{"id":42899,"date":"2017-03-01T23:17:32","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T04:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=42899"},"modified":"2023-05-06T17:31:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T21:31:28","slug":"morris-m36x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/morris-m36x\/","title":{"rendered":"Morris M36X"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"morris <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The \u201cX\u201d performance\npackage includes North\nSails 3Di main sail and jib.<\/span>\n Billy Black<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Back in February 2005,\nformer CW<\/em> colleague\nNim Marsh wrote a\nstory called “The New Sailing\nMachines” and explored the\nemerging genre of daysailers.\nIt opened with a quote from\nL. Francis Herreshoff’s 1946\nbook, The Common Sense of\nYacht Design, describing sailing\nfriends who were tired of ocean\nracing: “What they want is to\nsail in the daytime \u2026 and sail\nfast enough to get the sensation\nof sailing. The only thing that\nwill satiate the desire of these\nmen is the sailing machine,\nand they should be allowed to\nhave it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Each in its own way, the\nthree sailboats Marsh went\non to review \u2014 the Morris\nM36, Hinckley\u2019s DS 42 and the\nFriendship 40 \u2014 were indeed\nsailing machines, from their\ncarbon-fiber rigs to the cutting-edge\nfoils they carried below\nthe waterline. These were not\nstripped down racing sleds, but\nrather proper yachts with teak\nand varnish and price tags that\nranged from $289,000 (the\nMorris) to just over $800,000\n(the Friendship).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

At the time, the M36 marked\na turning point for Morris,\nwhich up to then had built\nmostly Chuck Paine-designed\ncoastal and bluewater cruisers.\nAccording to then-Morris\npresident Cuyler Morris, he\nand his father, Tom, had been\ntalking about building a different\nsort of boat in response\nto customers who had less\ntime to sail and wanted something\nthey could step aboard,\nenjoy for an hour or two, and\nthen tie to the dock. The story\ngoes that Tom was visiting the\nSparkman & Stephens office in\nNew York when he saw a rendering\nof a wooden daysailer\ncalled Stormy; from that the\nM series was born. The range\nnow includes 29-, 36-, 42- and\n52-foot models.\nMorris Yachts, now owned\nby its next-door Maine neighbor,\nHinckley, is currently\nfurther refining the M series\nby introducing performance-oriented\n\u201cX\u201d versions of the\nthree smaller boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Late this past fall, on a\nday with a tinge of winter in\nthe air, I joined Cuyler, now\nthe company\u2019s chief ambassador,\nat the Morris yard in\nNortheast Harbor, Maine, for\na sail on the latest thoroughbred,\nthe M36x. I quickly took\na liking to the whole gentleman\ndaysailer thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The boat\u2019s carbon-fiber Hall\nSpars mast is a meter taller\nthan the standard rig, and the\nM36x carries a 2-foot deeper\nkeel and a longer high-aspect\nrudder that ensures it will twist\nand turn like a sports car ripping\nalong a mountain highway.\nThe infused vinylester-resin\nbalsa-cored\nhull and deck are\nalso a little lighter. All these\nadd just under $130,000 to\nthe $489,750 price tag of a\nstandard-model M36.\nEven in race mode, sailing\nthe 36x is simple and straightforward.\nSheets and halyards\nare led to winches mounted on\neither side of the large wheel.\nAn electric winch raises the\nmain, which resides in a Leisure\nFurl boom when not in use;\nthe self-tacking jib is effortlessly\nrolled out. Upwind at\nleast, once the sheets are set,\nthey can be forgotten. When\nit\u2019s time to tack, put the helm\nover and you\u2019re done. The\nsporty X package also includes\na carbon-fiber sprit that can be\nextended on days you want to\nfly an A-sail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It was blustery outside the\nharbor, perfect conditions\nto dip the rail occasionally as\nwe beat to open water. Close\nhauled, the boat sailed like a\nwitch and blasted through the\npuffs straight as an arrow. I\u2019d\nhave to say that a perch on the\nleeward rail with a couple of\nfingers on the wheel was the\nbest seat in the house.\nThe boat\u2019s sailing instruments\nwere cranky that\nafternoon, but I\u2019d guess the\nwind was in the mid- to highteens.\nThe speedometer\nhovered in the 6-plus knots\nrange as we raced upwind\ntoward Sommes Sound, and\neven jumped another knot or\ntwo with some of the bigger\ngusts as we eased to a reach.\nAccommodations below are\nboth elegant and minimal: sitting\nheadroom, a V-berth for\nnapping, an enclosed head,\nand enough room to get out of\nthe weather. But really where\nyou want to be on this boat\nis up in the spacious cockpit,\nsavoring the ride. That\u2019s where\nI lounged as Cuyler took the\nhelm and steered us back to\nthe dock. Once there, he casually\nrolled up the sails, and the\nlittle Yanmar diesel sent us\ngliding into our slip. With the\nlines tied, we were done \u2014 simple\nas that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Mark Pillsbury is CW\u2019s editor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The M36X daysailer from Morris Yachts puts a little extra pep into a tried and true design for maximum performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Mark Pillsbury","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20170301","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"167","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"The M36X daysailer from Morris Yachts puts a little extra pep into a tried and true design for maximum performance.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Morris M36X %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"L46FT3RCQ5EGF2IGJUGNBKOJAQ","arc_website_url":"morris-m36x\/","custom_permalink":"morris-m36x\/","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[323,391,298,235,229,390,318,227,195],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}