Success stories from inexperienced buyers of large boats

[MicHughV]

Ha, my first boat was a 45 gallon steel drum cut lenght wise in half, fitted with a broomstick for a mast and a bedsheet for sail and other odds and ends of string and wood. The only water around was a watering hole for wild game as I lived 400 miles from the nearest ocean.

I think I was 8 years old. My parents were not amused and I was shipped off to boarding school soon after.

[gregabbiss]

Morning,
I guess the question is "how silly an idea is it, to buy a large boat and start cruising without any prior experience"?

Well I think that depends, My partner and I bought a 45' Cat about a 18mths ago and neither of us had any real experience. We have done a reasonable amount of formal training since and ALOT of personal training.

So far we have sailed from Hamble in the UK along the south coast of England, across the channel (dodging French fishing boats), over the Bay of Biscay (dodging storms), along the Atlantic European coast, into Gibraltar (dodging Orca's :-)), down the Spanish coast with big following seas and winds, across the Balearic sea, through Majorca and onto Sardinia, across the Tyrrhenian sea into Sicily, across the Ionian sea (dodging very large thunderheads, water spouts and fork lightening) and then on across Greece.

We've helped out in Mayday calls, run for cover in unforecast storms, damaged the boat once in 18kts trying to enter a marina (lesson learnt on that one, minor and fixed in a couple of days), had rigging go loose and have to sail back 12hrs through heavy weather to get a rigger to fix it and got a few blisters.

We've also learnt more than you can put into a single post, had glorious sunshine filled days, travelled many nights surrounded by stars and bioluminescence (quite magical).

So are there good stories out there YES. Absolutely YES. Should you try it.. that depends on your prior skills, adventurous spirit and scope for risk.

its very worth it, you'll find most of the actual cruisers out that won't scoff at you but help with advice and if life is about the journey and what you experience and learn along the way, its a worthwhile adventure.

We are looking forward to this coming season as we head back around the Med and hopefully across the Atlantic.

Are there success stories.. YES YES YES YES. lots of them actually.

Sailing Waitata – Greg and Connie's journey through life and the occasional ocean

[goboatingnow]

Just to say there’s an enormous difference between a big motorboat and a big sailboat. Big mobos are easy big sailboats can be much harder to handle for short staffed crews.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Ha, my first boat was a 45 gallon steel drum cut lenght wise in half, fitted with a broomstick for a mast and a bedsheet for sail and other odds and ends of string and wood. The only water around was a watering hole for wild game as I lived 400 miles from the nearest ocean.

I think I was 8 years old. My parents were not amused and I was shipped off to boarding school soon after.

Nice the thing is with us at 16 and 17 years old is that we did take our POS boats out into the ocean through very narrow and rough inlets.

To get back in on low tide, we had to pick a wave to ride in on and hope our old outboards kept running

[Jammer]

Thank you for the replies. Many of them are insightful.


Those of you who have been following my posts will realize that I'm not asking for my own sake as I have been on the water on various smaller vessels for a lifetime and have been cruising on a weekend to weeklong basis for the last four years.


It is my conclusion that the usual forum response to "zero to hero" posters--people who wish to purchase large sailboats without prior experience--may be overblown. Clearly there are some people who make it work well enough that they do not look back on their decision as a mistake.


I am sympathetic to the point of view that someone who is 60 years of age may not want to spend several years experimenting with smaller boats before purchasing a boat that does what they want.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Jammer

It is common for people new to cruising to come to CF and ask for advice on which boat to buy, or ask questions like "which boats are bluewater boats" etc. Just as common is the standard answer, to start with classes, other people's boats, or a smaller boat to gain experience.


Clearly there are many who disregard most of this advice and who purchase 36'+ cruising boats, whether power or sail, and then read a book and take lessons from a delivery captain before setting out on their own.


We hear about some of the disasters.was


Are there any success stories?

I think I am a success story. I previously chartered 40’ boats, then bought a 66’ boat. I was seriously worried I had made a mistake in that it might be too big, but now, after 11 years Of ownership I can say it went very well. As my ex said, it’s not how big it is, it’s knowing what to do with it.

[MicHughV]

There are sailor's and then there are those that can climb aboard any boat and just "plug in"
I often raced my boats, and consider myself a " good" sailor, but from time to time I had a friend that was a "pro" racer who would join me as crew for a race.

I would think I had everything dialed in to perfection, but he would tweak this, twiddle that, etc, and voila, we'd gain a knot of speed, where I thought none existed.

With him onboard, we'd win every race. Without him onboard, no such luck.

Sailing is part science and part art for sure.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Thank you for the replies. Many of them are insightful.


Those of you who have been following my posts will realize that I'm not asking for my own sake as I have been on the water on various smaller vessels for a lifetime and have been cruising on a weekend to weeklong basis for the last four years.


It is my conclusion that the usual forum response to "zero to hero" posters--people who wish to purchase large sailboats without prior experience--may be overblown. Clearly there are some people who make it work well enough that they do not look back on their decision as a mistake.


I am sympathetic to the point of view that someone who is 60 years of age may not want to spend several years experimenting with smaller boats before purchasing a boat that does what they want.

