Audacious spent the first two and a half decades of her life as a sail training vessel for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. She was the first prototype of the new Navy 44 in the late 80's and has had countless thousands of miles under her keel while giving equal numbers of midshipmen their first encounters with the open ocean while on a small vessel.
From the Book “Sailing at the Naval Academy”: “The first Navy-44, Audacious, was delivered and tested in Newport in the spring of 1987. Captain Bonds, now stationed in Newport, Charles III, Victor Romagna, and Thomas Closs Jr., took her for a sail off Block Island where they encountered the Naval Academy’s 45-foot sloop Fury, and the 43-foot sloop Conquest. Finding that Audacious was moving faster than the two boats that were racing, they set the spinnaker and happily overtook them on the run as well. A second sear trial in late May, which included three crossings of the Gulf Stream off Caper Hatteras under Bonds, showed Audacious to be very sea-kindly, but with no really bad weather in the Gulf Stream the test seemed incomplete. They should not have been concerned. On the way home, off the notorious entrance to the Potomac River, with wind at 38 knots apparent and lightening striking all around, Audacious ran easily under full mainsail and spinnaker. When the wind veered with the frontal passage and reached 55 knots with gusts to 65, they shifted to storm sails to stay on course for Annapolis and went comfortably to windward under trysail and storm jib. The log entry for this watch was ‘excellent manners, inspires confidence.’ Captain Bonds confidently reported to the superintendent, Rear Adm. Ronald F. Marryott, at the end of the test: ‘This was an exceptionally able sailboat. From the lowest end of the wind spectrum up to the point at which she will normally heave to under authentic storm conditions, she remains tractable and predictable – and controllable by relatively inexperienced sailors.’ The Academy had a winner– fast, sea-kindly, and safe.”- “When the nuclear apocalypse hits, there will be two things left in the world: cockroaches, and Navy 44’s”
- “When the wind speed starts hitting 35+ knots and you’ve got an inexperienced crew, there is no other boat design in the world I would rather be on.” (whew…glad to hear that one about the inexperienced crew!)
- “While I can agree that the Navy 44s are basically bullet proof (had a group of midshipmen out in 30+ knots wind one day) they are a bit Spartan for everyone else’s use.” (Not after I get my hands on it to cuteify.)
- “A lot of boat for the money, and I think it would be neat to own one of those.”
- “I’ve raced against these boats a number of times and they are well maintained. That’s a heck of a good price for a race-equipped blue-water boat.”
- “Very nice boats. Especially if you want to customize an interior and want a boat built like a brick sh*thouse.”
- “I think they were a very good deal for what they went for…for less than 45K 3 people are going to have some very decked out sea worthy boats.”
Here are a few quotes from a sailing forum thread during the Navy 44 auction:
