Pretend you are a Newbie! - how would you start?

[GrowleyMonster]

I would watch craigslist and ebay for a 30 footer at under 3k with at least one decent suit of sails and grab it and live aboard while getting it ready for sea. Short shakedown trips then longer ones, learning from the experience, then just go for it.

[Therapy]

I would (since I was a newbie) do what I did. Find this place and believe all the stuff that allowed me to delude myself into thinking I could modify my life and that of others close to me so as to include cruising.....

To find that it just won't work out well enough.........

But you can tell there is a tiny box within that has a tiny spark in it still.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Therapy

I would (since I was a newbie) do what I did. Find this place and believe all the stuff that allowed me to delude myself into thinking I could modify my life and that of others close to me so as to include cruising.....

To find that it just won't work out well enough.........

But you can tell there is a tiny box within that has a tiny spark in it still.

It is a hard road to plough... live my life or someone elses...
Getting out there's easy... staying is the killer.
Could always buy a couple of horse's and ride the old Silk Road... easypeasy these days... not so far to China...

[Stu Jackson]

Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook covers a lot of the crap that would take forever to learn on any of these forums.

[robert sailor]

Almost all my old cruising friends started out with all the hopes and dreams and unbelievable plans including web pages so their friends could get the latest as they sailed around the world.
These people were all semi-experienced/experienced sailors and none of them made it past Mexico, which is fine by the way. What does this say about the ods of someone with zero experience selling all and heading out...my first thoughts are they'd have to be crazy.
There are tons of coastal cruisers out there and not that many ocean crossers and the bulk of these folks came with some sailing experience.
My advise, don't even consider it until you have had some experience, don't even sell your bike until you have done some real sailing. Beg borrow or steal time with someone offhore and find out what its really like...only enjoyable to a few tough, hardy and skilled souls. Your way better off if you buy a boat in a settled cruising ground like the Caribbean or Mexico and take in the good life where the sailing is easy.

[deckofficer]

If the operative word is NOW, with no experience, then buy a power boat but hang out with sailboaters, on passages swap with their crew, you as crew on the sailboat, the crewmember you replaced following in your powerboat. Do this on as many different sailboats as you can, then sell the powerboat for a sailboat you liked the best.

See David how easy that was.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Coops

If I was to start by researching online I think that I would be put off sailing forever,. I would be scared off every anchor, every form of wood treatment, every toilet, every engine and most importantly, every boat, because there will always be someone who bags it or has had a terrible experience with it and then it would stick in my brain and I would worry about it.

Try buying a car through online reviews, there is not a good one out there it seems. Read books, yes, go and sail on as many as you can, yes, but listening to self important know alls whingeing about which is the best clevis pin will only ruin the dream with uncertainty. Never on CF of course, this last bastion of intelligence and good humour.

The online world does seem to confuse some folk .......but probably much the same as when confronted with lots of knowledge in the real world......some folks better at extracting the info they need from the pool and ignoring the irrelevant (including the dross!).......some do need spoonfeeding answers, but for that the "answer" is writing a cheque - online and real world often same same.

Again I state, as I have on other similar threads, I would just buy one that I like the look of and go from there.Did that decades ago, and still do now. Does not make me clever, or knowledgeable, just simple and easily pleased perhaps.

Coops.

Certainly an approach that has merit - pros and cons to everything, in this case IMO a higher risk of buying a pup or something simply unsuitable for the intended use (or for the wife?!) as the first boat that helps kill (slowly strangle?!) the dream - including financially (most people have limits!).

BTW this thread was not about creating a "right" way just to bring together different approaches (including opinions )......and show that there are different approaches and success is as much about puzzling out for yourself an approach that works for "you" and your own circumstances (they all vary, at least slightly).

[Coops]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

BTW this thread was not about creating a "right" way just to bring together different approaches (including opinions )......and show that there are different approaches and success is as much about puzzling out for yourself an approach that works for "you" and your own circumstances (they all vary, at least slightly).

You seem to have achieved your objective then DOJ.

Coops.

[Normanby]

Couple of bits of "book learnin" advice I took that I would ignore if starting again:

1 - "Buy a small fixer-upper to gain experience" - I must have blown about 6k on my first plywood fixer-upper. I'm now on boat number 5 and FINALLY about to take some advice I wish I'd gotten 12 years ago: "save up, buy the boat that will do what you ultimately want to do, made of thick GRP, and start learning on that."

Without the time and skills (and network) I must avoid the fixer uppers, and buy 'ready-made'.

2 - "Sailing without a motor makes you a better sailor": maybe, but for me it made me unpopular with the Water Police, who had to rescue me 3 times before I finally bought and outboard and bracket.

When I think of all the money I've spent on books, money lost on buying, upgrading and selling boats, money spent chartering (to make sure I'd like it - I did) I heave a sigh.

