Took the Plunge!

[CaptainK]

Mudnut.

Thank you for responding. You are right about what I basically posted. Sometimes us sailors tend to drift from the original posted topic. But, we tend to have fun here on this site.

As for jealousy. I am not. I am actually proud to see that other people are out there doing what I want to do. And thats to go sailing. And at the present, I do not own a sailboat. Which is one of the main reasons why I joined this forum. Thank you very much.

I have 9 years in the US Navy. And I am proud that I have served aboard some of the most powerful warships of all time. Makes you get a stiffy thinking about that.

Like my old chief used to say. "Haze grey. Salt spray. And underway.

We all had to start somewhere
As for the small boat preference, I could expound on the benefits of a small boat all day, but the bottom line is the perfect boat, is the one that is perfect for you. I am another one who has suffered greatly from mal de mer, but I only seem to get sick on power boats. Even the Oakland ferry makes me quezy, but plowing along through big seas aboard my 28 footer does not bother me in the least. In fact, the only time I ever get quezy on a sail boat is running DDW. When everyone else is comfortable. Go figure?
I have spoken at seminars on choosing a boat, and interesting enough, each and every speaker describes a totaly different boat as "the perfect boat". I have fought a 500 sqr ft jib in 20kts on the fore deck, and you can have that. I would much prefer to deal with my 250 sqr gennie in those conditions. The other concern is the crew. I will not have a boat that my wife can not sail. She is a small women, and the idea of putting a reef in a 500 sqr mainsail, while being beaten up in rough seas is just not happening. Going back to previous comments, the more she likes sailing, the more I get to sail. That being said, it sounds like both Mark and PJ are comfortable with handling the 52 footer, or at least PJ is, and she is the more experienced sailor, while Mark feels he will be. That in mind, I say go for it. Also refering to my prior post, dinghy sailing is the best way to hone your sailing skills. Take it out and sink it a time of two, and you will get a real idea of how a boat reacts to different conditions. From experience, I can say that an 8' fatty knees, with a sail that can not be reefed will literally sail under in 20kts of wind. I had fun though Thanks to a well trained dog, I recovered my shoe, but my little transister radio was toast Another point that was brought up on one of my shows is comfort vs use. Most cruisers spend far more time anchored and in port, than underway, so if you get a boat that is too small to be comfortable while in port, just because it is comfortable and safe in rough weather (a very small percentage of the sailing experience), you will not be happy. Finding a balance where you will not get cabin fever sitting in an anchorage for a month, but will allow the weakest member of the crew to put a couple of reefs in the main when you get into the soup is the challenge we all face.

[hammerfelt]

Enjoy your boat. I also second getting experience in small sailboats. Start with a real dinghy -- maybe a lightning or something. The time it takes you to react to gusts is immediate. You need to make those reactions instinctive. Going from a human ballasted to a led ballasted keelboat will then give you almost 1/2 seconds between when you hear the gusts in the rigging, and when you feel it heeling -- and that is an eternity compared to dinghy. On a larger boat you will have much more time, but.... if the instincts are not already formed, you could make much costlier mistakes, because momentum is harder to stop.

Also, for that size boat, I would personally go there and measure the sails myself, if this was my boat. Don't trust someone else with the most important thing to get right. Leave the bottom painting to the yards. Measure your own sails. Worth the wait or the expense of getting there, in my opinion. Alternatively ask the form maybe someone lives in that area. I know if the boat was here I would gladly do it and I did it on my small keelboat. (but if I were you I still.. wouldn't trust anyone else, for that sail boat. You're talking a lot of money).

Enjoy the boat! and move on it.... it's a palace.

As for renaming, since I am originally from Eastern Europe, I could write books about superstitions. I think they often turn out true because people believe in them... So if you're superstitious and you change the boat name, it will probably sink... I try not to be superstitious in all areas of my life, but I still left the name of my boat "mon ami" even though I can't stand it... To each his own. I wish I wasn't superstitious in that aspect, but I don't want to tempt fate. Good luck! tough choice.
Eugene

I think most of us would claim not to be superstitios, but no one wants to tempt fate while at sea, so I think most of us would go through the appropriate ceremony for changing a boat name. I find as I get older, and realize that I used up my indestructivness in my youth, I tend to walk around ladders.

[irwinsailor]

Mark I hope that you love your boat as much as I do mine.