Sabre 30 MK III vs Corsair F-24 MK II

[aliissari]

I have 3 years of sailing experience, 2 in classes and clubs and 1 on my own Capri 22. At the moment, I'm considering purchasing an '87 Sabre 30 MK III or a '08 Corsair F-24 MK II and would like advice and opinions.

Sabre 30: I plan to sail the Sabre from Mobile, AL to Los Angeles, CA, through the Caribbean, Panama Canal and then TBD how I get to SoCal. I am not on a schedule and I'm fine to break this up into shorter passages where I leave the boat and return to make progress over the course of two years.

The boat is not setup for cruising but it is in excellent condition - new engine, new sails, new standing rigging, just incredibly clean for its age - and if I am making shorter passages I feel I may not need all the things a cruiser needs

**Cruising is not my primary purpose for the boat, daysailing with the ability to do weekends trips is.**

Corsair 24: The boat is in NorCal and I would like to get it to SoCal. Yes, it has a trailer but I would like to sail it down the coast, and I would like to eventually sail it to Hawaii and back.

The Corsair is much more spartan than the Sabre - no head, no galley, an outboard, etc - but it is in incredible condition - newer sails, newer standing rigging, also incredible clean but also not as old...

The boats more or less cost the same, just one will take a lot more time to bring home but it will also bring a greater adventure / reward.

Are these semi reasonable ideas / thinking? I feel like a Sabre 30 could cruise through the Caribbean, but could a Corsair F-24 make it down the CA coast and eventually to Hawaii?

I expect to get some terrible replies to this question, I just hope I also get some genuinely helpful ones as well. Thank you!

[stormalong]

1) There is a huge difference between your two choices. Apples vs oranges. What do you want from your sailboat?

2) If you choose the Sabre truck it, don't take it through the Panama Canal.
I don't think you know what you would be getting into getting to Panama and getting to California. It would be cheaper and of course much faster.

I have been through the Panama canal four times. I know what I am talking about.

I have also owned a Sabre (1980 34 mark 1) they are nice boats but not for ocean passages.

[CarlF]

While it’s not a great idea to sail a Sabre 30 to California, it’s a worse idea to sail a Corsair to Hawaii

I’ve owned a Sabre 30 MKIII. If you added a small watermaker, solar, a bigger alternator, and carried extra fuel you could make it - but it it would take a long time. Trucking would be much quicker but the 10ft beam would cause difficulties.

There are many, many good 30ft coastal cruisers around LA that you could buy.

[aliissari]

@stormalong

1. I know, I know. I mostly want a boat that easy to sail and fun to sail. I like the Sabre because it's a beautiful boat - classic lines - and we don't have many on the west coast. I like the Corsair because it's fast and stable.

2. I looked into having it trucked and the costs came in around 13k just to get it from point A to point B. Commissioning it is incremental. I don't know how much sailing it would costs (all in, including the canal) but I don't imagine it's that much more where it doesn't make sense.

I mean, the money I would spending trucking the boat doesn't make sense to me. But the money I would spend for that experience of sailing the boat does make sense to me.

[aliissari]

@CarlF

That is super helpful, thank you. Why do you think it's a worst idea to sail a Corsair 24 to Hawaii? To play devil's avocado, there is almost always a Moore 24 in the Transpac.

Yes, there are many 30ft sailboats in SoCal I can buy, but I see it more as I'm buying an incredible experience. Like, if I buy a boat in Long Beach I will never go farther than Catalina, but if I buy this boat I will sail around the Bahamas, the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal...

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by aliissari

@stormalong

1. I know, I know. I mostly want a boat that easy to sail and fun to sail. I like the Sabre because it's a beautiful boat - classic lines - and we don't have many on the west coast. I like the Corsair because it's fast and stable.

2. I looked into having it trucked and the costs came in around 13k just to get it from point A to point B. Commissioning it is incremental. I don't know how much sailing it would costs (all in, including the canal) but I don't imagine it's that much more where it doesn't make sense.

I mean, the money I would spending trucking the boat doesn't make sense to me. But the money I would spend for that experience of sailing the boat does make sense to me.

Well, maybe, maybe not. How much is your time worth? Is the boat ready for sailing? Are you? Suppose you could do the trip for $8,000 and in six months. How much money could you earn in six months? Are you prepared to make repairs when, not if something breaks? Do you have the experience to do those repairs? Do you have the offshore safety equipment you need? Does it have a below deck autopilot or at least a good windvane? Spares for every critical system?

