For me, the Amel is definitely the most practical boat out there, but the smaller ones just don't light my fire.
The Tayana is a beauty, oh such a beauty, but I wouldn't want to be an old lady navigating a boat with so much load.
I only allowed myself to be tempted briefly but found that he Rifiki is a wonder-gal too.
And please don't get me started on the Hans Christians and the Babas and the Valiants and the Passports and all the other canoe stern beauties: I have a hard enough time getting myself to stop with the boat porn as it is.
I was on Kim's Britican, and Oyster 56 (I think) and liked it because of the forward (2) and aft cabins, but the layout of the main
cabin didn't speak to me. That said, there is plenty of privacy to be had for cruising families or couples. What I didn't like about it at all was the fact that all their winches are
electric; the fact that Kim and her man need five people to help them change out their
sails; the fact that they need a huge
generator. They love it and that's great, but keeping things simple and being able to handle as much as I can on my own is my personal choice.
That said, the larger (too large for me) Nordships are really fine looking boats...
Sticking with who I am, I've decided that it best that i get a
small boat (33' or less), one I can handle by myself and afford, up until my last day (fingers crossed). If it is a bigger boat, it would have be a
ketch like Zee on her
Formosa (pirate-style! geez, Zee's got class), and i do aspire to being an old lady navigating my boat.
Now, I know that the boat I've got my heart set on (for me and perhaps one day in a couple, depending if i happen upon a fantastic mate or not, i'm mega picky) doesn't sail so well upwind. This is a bummer for me, because i like it when the boat heels! I did some
racing in
SF bay (had the
privilege of
racing with Gordie Nash of all people!) and really enjoyed the action of it all, the quickness of it all (bruises and all), yet, as a full-time gal on the
water, it is best that I stick with a smooth-dry-solid-motion-ride sailboat. Being exhausted is not the goal. Being safe is.
Flush decks can be a plus for keeping my toes from turning purple when my brain tells me to get my rear forward quickly.
I like a large
cockpit I can sleep in and still do not know if the boat I love has the leg length there i'd like.... (actually need to check). I've got to have a binimi because i burn (it's not a given on some boats).
I like a below with a knock-out layout, with fantastic ventilation,
ports and hatches, loads of
teak and a sweet galley to cook in (so to be inspired to cook, not my forté).
I like an aft
cabin and a forward cabin. The aft is for me, the forward is for stuff and/or guests; and i do have two
kids, who will hopefully come every so often to hang with their eccentric mother.
I like a head at the bottom of the
companionway stair with a
shower space in the walkway to the aft cabin (brilliant!).
I like to access to the engine from all sides.
I like
headroom.
I like simple systems, right down to the
manual windlass (well, we'll see how I'm doing in ten to twenty years...).
Enough suspense...
I like Peter Cole's
Nantucket Island 33, and among these, those made for the American market in the 1980's.
Does anyone here know them? if you do, please tell me what you know.