43ft Ketch for New Sailors

[SalingSue]

Originally Posted by Pugcat

Hi,

My wife and I caught the cruising bug a couple of years ago with the standard plan of taking our young kids off for a couple of years. Having little experience a Cat seemed to suit our needs and just seemed, at the time, safer so bought a 35ft Prout as a project. That project grew and grew so to get some actual sailing experience we bought a cheap 26ft Westerly and realised hey, maybe monohulls aren’t so terrifying after all! We also really like the more “connected” feel of the mono layout.

Now, this is definitely not another cat vs mono bashing thread, and if we could afford a 45 ft modern cat it’d be no contest, but in our price and size range we have come to realise that the big belly of a 40 odd ft mono seems to feel much more open than the many but smaller areas on a 35/37 ft cat.

So, to my point. We are now approaching crunch time as we are leaving next spring and have come across a Wauquiez 43 ketch at a good price and well equipped. We love the space, feel and storage but have never sailed a ketch before,and she is just so BIG and frankly, intimidating. The cat feels more versatile and much easier to handle but we have fallen a little in love with the feel of the mono.

So opinions please, is this just too much boat for a couple of relative newbies to handle? Thanks

If the ketch is laid out half decent, I don’t think it will be a issue.

Also why would a mono be more scary than a cat? In many ways a mono is much less scary in sporty conditions.

[upstateny]

Here is a great video of young children explaining all the parts of this schooner. Its not a Ketch but the video may give you a feel good moment. That said, on both cats and monos you need to practice for the worst case scenarios trimming for weather, MOB, Heaving to, ............

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/19p-...boating/#magic