I sailed my Sabre 34 on lake Michigan for five years. They are beauties. They also have their weaknesses. One of which is a poor hull to deck joint. I had the pleasure of meeting up with a sistership of my Sabre 34 in Bermuda years after I sold mine. The first thing I asked was "Did the hull to deck joint leak?" The answer was "it sure did". Maybe later versions of Sabres improved the way they were joined. Check it out before you go to sea.

I hate to throw a bucket of cold water on your dreams but there are many details in such an undertaking. I bought my present boat in 1990 and sold the Sabre in 1991. I knew the Sabre was not up to the task of major ocean passages and it was too small for two people to live on full time.

Since 1992 I have circumnavigated and then some. I've put 135,000 miles under her keel and have done almost every repair and upgrade imaginable. There is a steep learning curve before taking a boat offshore. I am not telling you my experience to brag. I am telling you this because even after sailing on the great lakes for 20 years before setting off world cruising I was amazed at how much I did not know.

I am sure that you can acquire the knowledge and experience but it takes time.

[aliissari]

@stormalong

Thank you so much for this, this is exactly what I am looking for.

I know the boat will need things to make that passage - autopilot, windvane, spares, etc. I don't what will break so I don't know if I can fix it, but I'd like to think I can figure out a fix until I can get to somewhere to make a proper repair with the help of a professional if it's out of my depth. But who knows, maybe I'm in the middle of nowhere and I don't have what I need or don't even know what I need.

I didn't know about the hull to deck joint. Thank you. I will do some research on that for the 30 MK III and see if others have shared that as a common problem.

And I hear you on the learning curve but I also hear other experienced sailors saying just go.

But in all seriousness, thanks for your reply. It's what I am looking for, thank you.

[Antsjh]

My brother has a Sabre (36 or 38, I can never remember) and I have a Dragonfly 800 (26’ trimaran). He bought the Sabre because he felt they were very high quality. I bought my tri because my local waters are very shallow and I wanted the option to trailer to new waters at 60mph. I also looked at a Corsair 24, I thought it was an awesome boat. I do not think bluewater sailing in folding trimarans is generally something I would recommend, possibly with the exception of some of the 40ish foot models. The design brief is basically for a trailerable high performance boat. The wear and tear of big crossings like CA to Hawaii would worry me, especially the strain on the folding mechanisms. For something like that I think a monohull is subjected to fewer stresses. A Dragonfly 800 did win some ocean races, but it was raced by the owners of the company and had been reinforced specifically for open ocean conditions. My experience is almost entirely coastal and when I read about bluewater sailing I am always impressed at how it takes wear and tear to a whole new level. I also know that the tankage for fuel, freshwater, and food is substantial and that most folding tris do not like to be weighed down. I do think that non-folding tris like Marples, Newick, Piver, etc. are good choices for longer cruises.

[aliissari]

This was an incredibly helpful reply, thank you so much.

[DragonflyBob]

I owned a Corsair Sprint 750 from 2006 to 2022. It's the same center hull and floats as a Corsair 24 MkII but with a different cabin and cockpit configured for daysailing and racing. The Sprint also had a taller mast and more sail area so was a livelier light air boat.

Corsairs are tough boats and for bluewater cruising, I believe the 27, 28CC, 31CC, and the 36/37 could be viable and each has proven itself in that application. You could certainly sail offshore on a 24 MkII but it's not what the boat was intended for (which is racing, short/coastal cruising, and daysailing). If you got caught in seriously bad weather, it could be quite unpleasant. If you get this boat, I think the NoCal to SoCal is doable if you do careful and conservative weather planning/routing. If you are budget limited, put the 24 aside and look for a good condition used 27 or 28CC. Trimarans are wonderful boats to sail. We traded up from the Sprint to a Dragonfly 32 Supreme. We coastal cruise and we've crossed the Gulf of Mexico a couple of times but long ocean passaging (more than 500-600 miles) is not what we want to do with her.

For your plans and based upon your experience, take your time and learn to cruise and offshore sail competently and safely by doing a lot of shorter trips and passages. Many people bite off more than they can handle and have bad experiences which scares them off the water (or worse). Don't let that happen to you.

Good luck.

[aliissari]

Your perspective is very helpful, thank you. I am leaning more and more towards the Corsair and taking shorter trips to Catalina, the Channel Islands, etc...