Hello from Long Island (for Now~)

[nugget]

Hello to everyone in the community!
I am currently going full speed with my dream. I teach surfing and kiteboarding and I would like to leave on a sailboat in October from the North East and live and teach my trade in the Caribbean for the Winters. With time and experience, I plan on going where the wind takes me. For now, I am going full speed, researching, reading and starting my sailing lessons. I am hoping to leave this Winter .

I am currently looking at the following boats for my Winter travels.
1972 JJ Taylor Contessa 26 sailboat for sale in New York

1972 Cheoy Lee Offshore 31 Ketch Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

(this is too much for my first sailboat, but in the future, I like the space and I could easily charter it to my students in the Winter, it would pay for itself in two years. )

View Boat Photos - YachtWorld.com



I Look forward to posting and meeting some great people on this forum.. If anyone in the Long Island area wants to trade kiteboarding lessons for sailing lessons, pm me.
Thanks..

[tropicalescape]

Id go for the cheoy lee..like your choices dont know how practicle a 26 ft. boat with all the equitment you would need to work with would be.... and that last one sure was nice.my first boat was a 42ft.wooden yawl..It was free wonder why?Good luck DVC

[James Baines]

Welcome, and, based on what you plan to do, I would also be looking at the Cheoy Lee Ketch or even something larger. Nothing wrong with 26 footers other than: 1. they are generally less "Blue Water" capable than larger boats and 2. When cruising, you will run out of space in a hurry. James

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, nugget.

The Contessa 26 is a very seaworthy small boat.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Welcome Aboard Cruisers Forum

[James Baines]

With the utmost respect to GordMay, given what you want to do, of the boats you mention, the Cheoy Lee Ketch would be my choice for you.

The term "Seaworthy" has many definitions and if you put the boats you are interested in against a "Seaworthy Scale" of some kind, possibly by asking questions in forums such as this, I have absolutely no doubt that the Cheoy would win hands down.

And, again, with the greatest respect to GordMay, in my more than 50 years of global sailing, I have crossed the Atlantic many times, mostly single handed, the first time with a C&C 25 footer and I will happily tell you that although I survived to tell the tale, no amount of money would induce me to do that round trip in a 25' again.

Let me put it another way, when you are out there, even within 50 miles of a friendly shore, when a major storm comes up out of nowhere, you will ask yourself(Just as we all do) "Why the hell didn't I get a bigger, stronger boat".

But that's just my opinion...James

[nugget]

Wow, everyone is so nice! Thanks! I think I found a new home in the sailing community. Cheers
Tim

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
You'll get lots of opinions and here's mine. The Cheoy Lee is bigger so will have more room for your stuff and will probably be a better choice. It is not more seaworthy than the Contessa however. The Contessa and International Folkboats will take anything that can be thrown at them and come out sailing just fine. Contessa has a very small interior with very little head room and no good place for an auxiliary engine unless it has an inboard diesel already.
Good luck in your choice. Check out the book recommendation and the links after my signature.
kind regards,