Dear Steve, Thank you for taking the time to read our email. We are selling our home to buy a yacht to cruise the oceans to enjoy our time together. I’m a marine mechanic specializing in power boat refits. I have limited sailing experience and Karen has even less.
We are currently shopping for a yacht with the intentions of learning on the boat we will be cruising on. We have your books and recently purchased a video you appear in (Heavy Weather Sailing), we found it all very exciting and informative. We are planning on spending the next year or three learning and doing all the necessary courses to become competent offshore sailors.
The yachts we are looking at are mainly masthead rigs but we have come across a fractional (Farr 1104) which shows a lot of potential as a cruiser/live-on.
Although you suggest water length to be main consideration, this is the largest within our price range. I am aware of the sailing differences between fractional and masthead after reading your books, but I have no experience sailing on fractional rigs and am not sure of the difference of rig strength.
The type of yachts we are looking at are:
Duncanson 35′ Masthead
Northshore 33′ Masthead
Farr 36′ Fractional
Just once again thank you for your time and valued advice. – Alen S
Hi Alen: Sorry for the delay in replying – been away flying my glider. Re: fractional rigs, they make great cruising boats if you can handle the main, and are usually easier to sail than masthead rigs because of the smaller headsails. Also, you can often sail under main alone. The key thing is having a good reefing system, and making sure the boom and sheets are set up so as not to be dangerous in an accidental jibe.
Structurally, the same basic rules apply and a fractional rig can have high factors of safety, or low factors of safety. I’d contact the Farr office and ask for their input on the design you are considering. If it is a runner-dependant rig, i.e. one in which proper operation of the runners is required to keep the mast from collapsing, then you might want to look at something less tricky. But many fractional rigs are not runner dependent. Good Luck – Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
