Re cruising San Juans and CDN gulf islands etc. in your "little" M15 - as a sea kayaker (as well as an M17 owner) I'll mention that "little" sea kayaks tour those areas regularly and quite well and safely. Safety is more about skills, awareness and preparation than having a big huge boat... :-) From my kayaking trip this summer, I can guesstimate that if you do cruise those areas in either size Monty, you'll often find yourself by far the smallest boat in most anchorages. In 10 days paddling various locations around Cortes island this past summer, I saw few sailboats (or power cruisers) under ~23-25 feet. Most were high 20's and up. Ditto the others' comments about motor size; a bigger motor won't push you any faster than hull speed and will weigh down your M15, and you would be fine with a 2-2.5 hp (Suzuki now makes a long-shaft version of their 2.5 hp, plus there's the Honda 2.3). Learning to understand & work with (or at least not fight head-on!) currents is part of sailing & seamanship skills. Maybe see you up in that area this coming season... welcome! John On 10/24/2018 05:49 AM, Peter Zimowsky via montgomery_boats wrote:
Hi: Just joined the Montgomery boat owners’ mailing list. I own a 15-foot Montgomery that I sail once a week on my local reservoir in Idaho, Lucky Peak Reservoir. If the reservoir doesn’t freeze over, which it didn’t last year, I’m out all winter long. I’ve taken “Chinook Breeze” on two cruises in the San Juan Islands - Anacortes to Spencer Spit to Rosario to Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor to Sucia Island to Blakely Island to Anacortes. I do it with other sailors from the Southern Idaho Sailing Association (safety in numbers). I often wonder about the safety of a 15 footer in San Juan waters because of currents, etc. So far I haven’t had a problem. My four-stroke 4 horsepower has handled the currents but I’m thinking of a larger horsepower motor. I’ll have lots of questions in the future. Thanks,
Pete Winter Sky (Zimowsky)
outdoors writer and photographer www.getoutdoorsnorthwest.com <http://www.getoutdoorsnorthwest.com/> Twitter: @zimosoutdoors
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