The Possibility of turning over a Mac 26

[David A Anderson]

This is probably a better place to put this entry than where I originally entered it under Mac Site Talk.Within the past week or so, Bob Rutland entered a story titled, 'Hunter 336 Rescue'.It tells about the rescue of the crew of a Mac 26 that was bobbing up and down upside down in the water.I recently purchased a 1988 26D and understand per the promotional video, that it is very stable and that the water ballast will quickly lift it back up if it does tip on its side. Unfortunately, being winter I haven't had a chance to take it out on my own yet. I am sure that it is quite stable, especially when compared to a number of other boats. But I would like to hear from other owners of their experiences, and how stable they have found the boat.Does anyone have any ideas as to what could have caused the boat in Mr. Rutland's story to end up completely upside down?

 

[Dean Smith]

Probably no Ballast

Thanks for pointing out that story. I had not heard of that one. There have been other stories of Mac 26X's capsizing and in all cases, it turned out that they DID NOT have their ballast tank filed at the time. Fortunately, I have never experienced a capsize. I am VERY cautious and ALWAYS keep my ballast tank full except in the very lightest of wind and wave conditions when I want to maximize powering speed. ALSO, it is important to ALWAYS keep the ballast tank full when there are several people aboard, since the Mac 26X has a fairly high CG when unballasted. I'll bet the skipper was showing off trying to get high sailing speed and had dumped his ballast. Very risky!! I am happy to hear that all were rescued.

 

[John Kosmalski]

Mac tip over

I agree with Dean Smith's response that the Mac probably didn't have ballast. I have a 26X and have sailed in 6 - 8 footers in Lake Michigan with strong winds and found her reasonably stable. She get severe weather helm when healing past 20 - 25 degrees, but when sailing single handed in 20 - 25 mph winds with 2 footers and I have gotten her past my tilt o meter's limit. I wouldn't do that with guests, however.

 

[James Devine]

Boomvang for safety

When sailing my 17ft Venture in these cold mountain waters the ideaa of"turtling" is frieghtining. Ive noticed on the factory site that boomvangs are listed as an accessorie. They are more commonly regarded as a performance device. While nothing is more important than ballast, without the boomvang in place a "horizontal parachute" effect can occur. With out a bommvang my boat will heel up 30+ deg.and illhave to turn in. With boomvang secure verticle spilloff makes it hard to heel over 25 deg. I expirimented with this after i nearly blew down last Aril with my 2 kids aboard.I now see the boomvang as a safety and a performance device.

 

[Jeff Stagg]

Turtled Mac

If this is the story based in San Francisco several months ago, the report was that it was a MacGregor X, not the Mac26D (daggerboard)classic. The X has water ballast capacity of 1400 pounds to be self-righting, but is not self-righting with partial or no ballast. It was mentioned that the X was under power heading toward the marina and was in the process of draining the ballast while underway, which is the usual method unless in choppy water, then it is recommended to drain the ballast when on the trailer at the ramp. Apparently from the investigation, a large wake or wave broadsided the boat when it was not ballast filled and caused a capsize and the boat rolled fully to a turtled position. It did not sink and was later towed to the marina. The lesson is that on the ocean near the possibility of waves you simply leave the ballast in for stability even though it is not as fast under power. For information on MacGregor tips, mods, and speedyrigging, go to www.speedyrigger.com.Jeff Stagg MacX2284F898 "Three Suns" Roseville CA