Newbie Question about Outboards and Dinghies

[TrentePieds]

Is this:

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/x-boat-usa

the boat you are talking about?

If so, a motor would be a SERIOUS impediment to your learning to sail as well as a source of unnecessary expense and even of potential danger.

This boat, as Stu tells you in #12 above, is not a "boat" - it is a DINGHY! You SAIL it - in all circumstances. You SAIL it off the beach. You SAIL it away from the float alongside the launching ramp if the DINGHY is on a trailer. You SAIL it right off the trailer! If for some reason you cannot sail it, you PADDLE it.

I have taught some hundreds of university students how to do that in very similar dinghies. If you were near me, I'd gladly show you how to do it. You would do yourself a favour by finding someone near you who can teach you, or by joining an active club of dinghy sailers. It is by participating in dinghy racing that you learn the finer points of sail control, i.e. the rudiments of boat handling. These skills, once learned, are portable.

All the best

TrentePieds

[rbk]

An X-Boat is a dinghy, not a keel boat. Even an experienced skipper is likely to flip one occasionally (that's part of the fun).


As a beginner, you will almost certainly flip it a few times. You don't want a motor attached when you do.


For a dinghy that size, a couple of paddles secured inside is all you should need

x3 spend the money on some wet suits and start sailing as soon as the lakes open (assuming they freeze in MN?) Don't wait until mid summer to get out. With 5-6 months of sailing under your belt in the fall outboards and boats generally go up for sale, the longer you wait into winter the better deal you're likely to get as most don't want to be bothered winterizing and storing.Who knows, after a month you might be looking at a bigger trailer sailor.