Being sympathetic is probably good because if folks wait until their 60's to begin the cruising life their gonna need some sympathy

And what they usually do when starting at that age is motor the ICW a bit marina hopping which is fine, but they never seem to actually learn to sail and make the total adjustment and soon the boat is docked and used very little.

I had the same plan when I was in Tennessee. I planned that when I retired in my 60's I would then get a monohull and go cruising.

At the time, I was racing Hobie 16's in Tennessee and Mississippi regularly and even Florida once or twice a year then suddenly in the mid 90's I was transferred to the Gulf Coast and realized how lucky I was to be back on the coast in my late 30's rather than clueless in my 60's and no where near the energy that I had at the time.

I was there over 12 years and sailed/raced for many of those before switching to long distance cycling with the bike racers and triathletes and running. I was getting fat just sailing.

You can do it at a late age, but you will only learn so much as a beginner at that late age so.....if that is your plan get a boat NOW even if it's a SUNFISH and start sailing/boating!

Do NOT wait.....

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

There are sailor's and then there are those that can climb aboard any boat and just "plug in"
I often raced my boats, and consider myself a " good" sailor, but from time to time I had a friend that was a "pro" racer who would join me as crew for a race.

I would think I had everything dialed in to perfection, but he would tweak this, twiddle that, etc, and voila, we'd gain a knot of speed, where I thought none existed.

With him onboard, we'd win every race. Without him onboard, no such luck.

Sailing is part science and part art for sure.

Right.

I think I've skippered in about 450 races but never was one that could win every time. There was way too much competition on the coast for that.

I wouldn't mind trying again, but it is so time consuming and there's lots of dead time for the pre and post race BS.

These days I'd rather just cruise on my own schedule....

[MicHughV]

I think " racing" is a good tool to get folks to understand proper sail trim, rules of the road, etc.

I started racing in dinghies....Flying Dutchman....505's, etc....I was invariable chosen to the "trapeze meat", but I learned a lot.

All told, I think it was several years of this activity, before I was recognized as someone with a modicum of sailing skills.

I don't do it much these days, but enjoy it when I do.

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Just to say there’s an enormous difference between a big motorboat and a big sailboat. Big mobos are easy big sailboats can be much harder to handle for short staffed crews.

Seriously? I'll take a keel boat with an under-powered Yanmar over a single screw motorboat with a tuna tower and a lot of windage....

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Sailing is part science and part art for sure.

This is exactly what drew it to me....a multi factorial design or just a Monet day on the water.

[Dave_S]

I had never sailed and bought a 48' catamaran. The owner agreed to sail it home with me to teach me how to sail - about 1,000nm, that was my first real sailing experience and it has worked out well for us.

I have always loved the water and always had power boats from dinghys to half cabin and ski boats and jetskis. I knew I wanted a performance boat because I have always been competitive and end up racing most things. Getting left behind would frustrate me.

I narrowed it down to a Stealth catamaran or a Schionning. I looked for a few months and bought a Schionning.

The intention was to retire after two years and sail off into the sunset going wherever the wind was coming from��.

Unexpected **** got in the way and I'm still working but we are taking another run at it.

Was it the right boat?.... Pretty close, no regrets. If I was starting my search over today I might change a few things, but it's close enough that we are keeping it.

P.S.
I think if you know who you are you can buy your last boat first.

[ohthetrees]

My first boat is a 50’ Hanse 505. My family of 4 moved aboard 1.5 years ago in Hawaii, I sailed it to Seattle, and we are happily cruising Mexico now 8000nm later.

However! I had lots of sailing experience as a boy and young man, and nothing has been a surprise. I sailed lots of different boats in lots of different conditions. My wife had no experience, but is enjoying herself a lot, and has turned into an excellent sailor.

Nonetheless, my recommendation is to take it slow. That can either mean lessons, chartering, crewing, to build confidence and knowledge, or buying now, but sticking close to your home marina and building skills on your own boat. I wouldn’t go cruising with little experience in a new-to-you big boat far from home.

[Startracker]

Originally Posted by alctel

I bought a 36' sailboat dead cheap around 8 years ago, knowing literally nothing about sailing and never having been on a boat before (I thought that 'sheets' were another name for sails). I wanted a cheap place I could live on that was 'my own' since the housing market was bonkers where I lived (it's since got even worse), picked up the book 'Good Old Boat' on a whim one day and thought "I could do that"

Moved onto it 6 months later, lived on her for 6 more years while refitting her, learning to sail and working fulltime. Sailed her around Vancouver Island, up towards Alaska and down to Mexico, mostly single-handed. Would have crossed to FP as well but Covid-19 intervened and I had to sell the boat after two years being stuck in Mexico - I needed to go back to work.

I kept a blog and it's funny to go back and see what I didn't know, or did wrong

If you ever feel like a sail again and you're back on the Island, let me know!
I might know of an extremely good deal on a 42' offshore veteran stuffed to the gills with spares and upgrades like Hurricane heat, owner used to own a shipyard. If I hadn't just bought my boat, I'd have been all over it.
Funny, I started the same many years ago now, for the same reasons. My story didn't end with cruising unfortunately, but with me in the industry. I'm fixing up another boat and if COVID settles down I'll be going cruising, at least knowing I can fix whatever goes wrong.