having never sailed SFO Bay, I don't know how relevant my Gulf of Maine experience is but I offer the following single data point, for what it's worth. Once again, yesterday I took Persephone for the 13 nm ride out to the Isles of Shoals and back at 7-7.5kts in 18-22kts of wind and 3-4ft "white horses" chop, both on the beam. Since I have an oversized custom mainsail (490sq-ft vs 426 for the standard main and 374 for the roller-furling main), I had to sail triple-reefed, which my full battens permit with good shape. I also had to put 6 wraps on the jib furler for balance and heel reduction. (Doyle put luff pads on the jib, so I can do this much furling with good shape, although I have to use the lazy sheet as a Barber-hauler in order to point high when doing so. ) So trimmed, she sailed at a nice 15 degree heel, and gave me a moderately exciting but comfortable ride on auto-pilot. (5-6 degrees of weather helm, and only occasional spray into the cockpit when dropped off one fast-moving, close-spaced beam sea onto the next). Glen Henderson's finer/deeper bow-entry than on my previous '99H310 made the H36 a little wetter, but not by much; and the lack of the 310's pounding when I had to head up into the chop was well worth it. I have previously had her out in 20-25kts gusting over 30 in 8 ft seas, which she handled with aplomb. (I don't usually volunteer for more, and haven't thus far been caught in any. I only use her for short passages up and down the New England coast, not ocean-crossing.) She has a completely dry bilge and no leaks in almost 1900nm of sailing over 8 of the last 14 months. She may have a "cheap furniture" interior compared to more high-end boats, but she's not just "a lot of boat for the money." With the minor mods I put on her, she's a pretty capable lady who seems to look after me very well, as long as I look after her. (If sailed over-heeled and/or unbalanced she's cranky to steer, but I'd be too <g>.)
Having never sailed SFO Bay, I don't know how relevant my Gulf of Maine experience is but I offer the following single data point, for what it's worth. Once again, yesterday I took Persephone for the 13 nm ride out to the Isles of Shoals and back at 7-7.5kts in 18-22kts of wind and 3-4ft "white horses" chop, both on the beam. Since I have an oversized custom mainsail (490sq-ft vs 426 for the standard main and 374 for the roller-furling main), I had to sail triple-reefed, which my full battens permit with good shape. I also had to put 6 wraps on the jib furler for balance and heel reduction. (Doyle put luff pads on the jib, so I can do this much furling with good shape, although I have to use the lazy sheet as a Barber-hauler in order to point high when doing so. ) So trimmed, she sailed at a nice 15 degree heel, and gave me a moderately exciting but comfortable ride on auto-pilot. (5-6 degrees of weather helm, and only occasional spray into the cockpit when dropped off one fast-moving, close-spaced beam sea onto the next). Glen Henderson's finer/deeper bow-entry than on my previous '99H310 made the H36 a little wetter, but not by much; and the lack of the 310's pounding when I had to head up into the chop was well worth it. I have previously had her out in 20-25kts gusting over 30 in 8 ft seas, which she handled with aplomb. (I don't usually volunteer for more, and haven't thus far been caught in any. I only use her for short passages up and down the New England coast, not ocean-crossing.) She has a completely dry bilge and no leaks in almost 1900nm of sailing over 8 of the last 14 months. She may have a "cheap furniture" interior compared to more high-end boats, but she's not just "a lot of boat for the money." With the minor mods I put on her, she's a pretty capable lady who seems to look after me very well, as long as I look after her. (If sailed over-heeled and/or unbalanced she's cranky to steer, but I'd be too <g>.)
Sailing 05H36 in 25kt winds
An update to my previous post. Today I took Persephone South to Cape Ann and back in 20-25kt SW'lies. With 5 wraps on the headsail furler and the traveler all the way up to allow for sufficient mainsheet easing to get the twist required to spill some of the wind from the triple-reefed mainsail, she balanced with 3 to 8 degrees of weather helm (depending on the gusting), and sailed at 12 to 15 degrees of heel - on autopilot. As I approached home the wind machine read 25.2 kts of true wind, and I had a touch under 7 kts boat speed on as close a reach as the shortened jib and twisted main would allow her to point without using the lazy sheet as a Barber hauler - a bit over 40 degrees. (Under full jib in lighter winds she'll point as high as 28 degrees.) Passing through wind-abeam to fall off sufficiently that the main would blanket the jib and permit me to roll it up was a little exciting, but no big deal. Not quite gale conditions, but since I had over 30kts of apparent wind, I think this qualifies as moderately heavy air. Persephone performed like a lady, with no undue drama.
An update to my previous post. Today I took Persephone South to Cape Ann and back in 20-25kt SW'lies. With 5 wraps on the headsail furler and the traveler all the way up to allow for sufficient mainsheet easing to get the twist required to spill some of the wind from the triple-reefed mainsail, she balanced with 3 to 8 degrees of weather helm (depending on the gusting), and sailed at 12 to 15 degrees of heel - on autopilot. As I approached home the wind machine read 25.2 kts of true wind, and I had a touch under 7 kts boat speed on as close a reach as the shortened jib and twisted main would allow her to point without using the lazy sheet as a Barber hauler - a bit over 40 degrees. (Under full jib in lighter winds she'll point as high as 28 degrees.) Passing through wind-abeam to fall off sufficiently that the main would blanket the jib and permit me to roll it up was a little exciting, but no big deal. Not quite gale conditions, but since I had over 30kts of apparent wind, I think this qualifies as moderately heavy air. Persephone performed like a lady, with no undue drama.
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