Hello everyone,
My fiance and I are moving in the direction of aquiring our first sailboat, actually apart from kayaks, it would be our first
boat ever. That said, I did a bit of
day sailing with my best friend in the Tampa Bay area prior to my moving to my present home in Anchorage, AK.
Anchorage itself, although on the
water, is not a place for recreational
boating. There are a lot of good reasons for this, but they don't really matter. There is however a beautiful little town two hours south of us called Seward, with an active
boating community and a fair amount of sail boats.
Seward is our weekend getaway
destination, so we have decided to explore
purchasing a
boat that could function as our
cabin, as well as getting us out into the surrounding waters. In the
research I have done thus far, I am thinking we will end up with something in the mid-thirty foot range, as it seems that would fit our goals of having a place to stay, and would be within our
budget. I think we would be limiting our search to boats that are in our region of
Alaska, but there are several
small boat harbors within 200 miles. In looking at what is
for sale, seems like we have some possable options at any given time.
I have put our name in for a waiting list for a 40' slip, seems like they are taking about a year to come up, then we would have another 12 months to put a boat in, before losing it. Of course we would still be
renting an open slip for that time. There is also the option of aquiring the boat, and paying a bit more for transient space, if it works out that way.
My plan is for us to take a week long course, ther is one in Seward, which would be apealing as we would be in the waters we would spend most of our time in. Having kayaked there many times, I have knowledge of the ara, tides,
wind, etc. It would be better sailing than kayaking most of the time.
So anyway, I am open to anyone who may have any
advice.