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Outbound 46, Hull 55 - Allora

"We had to write to tell you, again, how much we love this boat!"

We had such a great sail from the Gambiers to Fakarava last week that we felt like we had to write to tell you, again, how much we love this boat! It wasn’t that the conditions were particularly tough or unusual (though they were a bit lively with confused seas at the beginning), but it was such a delight to have Allora flying along day after day with such power (800 miles). We almost caught up with a boat that left several days ahead of us.

One particularly great trait of the Outbound, for us, has been how comfortable it is sailing downwind wing and wing with the main and genoa. On our Pacific crossing we used that set up for more than a week and never experienced the kind of side to side rolling that some people complain about.

What a pure pleasure it is to sail this boat with such confidence. We just topped 17,000 miles on this passage, now we’re trying to decide whether to spend another year in French Polynesia or head west for the Cooks and Tonga.

Outbound 44, Hull 10 - Georgia

"Couldn’t pick a better monohull to do it in than an Outbound."

Last night as we approached Grenada, with a 3/4 moon rising, we crossed our outbound path completing our circumnavigation. It was 8 years ago we were last in Grenada, about 37,000 nautical miles ago (42,500 land miles). Since we left the Puget Sound (Seattle, Pacific Northwest) 12 years ago we've covered about 57,000nm. We have visited in my count somewhere around 39 countries and crossed the equator four times. To add to these stats, Cape Town, South Africa, which we left in February is now 5,847nm in the rearview mirror.

It's been a long, challenging and amazing trip. Couldn't pick a better monohull to do it in than an Outbound.

Outbound 46, Hull 57 - Discovery II

"The Outbound performs incredibly well in all conditions. Thanks for building us such a great boat."

We have just completed a 400 mile passage from the Tasman Peninsula on the SE corner of Tasmania to Eden on the SE corner of NSW. We usually do this passage over a week or two with day sails, but a weather window opened for down wind and reach sailing all the way with winds in the 20-25kn range. So, short on time, we decided to take it. We had 18hrs down wind poled out plus Solent, then shifting to a broad reach for much of the trip. Bass Strait is notorious for fairly rough conditions and for about 24hrs we had 2m to 3m swells and wind waves from 3 directions making it pretty unpleasant.

The Outbound performs incredibly well in all conditions. It is quite amazing that after setting the course and the sails, the boat looks after itself and her crew with virtually no intervention. Even when the wind pipes up +50%, she does not complain. Good watch keeping practice dictates that someone should always be on watch, but there are times when we are in low traffic areas and I can take naps relying on AIS and radar alarms, with complete confidence in the boat – even with auto-pilot steering down wind while poled out. This was rarely possible with our previous boat.

The Outbound feels very solid and pushes through most seas with ease. We regularly get real 8’s and 9’s with 20+ apparent (and up to 16kn surfing the swells).. At the end of a long passage we have the usual weariness from lack of good sleep, but never physically exhausted due to the demands of managing the boat.

The attached picture shows Suzanne at the bow enjoying one of our rare motoring passages as we approach the Hole in the Wall between the Tasman Peninsula and Tasman Island, more time to appreciate the stunning scenery! Thanks for building us such a great boat.

Outbound 46, Hull 57 - Discovery II

"We have found her a very capable and comfortable boat. She attracts a lot of admiration and attention where ever we go."

We had 6 great weeks cruising Northland NZ. A weather window opened up after the latest tropical cyclone (Winston) dissipated so we cleared out of Opua on Saturday to get in sync with a S>SE>E heading west from NZ. We are currently flying along in 20-28kt SE with seas to match. The OB46 is a great sea boat. We can confidently go below and let her handle the conditions, which she does better than us.

We have sailed almost 3000nm (since delivery Aug 16, 2015) on our new OB46 and have found her a very capable and comfortable boat. She attracts a lot of admiration and attention where ever we go.