Any CC owner sailed a Bay Cruiser 20

[Malcolm Kindness]

Hello everyone,
I have enjoyed reading the thread comparing the CC19 to the Shrimper, now I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the Bay Cruiser 20.
For the moment I am quite happy with my Drascombe Dabber, but may trade up to a larger boat sometime soon and I want to explore all the options.
Thanks in advance,
Malcolm

[Simon Head]

Hi Malcolm

They are nice looking boats but do not offer the same performance as the Capecutter 19 due to their using water ballast. If you look at the sail plan of the Bay Cruiser she looks almost to be under canvassed. This is due to the form stability using water ballast. They are nice roomy boats but I would not like to be caught in a blow in one!
Regards

Simon Head
CC40 "Halcyon"
http://www.inspiration19.com

[SimonW]

Hi

The Swallow boats range are different certainly, but they usually don't lack performance. The Bay Cruiser 23 did the windy Round The Island Race last year in 8:45 hrs when the nearest finishing Shrimper was 11.30 hrs.

The Cape Cutter is more traditional, gaff rig and is good value. Water ballast is a very sensible choice for a trailer sailor as the towing weight is much lighter, but traditionalists may prefer the convention of the CC.

[Malcolm Kindness]

Thanks for you responses, nothing to sway me away from the Cape Cutter then.

[Ru88ell]

I can't help thinking of my Laser 2000 when I see the rig of the Bay Cruiser 20. It does look a bit like it's been borrowed off a dinghy.

[SimonW]

The rigs on the bay cruiser boats have been set up to be simple - a very light carbon mast with a simple spreaderless rig which is easy for trailing, but that means that they do look a little unusual.

I think they are very interesting boats, but the bay raider expedition is their production boat at this size and has a cabin more like a Hawk 20 ie very basic and quite small. I do believe it sails very well though. The bay cruiser 20 is only available as one offs in epoxy strip, so is considerably more expensive than the CC 19.

However, the CC gives much more accommodation and at a reasonable price. It has a very flexible set of sails and looks great on the water.

[Ru88ell]

Overall, I quite like the look of them; much more so than the Hawk 20.

[erbster]

When we were looking for a boat, we saw lots of hawks at Dale and Pymouth. At one point, I thought it would be a good boat for us. However, when I looked at them at the boat show in comparison to other boats of that size I was amazed firstly at how crude they were inside and secondly at how expensive they were. SWMBO was usually too scared to launch the kite on our laser 2000, so I thought it might not get much use on a larger boat either.