In 2004 we started thinking about getting a sailboat big enough to overnight on. Landlocked in Joplin, MO, but surrounded by several pretty good sailing lakes, we thought a trailer sailor might be the way to go. After a little research -- especially a book titled "Sailing Big on a Small Boat" -- I started looking at the older MacGregors. They call them classic MacGregors, not becuase they're classic like an old wood sailboat or even a classic fiberglass keel boat, but because they came before the MacGregor line changed to the hybrid motor-sailors they manufacture now. So everything before the change has become known, at least in the MacGregor/Venture circles, as a classic MacGregor sailboat.

MacGregors are very much production sailboats (maybe even on the cheap and nasty side of that category) and there are lot of them out there. So it doesn't take long to find one for sale; usually someone ready to move up to a heavier weighted keel sailboat, or not finding the time they thought they'd have for their Mac. We found a 92 model that we could afford. The swing keel (or more accurately, I think, swing centerboard), built from about 91 to 95 is the one I thought I wanted. We traveled from Missouri all the way to North Carolina to pick her up. Yeah, that was probably crazy. There were used Macs for sale a lot closer.