Having just been to the Southampton boat show I was particularly taken with the latest HR36.
I also thought the new Moody 38 was nice too .
I have now just finished reading Yachting World's Sept 2001 review of the Moody 38 and general remarks are made on the general principle of centre cockpit boats.
The article was as follows:
"I'm sure the Moody 38 is not alone when it comes to the idiosyncrasies of centre cockpit configuration and I'd probably feel the same about many other boats.The trouble is that,in my book,handling the unexpected with ease,no matterwhat conditions you first set out in ,would be vital to keep my family confident,contentand happy to come back for more.Pushing their confidence limits is too high a price to pay for spacious accomodation in harbour"
This article really unsettled me as I am new to sailing and would like too encourage my wife and 5 year old daughter to sail also.
I would welcome any comments anyone would have on the subject .
Robin Thornham

By Ivan Andrews on Saturday, September 21, 2002 - 08:30 pm:

Siting a cockpit in the centre of a boat raises its height (and consequent COG), makes viz more difficult (behind the sail) and makes it wetter. All things that make purists hanker for an aft cockpit. In practice, centre cockpits (HR and Oysters) probably do more long distance cruising than all other makes put together. The HR36 cockpit is more 'aft', than most others (e.g. Beneteau) and is a reasonable compromise. I feel more secure in my 'centre' cockpit HR36 than in a range of aft cockpit boats I've sailed in the past. Unlike some other makes, I dont think the HR compromises safety for comfort in the aft saloon.
Its a personal preference, but I would advocate getting to grips with a smaller boat (28-32) if you are new to sailing, before moving to the heavier boats.

By Peter Brown on Sunday, September 22, 2002 - 07:04 pm:

I'd basically agree with Ivan, and I'll send you an e-mail with further thoughts. However, I don't necessarily think that a centre cockpit is wetter than an aft cockpit. And I don't think there's any point in having a smaller boat first - if anything, bigger boats are easier to handle.