Just for Cruising - Island Packet Yachts

by Nancy Knudsen on 16 May 2006 A traditonal American built cutter rigged cruising boat is proving the worth of the full length keels of yesteryear. and it could claim the title of the world’s top yacht – just for cruising.

It was just last year that I was first introduced to this finest of boats. Walking along the wharf, sunny day, seagulls screeching. Turkish cliffs towering, and overhead a tumult of windy white clouds.

‘There’s a nice boat.’We stop to peer, as yachties do. Through the clear water, we can see the long sleek keel. ‘Wow, look it’s a cutter rig too – and see the self tacking staysail’. ‘Mmmm…’ peering, ‘Excellent foredeck, yup, and look at the sail platform’ ‘What is she?’

A head bobs out of the cockpit, curious. ‘Just looking at your boat’ we cry over the wind. ’Nice boat!’

‘Sure,’ and the owner emerges proudly onto the side deck. ‘Would you like to have a look? – Come on board!’

The owner, an American who had sailed the boat to the Mediterranean from his home in Florida, couldn’t find fault, after two years of on-and-off cruising.

‘She’s a sea-kindly baby,’ he explains with a slow easy drawl. ‘My wife and I do the long hauls alone. Actually I can sail her myself kinda easy – the cutter rig means there are no big sails, and I can control everything from the cockpit. She did real well in the long hauls. Long keel sure is the only way to go – she heads to wind quite well, real steady. And,’ he warmed to his argument, ‘you know she only draws 1.6 metres, so we can get into all the anchorages in the Mediterranean no problems – not many boats around like that – in fact I think she’s the only one I know.’

Island Packet Yachts may possibly be the most ‘specifically for cruising’ sailboats in the world. We looked around the boat that day, and after years of cruising, thinking and dreaming about the ideal boat for happily crossing oceans short handed, OUR only remaining question was ‘How much?’

When you look at the background and qualifications of the founder of the company, you start to understand why the boat seems so ideal for cruising. CEO Robert Johnson graduated from the University of Florida as a mechanical engineer before specializing in naval architecture and marine engineering at MIT .Working primarily in the cruising boat market Johnson launched his company Traditional Watercraft in 1979.

Johnson, in a 2004 interview with the Jerry Powlas of the US Magazine Good Old Boat www.goodoldboat.com said, ‘Our market is cruising. Quality, safe, dependable cruising. A good turn of speed but not built with that focus. Our motto is 'First in cruising.'

He went on to explain the rationale behind the design: ‘We improved the cutter rig, employ roller furling on all sails, a Hoyt Boom staysail, and a full keel in profile only, that is, a long fin keel, not a wineglass section.

’The keel is something that's at the heart of an Island Packet; it's something I've never wavered from. It's been noted that we're the only full-keel manufacturer although I prefer to think of it as a fin keel that's morphed to a long fin keel, not a full keel morphed down to what we have. I call it a Full Foil Keel.

‘Fin keels give you a much livelier boat, and if you want to go racing, engage in tacking duels and such, that's exactly what you design for, but you pay a price for that attribute.

‘There are ways to mitigate this; but, in general, every effort to shorten the length of that keel is going to require either more draft or more control. You want a boat that's easy to steer for long periods of time so your autopilot doesn't have to work its lungs out to steer a straight course.

‘And a cruising boat wants to be able to sail itself without a lot of work. And you certainly don't want it to broach. Cruising sailors like the wind over their shoulders, and that's when you have quartering or following seas. You don't want a cruising boat to get easily knocked off course or broach and roll over.

’And the price for those cruising virtues? More wetted surface, and slightly slower response to the helm. It's like comparing a Corvette to a Chevy Suburban. If you want a hot rod that surfs off the waves and does 15 knots, which comes with a price. But in your more conservative cruising boats with a large capacity for stores and fuel, the price you pay for stowage, accommodations and so forth will impact performance but still in a pretty minor way. The proof of this can be measured by numerous Island Packet offshore race victories often competing against 'performance-oriented designs.'

’Across our range we deliver safe cruising boats. It's hard to quantify or reduce to a sentence, but they all have an identical philosophy. Full Foil keel, cutter rig, geared steering system, laminates, chain plate installations, and spar geometries that are suitable for the same uses.

‘An Island Packet is first and foremost a cruiser. I like boats that are fun to sail, and it sails very well. If people like to sail and want to go cruising, Island Packet will be a great boat for them.

Sail-World Cruising agrees with this premise. Performance as a concept has been beaten to death. People who really just want a nice fast boat are being sold carbon fibre, epoxy and kevlar, when they don’t really need these high performance materials – what they need is a boat that’s easy to have repairs carried out, ANYWHERE in the world.


Long Range Cruising:

Johnson knows his market, and knows that he must make it easy for the owners once they leave their home port.

‘Many of our boats go long range cruising and are now spread all over the world. So we make practical choices in design and construction based on the fact that our boat may have to be repaired somewhere very far away where materials, facilities, and skills may be hard to come by. We don't go overboard with this, but we try to keep it in mind.

’We use a spray core decking material that eliminates foam or balsa or plywood. You get the Oreo cookie concept of glass, lightweight filler and more glass. We won't use it on the hull because it reduces puncture and impact resistance, but it makes for a very stiff, lightweight deck. On the hull we use fiberglass, one laminate after another. So we have a 10-year warranty on our deck against rot or delamination. No one else can do that, balsa and plywood core decks will eventually deteriorate.

Much attention is put into making a strong reliable keel. ‘These are strong designs, says Johnson. ‘All the ballast is in the bottom of the keel -- very low and elongated and internal with a low centre of gravity. It acts as a backbone to the yacht and adds strength. One fell off a jackknifed trailer at highway speeds and skidded along an Interstate highway and survived with only minor damage. It was essentially intact; you could have sailed it away.’

Safety Standards:

In the '90s Johnson wound up working on an international stability standard for sailboats when the European Union decided on CE standards for all products, from cars to films to cigarettes. They created an International Standards Organization (ISO) effort and the National Marine Manufacturers Association asked hime to participate. Johnson found it a rewarding experience:

‘We came up with, I think, the first holistic approach to a stability assessment for a boat. All my design work wound up as Category A, and I wouldn't be surprised if most reputable designers specifically designing for real ocean use would meet the standard already without deliberately trying. We're known as 'America's cruising yacht leader,' and our boats have nicely complied with those standards.’

Deck Layout:

The 485’s deck abounds with features owners will appreciate.

Recessed foredecks, uncluttered side decks, and cabin top handrails provide safe footing and a feeling of security when on deck.

The finished teak trim and cap rails give the yacht an elegant l