Tom,
Thanks for the congrats on saving #44. It's been a fun (although hectic) project trying to get her ready for the Cruiser Challenge....but we made it. Had a great time sailing her and look forward to bringing her back the rest of the way and many more days on the water. After sailing the T200 in "Scout" the Monty 17 felt HUGE!
Only because you brought it up....I'm a Monty guy through and through....so buying a brand new Sage for $25 to $30k is not even tempting to me. For my personal tastes it doesn't offer me anything that the M17 doesn't already have. The slight performance advantage it may have getting around a couple of buoys come at costs in other areas. Everything is always a give and take, all boats are a compromise, and everyone has to make their own call on what's good for them. For me....If I can buy a boat for $5k that gives me performance on par with a $30k boat, looks identical, and has a few other features I like....that's where I'm gonna be every time. Again, that's not the definitive answer for everyone, just my opinion (before I get blasted).
I gotta say, those were a couple of harsh zingers there towards Bob and his boats. Not really what this board is for. I'm not a Bob promoter nor a Jerry promoter, nor a Sage promoter......only relaying my first hand experience. I speak to what I know. Bob did a nice job for me helping me save this boat. Period. I very much appreciate it. With respect to his boats not being up to snuff with the old Monty's? ...well....everyone has their opinion, but I would say this....I have yet to see one of Bob's boats have to have the keel gutted and rebuilt because $ were saved using scrap steel....old Monty's are not perfect either, I've owned 5 and been sailing them for many years.....so there are pluses and minus everywhere. It just depends on how you want to look at the picture I guess. Rather than stoking the fire and pitting one manufacturer against the other, it'd be much more fun to talk about the boats we love and that brought us here and how much we love sailing them. Let's do that. ;-)
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