My
advice is to not buy anything until you are ready to
live aboard and then its going to be the real
boat you want. Life on a
Cal 25 and the like would be outright miserable on a good day.
Instead, spend like the other poster said, on sailing TIME. Lessons, practice, out in storms,
celestial navigation, begin acquiring
gear, these are all things to do which dont require your own boat (yet). If you buy anything right now you dont intend to keep, remember you have to re-sell it somehow, you have to fix and maintain it. Forget it.
I dont believe there is any such thing as "practicing or
learning to
live aboard." Either you do or you dont.
Sailing
classes are offered in any college located near
water and they will often use something like a Lido 14, probably the best
learning craft on the planet. Spend your time and effort there. Make friends and crew on larger vessels too. If, for example, you could buy a
cheap old small sailboat on Craigslist for $600, I still would rather buy a good
sextant for that
money and if you are lucky, some good
charts within that
budget too.
There is another thing seldom talked about. You buy a boat to learn, only to find out you hate sailing and especially sleeping overnight on a boat. Then what, the
money is burned and you just write it off and walk away? Wish I was rich like that.
I dont even see how sailing and
living aboard can be said in the same breath. How are they equal to each other? LEARN to sail and after you have failed or taken to it, THEN discuss boats. Anyone who says they want to buy a boat to learn to sail and live on it is 100 steps ahead of where they actually are.