I could have 'gone' years ago.

Anyhoo, the savings are building up nicely now. Nearly there, nearly there, soon...

[Gelfling]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

If the operative word is NOW, with no experience, then buy a power boat but hang out with sailboaters, on passages swap with their crew, you as crew on the sailboat, the crewmember you replaced following in your powerboat. Do this on as many different sailboats as you can, then sell the powerboat for a sailboat you liked the best.

See David how easy that was.

I agree with DO here. You never really know a boat until you actually sail her. I have had captains brag on and on about his boat and after crewing with them I was left happy that they enjoyed it but knew it had nothing to offer me. At the same time I have found a situation where I crewed a boat an found it was a fit only to captain it and felt quite different about it. Ultimately one has to go through this progression to understand there is no 'perfect boat'. There are different characteristics that a captain/crew (and both should be as happy as possible while meeting in the middle) will prefer and thus the reason why there are so many options. If liveaboard is the goal, then comfy cabin is a must for me.

Since I have yet to be on a powerboat that I have found any comfort in(whats with all that noise?)..... I just picked up a nice lil sailboat that I have invited folks aboard in the hopes that they would extend a welcome aboard theirs. 9 out of 10 times.......it does. Sometimes they extend the welcome first. Comments about my boat have been "Wow she is quick"......and she is. To " Wow she is tender".....and she is. It is all about preferences.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Gelfling

I agree with DO here. You never really know a boat until you actually sail her. I have had captains brag on and on about his boat and after crewing with them I was left happy that they enjoyed it but knew it had nothing to offer me. At the same time I have found a situation where I crewed a boat an found it was a fit only to captain it and felt quite different about it. Ultimately one has to go through this progression to understand there is no 'perfect boat'. There are different characteristics that a captain/crew (and both should be as happy as possible while meeting in the middle) will prefer and thus the reason why there are so many options. If liveaboard is the goal, then comfy cabin is a must for me.

Since I have yet to be on a powerboat that I have found any comfort in(whats with all that noise?)..... I just picked up a nice lil sailboat that I have invited folks aboard in the hopes that they would extend a welcome aboard theirs. 9 out of 10 times.......it does. Sometimes they extend the welcome first. Comments about my boat have been "Wow she is quick"......and she is. To " Wow she is tender".....and she is. It is all about preferences.

Boy, can I identify with above by Gelfling. Prior to sailing, then buying my Cal 40, my only experience had been in a Rhodes 19, and our family's Flying Junior. My first long sail in that Cal 40 was staying ahead of a Pacific high all the way from Long Beach to Cabo, a downwind sled run, just what the Cal 40 does best. I was so damned pleased with my purchase, I think I was strutting on land. Made the turn for northbound into the Sea of Cortez, and faced some up wind sailing. I still thought my boat was just perfect for me (I like performance) till I did some day sailing with a family in the S of C on their Santa Cruz 50. That was a humbling experience, the SC 50 would point higher, and was faster on all points of sail. I still felt fine with my purchase, because back then a SC 50 was 3 to 4 times the price.

[olaf hart]

Do a diesel maintenance course.
Buy a powerboat.
Go.

[mrohr]

I'd get my hands on a inexpensive sailing dingy or some such,ready to go.First learn to sail ,learning to maintain will come soon enough.Sail that dingy in all weathers, anchor out, camp on her,learn to sail her reefed,heave to, and anything else you can think of. After an intense season of this you will be more accomplished than many who have sailed for years.Of course you will read extensively,befriend others that will take you on their boats, join a sailing club, ask questions, absorb all but think for your self. Learn to embrace your local marine environment ,the wind ,sky stars, and waters ; take them into your very soul. You are on now your way ,but you will never arrive ,only get better and more appreciative of this magnificent enterprise.

Some people feel the rain others just get wet.

[boatman61]

OK... will tell you what I did as a 'Newbie..' 1st boat I ever owned, age 33.. 1985... only sailing previous as a team member 65/66 in the Navy.
Bought a basically sound old timber planked bilge keel sailboat that I gutted internally cleaned, refitted and painted.. sanded back the hull and topsides and then coated with 3 coats of West epoxy coloured black and cream topsides..
Rigged her with the original wire, mast and sails then sailed her from Keyhaven to Poole where she'd be based for over 2yrs.. forays to Cherbourg and Alderney followed.
Would I do it again...
You should see my Corribee 21..
just gotta motivate..

[barnakiel]

Well, I would do nearly exactly what I did 10 years ago.

Except perhaps I might opt for a marginally bigger boat. Ours is just under 26', now I think there are some 30-32' boats that offer better bang/buck ratio.

I would like the extra displacement for better water carrying capacity and also to feel slightly safer in the blow.

So, basically:
- get the boat,
- go.

Quite simple, isn't it.

PS But if I were alone, I would chose a SMALLER boat.

b.