TP52s

To be fair, it should probably be noted (again) that this boat was grossly overloaded with 8 adults, 3 children, and 2 dogs. None of the adults claim to have seen the operator drinking (yeah, right), and they were all just sitting peacefully on the boat (even though one of the adults admits to shooting off fireworks from the bow when it capsized.) Alcohol or not, every adult on that boat is responsible in my opinion.

The boat seems to be a magnet for inexperienced boaters. This is probably the most dangerous design flaw of these crappers. Every single one of these I have seen on the water has had the same telltale signs of ***** boat ownership. Dragging fenders through the water at full speed. Leaving the sails up while hammering down on the 50hp. Using the outboard motor as a fender while tied up in the slip. Complete ignorance of nav rules. Mac's and their owners are like handguns and 5yr olds. The gun is dangerous enough by itself. Giving it to a 5yr old is a death sentence.

 

My understanding is that MacGregor intends that you fill the ballast as soon as you shove it off the trailer, and don't empty the ballast until you're putting it back on the trailer. Perhaps McG hasn't done as much idiot-proofing as they could have, but this is the kind of thing that anyone who knows a tack from a clew would notice as soon as they open the manual. Nobody drives away in a new car without familiarizing themselves with its controls, right? What's that, they do? Oh, right. People on the whole are idiots.

 

But wait! According to Spaghetto, ol' Roger himself say's it's perfectly ok to use the McCrap26x without the ballast:

It was marketed as such so it has to be true right?

Unfortunately, this is the level we have to go to to keep people like Frank safe from themselves:

 

Condemning the Mac26 because you think that Frank is a ***** is like condemning the USA because you think that GWB is a *****.

Sailing a Mac26 without the ballast in makes it more challenging. Just like sailing my Laser II is more challenging that sailing my Cat30. In either case it is up to me to know and understand what's going on. I can see that a Mac26 un-ballasted could be a hoot. Then again I once trapezed off the spinnaker halyard while steering with the AP remote and tried to kick myself out and around the forestay while the AP auto-tacked ... it wasn't pretty.

Nothing we say hear is going to keep 1000's of Mac26 owners from enjoying their boats. I live on the water in sight of a large marina. Most of the boats never move. During the Summer there are half a dozen Mac26's that get used form the launch ramp. I'd wager that the average Mac26 owner uses their boat more hours per year than the average owner of a "proper" boat in the marina.

Bashing Frank serves no purpose. Bashing the Mac26 because Frank is their champion makes no sense at all.

 

Very true, RHough.

While I personally do not approve of sailing a Mac without its ballast, I respect the right of those who know what they're doing to try it.

I too see a lot of nice boats that sit at the pier, and a lot of lesser trailer-based craft that are out every weekend. As long as you're out on the water, nothing else matters !

 

Shife - how odd that you would quote from the Mac26x brochure. The boat was designed for unballasted operation, this being the only 26 MacGregor has put out with that feature. You are warned "if you have to sail the boat without ballast (because you are racing), do not cleat down any sail control line.

I do want to impart that this is how my owners manual reads. I have a 1999 vintage so that is after 4 years of experience and over 2500 hulls. The manufacturer really intended the boat to be raced as a movable ballasted machine along the lines of a mini-transat. The manual for the 1999 vintage and earlier models is not identical. But all cover briefly unballasted sailing. Many of us purchased the boat owing to that potential and video is available (speedy rigger) that covers unballasted sailing. No doubt this drives the dealers nuts but thats the manufacturers intention. It wasn't until last year that PHRF-NW allowed dropping and taking on water ballast durring a race. Hence the boats were not raceable under PHRF-NW, being to heavy in light air fully ballasted to be competitive, until last year.

Frank L. Mighetto
racing Hope Island December 10 assuming my boat gets re-rated for its new racing sail. Crew promisses to show, rain, snow or shine.

 

Sorry guys, but Frank deserves every jab and insult. He has repeatedly slandered and insulted a well respected member of his sailing community in what appears to be a jealous obsession. He continues to outright lie about boats, owners, and designers, that he feels are "out to get him". He's been shown again and again why he is wrong about so many things and his only response is to just make more stuff up. He takes bits and pieces of what he reads, strings it all together, and then presents it as fact as long as it suits his belief of what sailing should be like. If you feel sorry for him, then go back and read this entire thread. The sorrow you should feel is for those at SSSS. And I didn't "condemn" the Mac just because I dislike Frank. I do, however, personally feel that the boat is a piece of crap. It doesn't sail well, and it doesn't motor well. Pretty much makes it a shitter in my book.

 

Amen shife. Frank, let us know how you do on that regatta, oh wait, I think I already know. DFL. That stands for dead ******* last.

 

Would there ever be a post-Mighetto era.....???

 

Not likely, my sailing career has just started. FYI, it looks like the Winter Vashon was one of the most successful races in Puget Sound in some time. Far more sucessfull than that sad big boat series which FYI, BraveHeart, a TP52, did very well in and Navitae Juvenis embarassed all. The reason BraveHeart deserves respect is that all of the really well known sailors were on the second place boat, McKey's family crusier - which is a 44 foot water ballasted machine called Dark Star. Dark Star also sailed the Vashon Island race.

Where was mighty Murrelet? Her crew was at the Blue Water Yachts party discussing plans for a San Juan race in June. comparing notes with the crew the Mac26m Black Perl, just returned from San Diego, as well as a Panama Canal transit in May 2006, and hoping for the best at the Vashon Island race. http://www.ssseries.org/ Murrelet will be sporting a new captan after the Hope Island race on the tenth - Santa himself. To Scott Awalt - my best to the new skipper of Navitee Juvenis. Do SSSS proud. Its a new age for US sailing.

Frank L. Mighetto

 

Stupid prat

 

TP 52 Mid Winters just ended. Intesting things - "last years" design was right up there in the scorring. Kind of blows more holes in Frank's theories (even when there is so little substance in the first place). On the funny side as the boats where heading in on Sunday they all passed a Mac 26 who was under power only as the 52's went motor sailing by ...

Also a TP 52 won the Ft. Lauderdale to Palm beach race - 24+ kts and 6-9 foot seas in the gulfstream ...

 

Hope you can get 3 months off of work to do it.

 

Wow Migghie, what do you think about yet another TP coming to the great northwest? The low-down is your favorite sailor on the sound is getting her own and it won't be Buchans castoffs. which leaves two 64K euro questions, who will grab the Yass and which one does TG have her eye on?

 

If Tripp Gal is taking over a TP52 it just confirms what I said about a year ago which was that she had to be unhappy with her current sailboat to be so wrong about Mac26x vessels (and Bongos and any small sailboat for that mater) and was likely a representative of Jim Teeters and the TP52 conspiracy (I like the sound of that) from the start. If you love your boat you tend to love all boats. Why get me going. Oh Yea – Its fun. Lets have Fun.

Lets think of this TP52 to Tripp Gal as payment for astroturfing the entire failed TP52 line, just for hypothetical fun purposes. I can not prove this of course but the story fits. The entire line of sadly designed – not for trans pacific use but billed-so vessels - has always been slated for dumping on the west coast of the US IMO. Hence the name TransPacific even though none of the boats has been designed for crossing the Pacific Ocean. And Puget Sound is a well known dumping ground for failed racers – J Boats out of San Francisco being a prime example.

Now that should get things flowing. The Church of the Future of Yacht Design is now Open.