Awed and confused

[SCWentz]

There's no denying that many of you here know, and have forgotten more than I or many others will ever hope to know...

That said, it seems everyone spreadsheet races their feelings and decisions against everyone else's here...
The Wife and I hope to be shopping in the coming years, with plans to not have any plans, and as such are either looking for a unicorn or a Swiss army knife, but we don't know enough to know what we don't know ...
So, what are you sailing, where and how do you sail, and what do you like and dislike about your own vessel/cruising ground decisions?

Not in the least trying to start a forum flame war, and I'd consider it out of bounds to criticize another's ideal of perfection, just looking for the community's highlights and lowlights of their own decisions.

Thanks in advance for your insights, and apologies in advance for any flames this may stoke.

[jimbunyard]

Certainly seems you'll fit right in with the neo-current, double-speak crowd here...

[sv Grateful]

Awed and confused?

Me too.

[Jim Cate]

SCW, that is a hugely wide set of questions, and not likely to result in good responses. I'd suggest fining your queries down to more specific areas, for this is easier for us to respond to.

Your query is like asking "just what do you think about life?" We are pretty good at answering specific questions and not so good at really undefined broad ones. The latter just seem to generate useless blather rather than intelligent discourse.

But welcome none the less, and enjoy your time on CF.

Jim

[valhalla360]

We could give better answers if you gave us an idea of what your idea of cruising is.

The boat that gets recommended can vary wildly depending on your priorities. The ideal boat for rounding cape followed by running the northwest passage will be wildly different from the ideal boat to coastal cruise gunkholing up and down the ICW.

Many of the debates come about because poorly phrased questions leading to different assumptions, so the more you can clarify what you are after, the more you can limit side discussion (though it is a forum so you have to expect some no matter how well phrased the question).

[SCWentz]

I literally don't know where we will be or what we plan on doing. At this point I'm considering anything past the end of the dock a success for us. Without a better way to phrase it, I guess I'm just trying to do what the old Packard ad said to do, and ask the Gentlemen (and Women) who own one:
1. What and where do (or have) you sail(ed)?
2. What do and don't you like about your decision(s)?

It is not so much a question looking for advice as an open survey polling personal experience. The hope was that if I phraed the question the right way, the responses would be:
"I sail (X) in such and such places (costal or offshore), and love (A,B,&C) about my boat, but wish we did (D,E,F&G) differently."

The hope was to try to avoid what I have seen in many threads where one member says something, and it is immediately followed by a debate over whether that advice is advisable, by just asking what everyone else is doing, and what equipment they are doing it with.

Regards,
Steve

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SCWentz

The hope was to try to avoid what I have seen in many threads where one member says something, and it is immediately followed by a debate over whether that advice is advisable, by just asking what everyone else is doing, and what equipment they are doing it with.

By leaving so open ended, that's exactly what you can expect.

But I'll play along:
- We spent 9yr on a 34ft catamaran doing the Great Loop.
- Then we spent a couple years on the Spanish Med Coast with a different 34ft cat.
- Life is currently side tracked us from cruising for the last 4-5yrs but starting to keep an eye out for the next boat.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by SCWentz

I literally don't know where we will be or what we plan on doing. At this point I'm considering anything past the end of the dock a success for us. Without a better way to phrase it, I guess I'm just trying to do what the old Packard ad said to do, and ask the Gentlemen (and Women) who own one:
1. What and where do (or have) you sail(ed)?
2. What do and don't you like about your decision(s)?

It is not so much a question looking for advice as an open survey polling personal experience. The hope was that if I phraed the question the right way, the responses would be:
"I sail (X) in such and such places (costal or offshore), and love (A,B,&C) about my boat, but wish we did (D,E,F&G) differently."

The hope was to try to avoid what I have seen in many threads where one member says something, and it is immediately followed by a debate over whether that advice is advisable, by just asking what everyone else is doing, and what equipment they are doing it with.

Regards,
Steve

You get those responses because most here are at different levels in every respect sailing different boats in very different conditions

For some it takes two hours just to get to open water whereas here I am usually 10 miles offshore on a normal day in two hours

Plus we have the old school cruisers that have crossed oceans, day sailors, fishermen on small power boats, small sailboat racers, plus new cruisers who know just enough to be dangerous

Some will cross oceans on a beat up 27' boat solo with barely enough to survive and call it great whereas others need a boat of at least 46' stocked to the gills with every possible piece of electronic equipment available onboard and multiple crew members to go marina hopping along the coast.

Then there's the experience level. Some here have been on various boats since say age 6 or so whereas others will go out and buy a new plus 40' boat with very little experience and think they know all they need to know until they drag their new gen anchor and slam into a neighboring boat due to little experience anchoring.

[OldManMirage]

Ok, I'll throw in my $.02 based on how my wife and I did it. We were in our 20's when we started this.

I always wanted to get a sailboat, she had never. We bought a Skipper's Mate 17 trailer sailer and had some fun after we learned how to make it go.

Our next boat was a Catalina 27 and we moved aboard for 3 years. That was great fun and adventures and we learned tons. It helped that I was working for the yacht broker we bought it from, but we learned alot regardless.

We've had several different boats since then, both power and sail, and so now almost 40 years later we are pretty comfortable on the water in whatever boat or conditions we find ourselves. Sure we have stuff to learn, but we will. We are now planning for retirement and some "real" cruising, as in months and years away from home type cruising.

