Wow. A lot of responses all over the place !
BEWARE Very Long I will be the first the say that a C42 is not my ultimate choice of a boat to do a circumnavigation with. I will also say its not the worst boat, by any means, and dare I say its probably better than most out there. I had an acquaintance that sailed to many remote places tell me that many of the boats he saw in those harbors he wouldn't even want to take on a day sail! *pop. But there they were sailing on their own keels across open oceans. The whole idea of a boat cracking in half and sinking in the middle of the ocean is much more myth than reality. The whole thing about tankage and hand holds and berths are very valid points on what make a true blue water boat more comfortable in the open ocean. Though to me those points are mute, I think any kind of retrofit can take care of design features that might want to be added to a boat. Personally if I was really going to be sailing the high latitudes and around the Capes I'd want some sort of metal boat, because knowing what could happen I'd rather know that some errant navigational error that landed me on a reef might give me a little more time getting off before the hull was breeched. Who are these phantom "eds" who are not even man enough to say who they "really" are and what they sail and where they sail. In full disclosure I sail a C36, I've owned my own boats for 15 years now. I started sailing off the NH, MA and ME. coasts over 20 years ago and by no means do I think or ever say that my Catalina is the ultimate boat or one that would be my first choice to sail around the world. But with that said I still think its one of the sweetest, prettiest, well balanced, tough, well set up and well thought out and reasonably priced coastal cruisers on the market. You don't have people buying the same basic 36 foot boat over a 20+ year period (and its still selling well) if something isn't "just right" about it. These "stories" of the C42 is just that. As Gerry Douglas said lets see some "hull number(s), owners names and contact" information. Now if you tell me the "Heads Failed" and other maintenance items failed I can believe that, it has happened on lots of boats. In fact Eric himself said it was a charter boat he was sailing. I have been on lots of Charters and very very rarely are they maintained well. Not maintaining your boat is not the fault of the design or the build, any boat that is not inspected and maintained can have that happen even Hinckleys and Little Harbors. Quite a few of the faults I heard Eric complain about were things outside of the design of the boat. Things like the furler not working. I read about the mast. Do we even know if the standing rigging was properly attended to before ? Lets be real everyone, the Catalina mast is not a radical design and has been called a "telephone pole" by many. Also, the whole thing about the steering cable parting is not necessarily a design issue, many boats really on a cable for steering, it really sounded like a poorly maintained boat. In fact I have to give the C42 a LOT of credit! Because having the whole spade rudder flying loose in 30 foot seas with NOTHING keeping it from bashing into the hull into smithereens while it careens down those seas is "quite a feat"! *pop I am truly amazed !!! Plus this past May was literally HELL for sailboats sailing to Bermuda. In fact that Catalina you sailed held up a LOT better than many others this past May to and from Bermuda . Doesn't anyone remember that 45 foot Hardin ketch (arguably a "Blue Water" boat) that lost its Skipper and was disabled and floundering off shore and had to be rescued by Coast Guard. How about that other 41 footer that was abandoned and the crew picked up by CG helicopter. There were others too. All in all it sounds like the Catalina held up pretty well all things considered If anyone gets Cruising World, just this July they had an article about a very expensive $$ high end 60 foot cruising sailboat (Serengeti) that lost its rudder off the Bahamas in 20 kts of wind. If you take some peoples logic the Catalina is a better boat
If anyone gets Cruising World, just this July they had an article about a very expensive $$ high end 60 foot cruising sailboat (Serengeti) that lost its rudder off the Bahamas in 20 kts of wind. If you take some peoples logic the Catalina is a better boat
With that said I will tell you about a true and documentable story of a Catalina that took on sustained (days worth) of high winds and seas through the Gulf stream down to Islands. I have a friend (Capt. Peter A. Luciano at the helm with a crew of two men and one woman who stands about 4'10") that entered his C42 "La Buona Vita" in the "Caribbean 1500" in the fall of 2003, which sails from Virginia to the BVI's. There were 46 boats entered, all makes and models -- Hunter, Tayana, Valiant, Shannon, Island Packet , Cape Dory, Dear foot, and Catalina, etc. There was some very heavy weather and this Catalina 42 came in 4th place *Overall* !!! She did great and its a testament to a "well maintained" C42. But what is even more telling is what happened to some of the so-called expensive blue water boats. An Island Packet and a Tayana (one of these boats was new) and others had to withdrawal from the middle of the race and be diverted to Bermuda, one had a deck fitting brake and the other had a major rudder problem. Now I wouldn't try and infer that the Island Packet and a Tayana are not good, well built boats, because they are ! Here is an actual account from their Log "After the start, the feeling of being on a safe boat was apparent. We had a good boat, and a crew that was working well together. From the start, our approach was that safety came before speed, but we wanted to make a good showing. We headed south by south east and a light wind soon settled in. Since we wanted to get the gulf stream behind us we turned on the motor and made for the east side of the stream. As the next day approached we were told, on our morning chat, that a front was coming down and would probably hit us the next day. As we started across the gulf stream the winds started up, and the front was on our tail. Passing the gulf stream was a nothing compared to the storm we were about to face. But "La Buona Vita" handled perfectly. We prepared ourselves, always seeming to reef down just before the winds got stronger. We used the tried and true approach that if you think about reefing--reef! First we single reefed the main, then we furled the Genoa and set the staysail. Next we put the second reef in the main, the staysail then came down and last we put the third reef in the main. Using lines that were never run for the third reef by sending John up on a pitching deck and tying down the sail just before the winds clocked over 55 kt. We sailed for over two days in winds that never dropped below 35 and went as high as 57 at about 120 deg. with only a triple reefed main. It is hard for me to understand how attaching themselves to jack lines and going on the deck during a storm can be an enjoyable task. The storm was not going to beat us. We were motivated and knew the Catalina was sound and the crew very competent. Our heading east did help us clear the front earlier than some other boats. It was uncomfortable but bearable. Trying to sleep was not easy, especially when the bed broke. The small wood rail holding the mattress just gave way and there I was on the floor, snug as a bug in a rug. Peter repaired the bed when the weather got better. Trying to stand straight was impossible so we just leaned where the boat put us. Foul weather gear drying from one shift to the other decorated the boat. No cooked meals were possible so we had cereal, sandwiches and lots of snacks. After many days of high winds, they subsided somewhat and shifted, so we set some more sail and made for the BVI. We traded high winds for about a 30 deg. heel and we were on our way east by south east again. Through it all we had a great time, and no severe problems. There were many problems on other yachts, some lost their auto pilots, others had engine problems, wind generators fell of masts, lost head stays, bad fuel, fouled tanks, ripped sails, and lost steering. These problems and weather forced some boats to divert to Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. It seemed the boats that headed south first were hit harder. Some decided to hove two, we never did. We just rode with the wind and sailed, sailed, sailed. One of our crew had made this passage before and told us it was never this bad. We also heard the same from many other boats whom make this passages every year. We believe leaving a day earlier would have made the passage easier. There seemed to have been a problem with the person responsible for the weather and we were without weather data for at least one day. Through it all, however there was the chat twice a day on the SSB led by one of the 1500 people. The chats helped people resolve their problems and seemed to be a stabilizing force for the fleet. (My note - this is just to illustrate that problems can happen to ANY boat and by inferring that Catalina is worse is incorrect . ) With all this said, would I rather be in a "Westsnail" if a Hurricane came upon me ? My answer was SURE I would
I'm not stupid. Athough I read somewhere that Lin and Larry Pardee (Circumnavigators on an engineless boat) never see conditions like that and rarely have the winds gotten above 35 mph sustained for more than a short time.
