Why the Whitby 42?
We had been cruising on an Alberg 37 for several years when we decided to make a boat our permanent home. We enjoyed the Alberg alot, she sailed well and had a very nice motion offshore. We cruised for years in Alaskan and British Columbia's waters and felt the Alberg 37 was an excellent boat. Unfortunately the Alberg had a short water line and a narrow beam severly limiting her ability to carry stores and certainly limiting her living space. We chose the Whitby 42 Ketch for several reasons. We looked at several different designs, and evaluated them within our criteria; size, comfort, seaworthiness, sailing ability, cost, and availability. Size was a significant factor in our decision. We believe that 39 - 45 feet is a good size for two adults to handle alone. Being over-boated is a burden on both the crew and the pocketbook. Obvesely the "size" of a boat is dependent on several design factors; lenght over all, water line lenght, beam, draft, freeboard, and displacement. Some fairly large boats are actually quite small inside (narrow beam and a short waterline) and conversely some small boats resemble floating condos with small lengths, long water lines, and hugh beams. All these design factors contribute to size but also effect the other evaluation factors. We feel that a middle-of-the-road design best fufilled our needs. We felt that a moderately heavy displacement boat with a reasonable shoal draft would suit our needs for cruising to a variety of locations both in the high latitudes and the tropics. We wanted a boat that sailed well and was easy to balance allowing the crew and the windvane or autopilot to operate without undue stress. Another factor we looked for was a comfortable interior living arrangement. Statistics and experience have shown that the majority of your time onboard will be at anchor or on a dock. The ability to live onboard comfortably, and allow some privacy and room to enjoy different pursuits is a significant consideration when considering long term habitation. The Whitby 42 is a very roomy boat for two people and has enough room for the occasional visitors. The Whitby 42 allows us to carry plenty of stores, lots of water in seperate tanks, large fuel tanks, and enough additional room for "stuff". Seaworthiness relates to the boats ability to withstand any thing the oceans may throw at you within reasonable limits. It has become clear to us that the ability and skills of the crew contribute greatly to the seaworthiness of any particular boat. A well designed boat has good stability, resists capsizing and broaching, and has good righting properties to allow recovery after a knockdown or capsize. An able crew and a well designed, and equiped boat can survive almost any conditions encountered out to sea. Sailing ability can be described as the charestics of the boat to operate efficently on any point of sail. Any boat (or raft) can operate downwind or on a reach of sorts, the true test of a modern sailing boat is its ability to go to weather. The ability of a boat to go upwind is a combination of design factors, properly designed sails, and to an extent changes and care of the boat. Windward ability is not the Whitby's strongest point, we chose to compromise here to have better living accomadations and a more managable rig, the ketch. Keeping in mind the limitations of the Whitby design (full keel, shoal draft, ketch rig) a properly sailed Whitby will go to weather quite well. Cost and availability were serious considerations because we are not wealthy and by selling the Alberg 37 and our home in Alaska we were able to purchase the boat we wanted and have adequate funds to upgrade systems and design flaws that have shown up over the years. The availability of this design ensured several boats to choose from and group interest allowing a view of other peoples modifications and upgrades. Are we happy with the Whitby 42? Overall yes, any boat will have some problems or charecteristics that make her less than the perfect boat, because the perfect baot dosen't exist. Someone once said the perfect boat is the one you have. Our Whitby is highly modified both inside and outside and these modifications reflect our experience and efforts to make her easier to operate, safer, and more comfortabe. MAYA is our home and will remain such till we die or are unable to operate and maintain her.