In your case what I would really recommend, if you're comfortable with it, is skip the trailer sailer and buy something like a Catalina 27. They are relatively inexpensive, and yet big enough to actually do things with. Big plus - you can stand up in them ! Get one with a diesel and you can learn about that too. After owning one for a couple of years you will know so much more. How to sail, what you like and don't like. You'll have gone on some adventures, probably had some not-so-good adventures, a problem or 3. You will have learned alot too !

After that, you'll know what you want to do and have a way better idea of what kind of boat you want to do it in.

[SCWentz]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

By leaving so open ended, that's exactly what you can expect.

But I'll play along:
- We spent 9yr on a 34ft catamaran doing the Great Loop.
- Then we spent a couple years on the Spanish Med Coast with a different 34ft cat.
- Life is currently side tracked us from cruising for the last 4-5yrs but starting to keep an eye out for the next boat.

Thanks! Any lessons from the first two cats that are influencing what you are looking for in the next boat?
That is really what I am looking for... the we want this again, and want something different for that part over there...

[SCWentz]

Originally Posted by OldManMirage

In your case what I would really recommend, if you're comfortable with it, is skip the trailer sailer and buy something like a Catalina 27.

We are definitely headed here, but mostly from the standpoint that we don't have the right vehicles to tow a trailer sailer, and the investment in a little more boat and storage makes better sense.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by SCWentz

There's no denying that many of you here know, and have forgotten more than I or many others will ever hope to know...

That said, it seems everyone spreadsheet races their feelings and decisions against everyone else's here...
The Wife and I hope to be shopping in the coming years, with plans to not have any plans, and as such are either looking for a unicorn or a Swiss army knife, but we don't know enough to know what we don't know ...
So, what are you sailing, where and how do you sail, and what do you like and dislike about your own vessel/cruising ground decisions?
.

Its a classic newbie angst , in this quest for the "correct " boat . There is no such vessel, while you can find yourself with a lemon , or a boat that is widely unsuitable for what transpires, today most modern boats will do 80-90% of what's required, They will cross oceans, ( with preparation ) , gunkhole, provide Med like deck space etc

It really doesn't matter if you end up with in-mast, stack pack, log keel , short keel , no keel , skeg rudder , spade rudder, blah blah, all these boats will deliver "more or less" a mainstream boating experience. You can sail any of these boats once you appreciate the differences

The other thing is what you "think" you might do , often turns out to be wrong . dont buy a boat for the 10% of potential activities buy it for the 80%

So with all that in mind, much of what you eventually do will boil down to simple personal preference . It will also be affected by your finances

in the main , if your desire is to sail and not fix things , then try to go as modern as you can , even reducing length to accommodate that . again boat size id often very much a function of personal preference , if you plan long term cruising , ie many months ( 6+) on board, you may want to err on the bigger size . But its a huge mistake to max out a budget and end up with a boat that then needs as much again in repairs and upgrading . I always budget 25% of the boats purchase price for upgrades and that on teh cheaper side of things

good luck, your first boat isnt your last

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Its a classic newbie angst , in this quest for the "correct " boat . There is no such vessel, while you can find yourself with a lemon , or a boat that is widely unsuitable for what transpires, today most modern boats will do 80-90% of what's required, They will cross oceans, ( with preparation ) , gunkhole, provide Med like deck space etc

It really doesn't matter if you end up with in-mast, stack pack, log keel , short keel , no keel , skeg rudder , spade rudder, blah blah, all these boats will deliver "more or less" a mainstream boating experience. You can sail any of these boats once you appreciate the differences

The other thing is what you "think" you might do , often turns out to be wrong . dont buy a boat for the 10% of potential activities buy it for the 80%

So with all that in mind, much of what you eventually do will boil down to simple personal preference . It will also be affected by your finances

in the main , if your desire is to sail and not fix things , then try to go as modern as you can , even reducing length to accommodate that . again boat size id often very much a function of personal preference , if you plan long term cruising , ie many months ( 6+) on board, you may want to err on the bigger size . But its a huge mistake to max out a budget and end up with a boat that then needs as much again in repairs and upgrading . I always budget 25% of the boats purchase price for upgrades and that on teh cheaper side of things

good luck, your first boat isnt your last

This is good advice - I'd say that you should start by buying something < 30ft with an inboard engine and then take sailing lessons. Once you've mastered sailing that, you'll have a much better idea of what you want/need

You'll also find out if the sailing life is something you want to pursue (not everyone enjoys sailing - especially passages). If it isn't - well the investment in a <30 ft isn't that great and even if you sell it for a loss you won't go bankrupt

[Pete7]

Welcome to CF

Us? well we are quietly sailing around NW Europe in a small yacht ideally suited to shallow quaint little harbours and estuaries. Yep CF is really an international forum with members across the Globe.

Pete

[SCWentz]

Thanks guys,
I'm not in any rush to pull out the wallet just yet. We are doing the lessons because the wife grew up landlocked, and the sailing I did as a kid was just that... a kid bouncing around in a boat, usually with adult supervision. Thankfully, I have the Wife for continued adult supervision. We are going to be renting the daysailers from our sailing school for the next year or so anytime we can break away. Like I said before, right now, any time we get past the end of the dock is a success.
To paraphrase Goboatingnow, this was more of an attempt to get a general idea of where the citrus section is, avoid the drooling on the lemons, and maybe pick up some details that owners really like about their current or past boats. Maybe, a little fuel for a bit more targeted dreaming on our part as well... but when we really start looking for "the perfect boat" I'll be here asking for references on brokers.