Pat McGrath Test Sails The MacGregor 36 Catamaran Multihulls, Spring 76 When my wife, Jill and I were invited by Roger MacGregor to visit his plant and go for a sail on his new production cruising catamaran, we were understandably pleased. We have kept a file on the MacGregor 36 since it was first announced almost two years ago. We routinely do this with all proposed production multihulls that come to our attention, since we have known for some years now that the day would inevi-tably come when John Q. Public could buy an all fiberglass production multihull "off the shelf." Our tour of the MacGregor Yacht production facilities, where the "Venture" trailer-sailers are made, was a real eye-opener to us. Before going into business for himself, 10 years ago, Roger MacGregor-was an administration manager for Ford, and has carried his knowledge of mass production line techniques Into his concepts of boat building and marketing . Every stage of the manufacturing is refined down to its simplest common denominator. All operations follow a flow-through pattern. Large use is madeofopensided buildings or outdoor areas, where the California climate is utilized to maximum advantage. Each part of every boat is reduced to its simplest engineering function to provide effective fabrication at the lowest cost. As a result, MacGregor has experienced the largest sales of manufactured sailboats in North America, and has survived the recent boating industry recession in good shape when many of his competitors have gone to the wall. Down at the dockside we saw the MacGregor 36 for the very first time, and first impressions are lasting ones. We had seen many photographs and drawings of the craft, but indeed she is far more attractive to the naked human eye, than she is in any photographs which we had seen of her. This is one of those rare boats that does not have a single ugly line, and her functional proportions make her look fast even tied to the dock. The following day we were back again for an afternoon sail, and the M36 slipped effortlessly away from the dock under mainsail alone, and into the middle of Balboa Harbour, before the Genoa was raised for a reach out into the Pacific. Although the boat is equipped with a 10 h.p. motor, Roger does not believe in using it when there is wind, and as a result we were not able to check its effectiveness that day. The cat slipped through the water so easily and quietly that it belied the speed with which we moved out of the harbour. This prototype was not equipped with a speedometer, and so we were not aware of how quickly we departed the harour into the open Pacific, until it became time to return later on that afternoon, and we saw how far we had come. Out in the open ocean winds were lighter and we took the helm to feel how this boat behaves. I was suitably impressed by the way she could move to windward and overtake other boats sailing in the area, but since this was a typical Californian after-noon, we generally enjoyed lazying around the boat, pointing her in different directions, tacking, and generally getting the feel of her. The prototype boat we were sailing had standard tiller helm and we found this completely neutral with no tendency to develop either weather or lee helm under the light conditions response was immediate when the helm was moved, and there was never any doubt about the boat's ability to tack. In fact her tacking ability was as good or better than any catamaran that I have ever sailed and all her movements were smooth, purposeful and positive. Fore-and-aft trim was particularly good and she appeared to have no sensitivity in this regard. The crew were able to lounge around any-where on the boat they pleased. Even a critical helmsman would not feel the need to tell crew members to move to any particular part of the boat to Improve trim. A spinnaker of about 1000 sq. ft. had been borrowed for this afternoon's jaunt. Setting this and reaching back towards the entrance to Balboa Harbour occupied some time. At this point we sighted a Tornado heading in the same direction. Well, as you know, when two sailboats are heading in the same direction they are considered to be racing. So from here on in it was a challenge who was going to reach the other end of Balboa Harbour first. The Tornado was about 400 yds. ahead entering the harbour, and as we turned to enter ourselves the wind came dead aft. The Tornado immediately started tacking downwind as this Is the "hot cats" favorite technique of moving fast off the wind, but Roger felt that as a cruising catamaran we would have no advantage doing likewise. Soon we had to turn a corner and were reaching with a rather full spinnaker. Another corner required a spinnaker jibe and further spinnaker reaching. We were gradually gaining on the Tornado until finally we reached the moorings at the northern end of the harbour. Yours truly was on the helm and found himself threading between moorings and boats with literally feet and inches to spare on either side. Here was a situation where any boat, if it has any weaknesses of steering or control would show up to catastrophic disadvantage, but the MacGregor 36 indeed came through with fingertip precision as we threaded our way through this mass of boats. We also passed the Tornado a couple of hundred yards before the head of the bay. To say I was impressed would be an understatement. The spinnaker was dropped, the Genoa was re-hoisted, and we sailed back up to windward to Roger MacGregor's home dock. Here we were treated to an experience which I had never encountered before in twenty years of sailing. As we approached the dock, Roger at the helm headed the boat up into the wind and the Genoa was dropped. From perhaps 50 yds. out Roger then proceeded to sail the M 36 backwards, under perfect control, directly into his boat slip. A better display of helm and rig balance I could not imagine. Jill and I were leaving for Australia to see the "Little America's Cup" races, but we promised to be back in two weekends' time to sail with Roger in the Mid-Winters Multihull Regatta on Santa Monica Bay in order to give the boat a proper shakedown. Accordingly we rejoined the M 36 and her skipper at the Playa del Ray Marina, in Los Angeles, one Saturday morning two weeks later, and motored out to the starting line in the company of such illustrious "ocean greyhounds" as Allez Cat, Hiolani, Polyne-sian Concept, Seasmoke, Imi Loa, Imua and half a dozen others. The MacGregor 36 moved out smoothly under the power of her 10 h.p. motor, and I cannot imagine why anyone would need a larger engine than this. The motor was mounted on a standard lifting