MACGREGOR 26

G'day and welcome to the forum.
I haven't done it before, but a few on here have.

A few things to consider (apologies if you already have):
I'm guessing you have a fairly powerful outboard to handle the massive tides and current swirling around the Kimberlies.
Will need very good ground tackle so when you drop the pick, you know it's not gonna let go.
Looonnng way between re provisioning stops for water, food and fuel.
You will need very good up to date nav gear and comms - HF radio maybe sat phone.

You are doing the right thing asking people before just heading off and possibly getting into trouble!

The Macgregor 26 is a trailable motor sailor. They do sail and I have seen one sail! Best bet would be to tow it around Australia and use it to camp in on the side of the road. Launching the boat to visit places on the way.

It's possible to sail that journey in just about anything but probably not one of these.

It's all good advice Steve.....and reading between the lines .....the answer is NOT yes.

On a recent post someone mentioned an old fella taking a 24 footer to Lord Howe. A few months ago there was a post about a bloke sailing a trailer sailer around the world. Both those sailers were praised on this site for their achievements.

With a bit of good planing and common sense, I can't see why you can't take your rig around Australia let along over the top (not in two weeks though, but I don't think that is what you meant in your post)..

It's not that remote and isolated..

I sailed my x-yacht 372 from Fremantle to tweed heads nsw over the top in 07 leaving wa in May. It was a long hard great experience. Once you clear the Kimberly Coast and get into the Timor and arrafura seas you will want a yacht that points very high to windward. A hell of a lot of current up that way with short sharp chop. We got up to 4mtr seas. I can see you motoring a lot. I kid you not. It is a difficult sail in the direction you are planning. A long way in between fuel stops. Hf radio is a must. A great experience but it is a hard on the boat and crew bone jarring trip. Oh then you have the top of qld. Not a good place for trouble or breakdowns

Seen a few Mac's getting around Rockingham/ Garden Island. Seem to get along quite well.
I'm sure that if the Abrolhos doesn't stop Stevetheadven, Shark bay or Ningaloo will. You could have allot of fun with a Mac.

The worlds best selling cruising trailing sail boat! I would hate to be trying to sell one. Mate was going to buy one in California and ship it back. Talked him off the ledge. Now has a sensible cruising 33 footer.

That thing would be perfect in shark bay, lots of shallow areas to explore and relatively flat. Also lots of little breaks in Ningaloo that you could duck into for protection. Beach it in Broome, no worries. Up past Zuytdorp cliffs could be interesting though.


heading south to exit South Passage Shark Bay.


Exit from South Passage and the start of the Zuytdorp Cliffs






Somewhere in Shark Bay


Maud's Landing (Coral Bay), inside Ningaloo Reef.

I'm sorry to be frank but......not in a million years!!!

I have done a fair bit of work on Mac's in WA and IMHO they aren't built well enough to handle this trip.

The hull is built very light, in fact you can push in sections with your hand. Personally I wouldn't want that pounding into a current v's wind situation with short sharp chop.

The boat is designed to be light when motoring but at least two I know of in the states a have capsized while motoring with no water ballast in, so I would have at least some of the ballast in while motoring in a seaway.

I have also replaced stays on their rigs and IMHO the original rigging setup is not up to extended upwind work at sea in anything more than 20 knots. The jib furler is not a reefable system, the main has only one reef and everything on the rig is about 2 sizes too small.

Added to that the boat flexes so much that it is impossible to get any forestay tension so pointing (added to the boat dragging that bum around) is not very good at all.

That enough reasons why not!??

The McGregor 26 is an extremely successful solution to the need for a spacious trailer-sailer for sheltered waters. They fetch high prices, far higher than your typical 26ft keelboat.

So my solution would be to sell the McGregor 26, and with that money you could buy a 30+ foot solid keelboat, suitable for offshore work , and off you go!!

Gday to you all i thank you and appreciate all of your input good and not so good ,however i would just like to clarify .i would expect to leave in the second week in april and cover as little as 25 to 50 miles per day i would expect this trip to take months, i have been in regular contact with the bom about what to expect , i am in the process of purchasing a satellite phone sleeve to use with a mobile phone for data for weather as said before i would appreciate any further input cheers

Gday Nowandzen great forum and a lot of fantastic input its nice to hear people that can sail and not armchair sailers i have come across quite a few of them so far cheers

Gday Sands mate the longest stint was 7 days at about 15 to 20 miles off the coast my planned trip would on the inside of reefs where possible still much to learn cheers