Tartan 101

[silversailor]

I wasn't able to find much info in the forums about the Tartan 101 and would appreciate comments from those with first hand experience with the T101.  Does it sail to it's numbers? Upwind performance? Downwind performance? Pluses and minuses? Construction? Best sail configuration? Etc.

Thanks all.

 

[K9u20]

I think it was also produced as the C&C 101.

 

[Hitchhiker]

I think it was also produced as the C&C 101.

IIRC, it started life as a C&C 101 and then became the Tartan 101.  There are several of both in our area of SoCal.  One Tartan 101 does sail to it's rating and competes level with the local J-109s (need fact check here).  The early production C&C's were plagued with keel box (not a real keel box)/floor issues.  I think that was addressed by the time they became a Tartan product.  But, caveat emptor! 

 

[Crash]

One of its challenges when it debuted (as the C&C 101) was it rated about the same as a 109, cost as much or more, yet wasn’t as cruiseable as a 109, and didn’t have an existing OD fleet to race in.  Also not that much faster than a 105, and again more expensive/no OD.

They can be made to sail to their rating, but it seems to take more attention/effort to make it do so, and doesn’t benefit from the accumulated knowledge of the 109’s or 105’s OD fleets…

So could be the right boat for the right person/fleet…

 

[ryley]

I raced on a C&C 101 for a couple years. Even after a big meeting out in Chicago with a bunch of owners and the designers, we were never able to get it to sail to its numbers. I found a lot of the ergonomics on board to be challenging, the sprit was overly complicated for in and out, and it was nothing special down below. The guy I raced with still has his, doesn't race, and almost never raises the main when he goes out sailing, but it suits him and his wife just fine.

 

[Shorthanded]

I looked at the 101 very closely when I was last boat shopping. We got beat by one in the 2015 BYC mac when I had the SR 33. We couldn’t hang with them downwind in moderate breeze and we didn’t catch them in our conditions, heavy downwind. They beat us across the line. This particular boat was owned by one of the designers, Tom McNeill. 
 

My wife and I drove down to Tennessee to look at one. I spent a lot of time on it looking at things closely. It was a nice boat, but everything was miniature. Sink, nav station (where you sat on the edge of the quarter berth…guy off shift sleeping might not appreciate that) and the cooler. The small cooler would not be able to support the Shorty program when I comes to beer consumption. My wife said it was a nice boat, but that I would regret not buying a J/111. So I bought a J/111. Another factor was I decided if I was going to fork out the big bucks, might as well go faster. The 101 would have rated about the same as my SR 33. 

 

[Trovão]

I wasn't able to find much info in the forums about the Tartan 101 and would appreciate comments from those with first hand experience with the T101.  Does it sail to it's numbers? Upwind performance? Downwind performance? Pluses and minuses? Construction? Best sail configuration? Etc.

Thanks all.

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/tartan-101

 

[Hitchhiker]

I heard last night that one is on the market in SoCal. 

 

[oceanracer]

I wasn't able to find much info in the forums about the Tartan 101 and would appreciate comments from those with first hand experience with the T101. Does it sail to it's numbers? Upwind performance? Downwind performance? Pluses and minuses? Construction? Best sail configuration? Etc.

Thanks all.

Awesome boat. current owner. Great for inshore and offshore when rigged properly. Can easily sail to its rating here in SF Bay.

 

[Rainy Day Sailor]

I just sold my T101 after 5 years. Great great boat. We won or did well in many races both double handed and crewed. The boat is basically the predecessor to the j99, just a lot less money. I’ve sailed against and raced on a j99. The cockpit layout is amazing for any kind of sailing. The construction is top notch. We never had any problems to speak of. The cabin windows needed to be redone.

For sails we had a general purpose number one, high wind number 3, and a light wind under 10 knots number 1 up front. Two spinnakers A2 and A3.

So what didn’t I like? Yes the galley was small but we made it work for cruising. We had propane not the alcohol stove. No anchor locker up front really sucked. Hated that. The bilge is flat and there seemed to always be rain water in there that slosh around down below even after you thought you got it out.

The rating. It is hard to sail it it’s rating unless you are a very good skipper. I am average but I have friends who would come drive who knew why they were doing and could get the boat to perform well. In light winds it was death, but I would say we didn’t have the light wind jib long enough to see how well that would help. This bot loves wind and is easy, safe, and fun in breeze. The boat in the bay has an 89 rating and all the others rate 75. The 89 rating in a windy location is a gift and you could win everything in that situation. Don’t count on that though. I’d buy this boat again in a hot second!