Where to start cruising?

[seaman-lew]

lots of cheap boat here in Fla

[Macblaze]

Just as support to TrentePieds suggestion, you could buy here in BC/Washington, sail the PNW for a season (or two) where its easy to learn and oh so beautiful and then head down the west coast to join in the sun and fun in the Sea of Cortez and eventually the canal and the Caribbean or turn left to cross the Pacific. It would probably be a great progression of learning and fun.

I think its a pretty common and viable scenario. But then I love cruising here :-)

[Jim Cate]

or turn left to cross the Pacific.

Turning left from Mexico's west coast makes it a very, very long trip across the Pacific!

Jim

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Turning left from Mexico's west coast makes it a very, very long trip across the Pacific!

Jim

Oops.

Oddly enough I know my port and starboard instinctually but still get left and right wrong...

[_andi_]

Originally Posted by Juho

Maybe it is enough if the location where you buy the boat is in the same continent as the place where you plan to sail it. I mean that with an experienced friend you can quite easily sail the boat to wherever you want to go. Buy he boat where boats are cheap, and sail where they need not be so cheap.

Yep, that's pretty much the idea. Buy somewhere cheap & relatively easy to sail and then go from there and tackle the more advanced areas after getting more proficient in sailing. I'm just not fixated on a continent. But it seems it's pretty much down to northern america or europe.

[TrentePieds]

It's really, really simple: Hold you jhands out in front of you, looking at the nacks of them. The starboard hand is the one with the thumb on the port side. :-).

MyBeloved is STILL required to wear port'n'starboard laces in her boots.

TrentePieds

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "I own a IW-Varvet IW-31, S&S Design 1899. Truly awesome boat but to small for lifeabord (for me)."

Yes I can well believe that! Not much more'n a King's Cruiser, in fact not much more than a Folkboat ;-) The design predates that time in the early 70's when every Tom, Dick and Harry thought they wanted to run away to sea, a time when boats were generally smaller and paid more attention to sailing qualities than to accommodations.

That changed in those fateful years when, on this continent, cruising boats became objects of "conspicuous consumption", and women began to demand more space and more comfort as the price for going sailing, let alone cruising, with their menfolk.

An additional factor was that Americans and Canadians for a few years, just then, had money coming out of their ears. Larger boats became de rigueur among droves of new seafarers, and there was a sufficiency of them, so many, in fact, that factory production of "frozen snot" boats became a viable business proposition, at least for some years.

The design of TrentePieds postdates the design of S&S #1899 by about ten years and she is in the North American idion, though designed by a Dutchman. He designed her to sell into the new, North American market. She is a foot (say 30 cm) shorter overall, but she is 3 foot (say 1 metre) longer on the waterline. She is a foot (say 30 cm) wider in the beam and displaces about 2K lbs (say a ton) more. She has 6'1" (say 180 cm) headroom in the fore-cabin and 1.90M or so in the "pilot house" It's an entirely different design idiom. Much bulkier than a Scowegian design, and with much more freeboard, much taller topsides and, in consequence, much more windage. Also MUCH more accommodation. So MyBeloved, who knows very little about boats, just LOVES 'er, and I find her acceptable for many weeks at a time. For a single man she would be alright for permanent living and therefore for long term cruising.

I mention it because this particular design idiom was distinctly North American, though it has now, it seems, spread to European producers as well. TrentePieds' sailing qualities are quite different from those the IW31 must have, which would be like those of the King's Cruiser, but just fine for what we do in the Salish Sea. Wind and wave in the Baltic, and in the Kattegat, on the shore of which IW Varvet was (is?) located, are quite different from those in the Salish Sea. I might add to that, that campaigning a King's Cruiser in the Salish Sea against the NA designed "IOR" boats in the late 70s, we got wiped out on the downhill leg every time, though we could hold our canvas longer when on the wind. That was just the natural consequence of the differences in the design idiom.

So, by and large, you get the biggest bang for the accommodations buck (ceteris paribus) by buying a North American boat of early 80 vintage. WHERE you buy it might be of lesser consequence cos these type of boats are now all over the world. But remember that a German national will have a load of legal requirements to meet if he buys outside EU.

Oh - and about language. Don't worry about it. Your English seems mor'n adequate to me. And I should know. I had FOUR words of English to my name when I landed on these shores. ;-)

TrentePieds (Former Danish Person)

[_andi_]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Yes I can well believe that! Not much more'n a King's Cruiser, in fact not much more than a Folkboat ;-)

Depends :-) Sizewise: yes. Performance: not entirely. Kings Cruiser 29 is yardstick 114, Kings Cruiser 33 and IW-31 are both 109. But the IW is a true "cheater design" of the era, the measured waterline is actually shorter than the waterline of the kings cruiser 29. But it increases mysteriously when it takes up speed...

Page 2 of the original brochure lists some notable race results:

Original Prospekt |

teaser: race from kristiansand to skagen 1970. 26 half tonner entered, 3 finished, two of which iw-31s. The winning iw-31 flew a spinnacker in 50-65 miles of wind, matching the speeds of the one-ton boats.

So yeah, she is slower downwind but that doesn't necessary stop her.

The worst weather I sailed her through yet was beating into 8bft in shallow waters. Quite choppy but she liked it.

I will miss her sailing abilities. But budget and comfort will probably force me to buy something more of a "brick" design.

[beirutsailor]

The easiest sailing ground in the world is the Ionean. And beautiful. Flights in season are less than a 100 euros. Mooring mostly free or around € 10. Large boat market.

[Munoz]

As others have suggested the Baltic is a great place to start and prices (especially in Sweden) are reasonably good. Also Boats don't deteriorate as quickly due to the short season in the water, the moderate summer climate and the brakish water. On the otherhand the season is short so you'd have to be ready to head south at the end of Summer.

Greece is another great/cheap place to get a boat, some (but not all) boats there are tired, so you'd have to look around a bit. As others have said most of the charter boats are generally well maintained, the downside is they tend to have a very basic fit out, so you'd have to purchace a lot of equipment.

Another posibility in Europe is the Algave in Portugal/Spain. Some good ancorages and cheap marinas (except over summer) or boat storage ashore. Arguabley the warmest place to overwinter in Europe. Otherwise its a good place to depart for either the Canaries/Carribean or the Med. in addition to Yachtworld and Apollo Duck you could try Video Boats for sales Uk & Portugal,

[annk]

May I suggest the Algarve coast of Portugal and on down the Spanish coast toward Gibraltar?
It's got great infrastructure, the climate is mostly pretty benign. You can potter up two great rivers or overnight to the more exotic coast of Morocco. As you gain confidence there are great charactars to meet in Gib and stories to share of ocean passages. It's also a good jumping off spot for the Canaries, the Azores and the Caribbean.
Excellent flight connections to the rest of Europe, cheap living and friendly natives.....

[_andi_]

Thanks for all the awesome feedback, this really brought up some options I did not have in mind.

One additional Question: Why did nobody recommend the Caribbean?

[robbinsfamily]

We just bought in Sardinia at a great price. Cheaper than Greece. Really easy sailing and we'll make our way to the Ionian after a few months in Sardinia and Sicily.