*yks What do you think?

[seadaddler]

Great Idea

If you can sail a hobie you will do just fine in the mac,have fun and enjoy that mac.I started in a hobie 16 and 18 and than went to 29 hunter and now going to a 36 hunter,you will love sailing in a boat with a cabin.

 

[paphman]

It is a Big Lake

MacMy wife and I bought a used C-22 a year ago and sail it on Ontario. We are on Henderson Bay, and love it. The lake is huge!! I am not familiar with the Mac. 25, but I would not make that trip in our 22. The problem are the waves more than the wind speed. Out on the lake the waves can get to be real big, and there may or may not be a place to duck into. I would not want to be caught out there in bad weather. The east end of the lake has some great sailing, and there are alot of protected areas for smaller boats. Keuka Lake will look like a mill pond when you get to Ontario. That was not said to be mean, just a fact. I am well aware of where you are. My wife went to Keuka College, and our youngest daughter is in her last year there, so we are out there alot. Great lake to learn how to sail on. Take your time, and when you move up to Ontario, you will see why they call them the Great Lakes. You will love it.Dale

 

[Scott]

Not in a Mac 25 ...

I would not sail a Mac 25 from Rochester to 1,000 Islands. Spend a season on your lake with it and if your ambitions are to sail on the great lakes, buy a boat with a heavy, fixed keel and keep it on the Great Lakes.Sure, many on this forum feel comfortable day sailing or even overnighting at anchorages with a trailerable boat on the Great Lakes. Not me. I'm not slamming Mac's. I wouldn't do that trip on a trailerable Catalina, Hunter, Starwind or anything else you could think of.We have a Starwind 27 with a displacement of 5,200 pounds and a shoal draft lead keel. I'm not sure that I would do that trip with our boat or a Catalina 27 or a Hunter 27. I know my wife wouldn't make that trip until we moved up to a larger size.I would not be comfortable being more than a few miles from safe haven on any boat in the Great Lakes that does not have a keel that makes it safe for strong winds and heavy seas. But that's just me ... others feel different.You may not know how you feel until you spend more time on your boat. We've had plenty of days on Lake Hopatcong with wind strong enough to be real careful, never mind that we don't have waves to contend with. It may take more that a half a season to know where you stand with regard to your ability to judge conditions. It has for my wife and I ... and I, too, have spent years on small boats and windsurfing.

 

[higgs]

Forget Rochester

Why not just trailer the boat to the Thousand Islands?

 

[sailortonyb]

Tom Bham

I kinda lost communications with Phil a while back. last I heard , he was in Appalachicola, Fl. he may even be in Slidell by now.

 

[Ross]

One of the ways to get an idea of the size

of the great lakes is to compare them with the bays and even some states. Georgian Bay is 120 miles long. The Maryland portion of the chesapeake bay is 120 miles long. The great lakes are often referred to as inland seas with very good reason.If you get a strong wind from the west and are near an eastern shore the wind driven waves will be reflected back into the lake and make for some very confused seas.