The open 5.70 is one of our considerations. Being honest, it’s probably at the top of our list right now. It’s one of the least expensive options. It’s also available now. It’s a baby 60′ design that looks to be easily sailed by 2 people. It’s very wide giving the crew weight great leverage and it also has a very deep keel for a boat this size (20′ boat with a 5′9″ draft). I really like the simplicity of the design and it’s setup to be easily rigged and launched alone. The whole boat weighs in at 992lbs. With it’s trailer it would be easily towed by our smallest car which is nice.
The issues I see with it are that I wonder how well it will sail 2up in 15~18 here in Newport. Also it’s jib is roller furling, but not self taking. How hard would that make single handing the boat? The spinnaker also has no retrieval line, so I’m wondering how hard it would be to fly alone. The brochures tell you it’s easily hoisted and doused by one crew, but they’re assuming there is a skipper… I’m really curious to see how the boat tracks dead down unattended for a quick solo hoist/drop.
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