bracket, attached at the Inboard side of the starboard hull. Apart from a larger than normal cavitation plate affixed to the lower unit, no special, or abnormal mounting arrangements were employed. Coming out of the mouth of the harbour into the Pacific there was only a light wind, but large Pacific swells. Under these conditions the M 36 moved easily and smoothly with minimum of splashing. At this stage there was no water on deck or the trampoline, the moulded in splash rails on the sides of the hulls prevented this. Later on when the rising wind turned the swells into hard edged waves, spray did come up through the forward netting and occasionally up through the center lacing of the trampoline. MacGregor says the production version has a flap under the lacing to prevent this. Water did not collect on the-tramp deck, however, and the airflow over the boat rapidly dried the trampoline. Even when the spray was flying it was comfortable and dry to sit up against the windward cabin side, or to lie in the tramp, facing the helmsman, with head and neck on the main crossbeam. A lot of people who sail on boats with cockpit seats and hard decks cannot appreciate the comfort of lounging on a soft trampoline, and of the effect of spacious security which it gives. On this prototype the daggerboards were arranged in such a way that the port board would rotate about 8ø in its slot. On either tack the board would have a positive angle of attack, relative to the centerline of the hull of about 4ø. The starboard dagger was a normal installation. A lot of time was spent trying first one board and then the other on windward legs, to see if there was any obvious difference in leeway or performance. If there was any, we were not able to discern it, and not surprisingly, we found the cat went to weather best with both boards fully down. In the production version the boards will be accurately formed to the most effective profile. They will be non-tacking, and will extend through the bottom of the hull in a massively reinforced area. The slots will be profiled closely to the shape of the board in order to reduce turbulence to a minimum where the board protrudes through the hull. In the light of current foil technology this would appear to be the best decision, being simple, effective and most important, less expensive! One of the problems of designing a production catamaran is that it cannot be assumed that all the new owners will be experienced hotcat' sailors. The last thing a manufacturer wants is for his beautiful creation to become labelled as a "killer boat" in the hands of inexperienced yachtsmen. The M 36 started out with a 50-ft. rotating mast carrying a high aspect ratio, fully battened mainsail, with a small roller furling jib: like a giant "Tornado" rig. It was the most exciting thing I had ever seen, but it also made my hair stand on end when I tried to imagine handling that monster in rough water and heavy, gusty conditions. Since that first design, Roger MacGregor's boat has gone through six rigging changes, four different sail plans--and a lot of fingernails. The result, not unexpectedly for a cruising boat, has ended up as a perfectly conventional sail plan in the best I.O.R. tradition. A smaller main, little roach, short battens and large overlapping Genoa; all held op on a 43-foot non-rotating mast. The result is pleasing to the eye, easy to handle, efficient and, once again, economical. The mainsheet is on multiple blocks, attached to the non-rotating boom, and the roller bearing car runs on a traveler track extending to the full width of the boat on the aft cross-tube. The boom gooseneck is bolted directly to the mast, so luff tensioning is taken care of by a Cunningham downhaul. "Slab" or "Jiffy" reefing is done in the normal way by easing the hal-yard. Two-speed Barient sheeting winches are standard. Spinnaker gear is optional, and if the Mac-Gregor 36 is to be used for racing, it is an essential option. Until now we may as well have been sailing on a big and heavier "D" class daysailer. But after lifting up the cabin tops, all this changes. The after bunks are just that. Places to sleep. They are wide, long, and have just enough headroom to enable a crewmember to sit up, sort of. They are real bunks. Thirty-seven inches wide and eight feet long, they have plenty of room for personal kit storage, and are the quietest place on the boat. The forward bunks are something else again. Thirty-nine inches is considered the proper width for a double bunk in a seagoing boat. Anything wider is untenable in a seaway. Four foot wide beds only exist in houses and floating gin palaces, and are only usable when tied up in a slip or on a quiet mooring. The MacGregor 36's forward bunks taper gently from 3'3" toward the bow, and are nearly 10 feet long. There is stowage space behind the daggerboard case which is on the inboard side of the hull, and aft of this will be a complete galley in one hull, and a navigation area in the other. The bows and sterns, the volume under the bunks, the cross tubes and the spars are filled with foam, which makes the boat unsinkable. Should the boat be completely flooded, the hulls are self bailing to the level of the bunk bottoms, merely by unscrewing removable plugs. The remaining water in the main cabin would be about calf deep and would have to be pumped or bailed out in the usual way. A cleverly designed toilet is concealed under the companionway step of one hull, and a cooler under the other. Interior finish is bright in the Macgregor "Venture" tradition, with a complete fiberglass liner, striped cushions, shag carpet - the lot. You either like it or you don't. Personally I would like to see more light in the cabin, and particularly in the forward bunk. With the "lid" closed, the one small window might make some people feel a bit claustrophobic, and a little more light further forward would enhance the usefulness of the gorgeous great bunk, and make a wonderful place to hide away and quietly read a book when solitude is required. The MacGregor 36's lack of pitching, due I believe to Its more full ends than most contemporary catamarans, and its quietness, due to the massive use of foam flotation, truly makes this forward bunk area a comfortable place to be. Finally, the great asset of this type of catamaran is on lazy summer afternoons, with the pop top open, the optional canopy rigged over the boom to keep off the hot sun, but let in the cool sea breezes. Gunk-holing, quiet cruising or gung ho racing are all possible and compatible with this new catamaran. I, for one, think that Roger MacGregor has got himself another winner!!!!!