Your Boat Progression - Care to Share ?

[Coops]

UK, Learnt to sail on my father's Robert Tucker caprice, 18'

Australia, Swanson dart 22'
Timber top hat 25'
Spacesailer 24.
Santana 28,
Thomas Colvin Gazelle42' Liveaboard and cruise.
Swanson Carmen class 31'
Roberts 34, Timber.
Now have Sunmaid 20', Careel 18' and John Welsford "navigator" 15' open boat.

Started small, went big, back to small.

Coops.

[belizesailor]

Geez...let's see if I can remember:

Old Town Canoe
Terry Bass Fish & Ski and various other small powerboats (family's boats)
Hobie 16 (friend's boat)
Hobie 16 (owned)
Very long list of monohulls, and a few multis, from 25-55 feet (sailed as crew then captain/instructor, not owned, built most of my experience on these boats...)
Hunter 37 Cutter (first mid-sized boat I owned)
Wildcat 35 (currently own)
ELISSA (Barque rigged ship built in 1877, as crew)
55' custom power cat as captain
Lots more mid-sized sailing cats as charter captain (FP, Lagoon, R&C,...)
A few more mid-sized monos as charter captain
Hobie 33 (currently own)

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Thanks. The Cal 40 was my first passage capable, and I thought it was the fastest boat alive till meeting up with a Santa Cruz 50.

I liked the way the CAL 40 pointed higher & faster than everything in sight.

We've been pleasantly surprised with the Camper & Nicholson 58 ketch. Waterline is 45 feet (old school with lots of overhang) and has a full keel. It makes 9 to 10 by the GPS in 15 apparent and just short of close hauled. Points well if you want to run pinched up. My cousin had its sister-ship that he circumnavigated. He said they made 15 in the trades crossing the S. Pacific for days. In the photo under sail we are making 9 in flat water with a pleasant breeze. Its like driving a comfy couch.

[daddle]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

We've been pleasantly surprised with the Camper & Nicholson 58 ketch. Waterline is 45 feet (old school with lots of overhang) and has a full keel.

Waterline is everything baby! Sweet. That's no full keel though. Not a fin either. Nice!

[smj]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Geez...let's see if I can remember:

Old Town Canoe
Terry Bass Fish & Ski and various other small powerboats (family's boats)
Hobie 16 (friend's boat)
Hobie 16 (owned)
Very long list of monohulls, and a few multis, from 25-55 feet (sailed as crew then captain/instructor, not owned, built most of my experience on these boats...)
Hunter 37 Cutter (first mid-sized boat I owned)
Wildcat 35 (currently own)
ELISSA (Barque rigged ship built in 1877, as crew)
55' custom power cat as captain
Lots more mid-sized sailing cats as charter captain (FP, Lagoon, R&C,...)
A few more mid-sized monos as charter captain
Hobie 33 (currently own)

What years did you crew on the Elissa?

[JoeDiver]

I grew up in a boating family and lake property owning friends...so listing all those boats....I just can't do. Way too many to even remember.

Personally, I've owned:

14' Jon Boat 7.5 Sears motor. (I was 12)
18' Larson runabout 50 HP Mercury (high school)
'87 Ski Nautique (college grad self gift)
'94 Barefoot Nautique
Then I went to travel trailers, camping, motorcycles, a Corvette.....
'82 Catalina C25 (current boat, first sailboat)

[gjordan]

Hey Cheechako! Did you cruise your Contessa 26? If I wasnt too old to live with full crouching head room, I would go back to a Contessa. Pound for pound or foot for foot it sailed better than any other boat I have been on. Fond memories!_____Grant.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I liked the way the CAL 40 pointed higher & faster than everything in sight.

We've been pleasantly surprised with the Camper & Nicholson 58 ketch. Waterline is 45 feet (old school with lots of overhang) and has a full keel. It makes 9 to 10 by the GPS in 15 apparent and just short of close hauled. Points well if you want to run pinched up. My cousin had its sister-ship that he circumnavigated. He said they made 15 in the trades crossing the S. Pacific for days. In the photo under sail we are making 9 in flat water with a pleasant breeze. Its like driving a comfy couch.

making 9 in flat water Now that is the perfect sales hook, plus what a perfect way to cruise.

[JayCall]

Learned to sail as a kid at the Naval Academy where my Dad (career Marine and NA Class of '42), taught gunnery and was a sailling master. Sailed on most everything they had. Grew up sailing a bunch of small boats, raced Hobies for a while and never won anything. Discovered I did not really like sailing as a way to get anywhere but also did not like big gas bills so fell in love with old classic motor yachts. Bought a 53' Wheeler which taught me two things (1) all the reasons people love old wooden boats, and (2) all the reasons you should never buy an old wooden boat.

Lived in SE NC in the 70's and early 80's and bought an 85' shrimper built by my first wife's uncle. Her cousin ran it although I spent a lot of time culling shrimp! Had the crazy idea to turn it into a cruiser, after all the ice chest held 15,000 lbs of ice! Bad idea. Bought and rebuilt a 65' 1957 Trumpy and kept it for about 8 years in Little River, SC. Had to spend the next almost 20 years withut a boat working for a living.

Late 2000's, got the Krogen and am really hoping our daughter keeps to her goal of finishing high school in 3 years so we can go. The docklines are a bit worn and I would rather just untie and leave than spend the $$ to replace them!

[AllezCat]

1996 - "Spat the dummy" - sold businesses in New York City. Decided to buy sailing boat - hang out in Caribbean. Paid cash for new one at Miami Boat show in February. Flew to Cape Town South Africa about July - to begin learning to sail my boat a St Francis 44 catamaran. Finished Learning in Fortaleza, Brazil.
1999 - sold it in Phuket Thailand - about 30, 000 miles... never doing that again...
2010 - did it again Catana 582.

[Dhillen]

Cape Dory 33 - learned to sail with her on Long Island Sound and sailed her to Guatemala then back to Florida where she was sold.
Tayana 52 - got the boat for our honeymoon and sailed her from Malaysia to Spain. Three great years and learned a lot.
Oyster 53 - just bought her and getting her ready for our family trip from the PNW to NZ...

What have I learned? The more time I spend at sea the less time I want to be on land. Makes it hard to concentrate sometimes.

Dhillen

[dirkdig]

Sabot that the St Leonards yacht club provided for kids to learn how to sail as most families in the area could not afford their own 1970's
Ns14 as a crew 1980's
17 ft fishing boat 1990's
Lagoon 440 2009

[endoftheroad]

23' ODay
27' C+C
26' Paceship
32' Westsail

[kaimusailing]

Interesting thread.
Sailed on small boats since age 8. Bought damaged 28ft catamaran 40 years ago, rebuilt it, then traded for an 18' plywood cat and a bunch of other stuff.
The 18' hulls failed due to age, built a pair of Wharram Hinemoa 23' hulls as a replacement. Learned a lot about how Wharram hulls perform with that little boat.
Began getting smaller and smaller boats, Hobie 14, windsurfer, then in my 40's found a Wharram 45' ketch for 12K and singlehanded it from Cape Cod to Connecticut. Sailed it and tried to keep it maintained for about 3 years, lost it in a freak storm while I was away.
Got a cute Coronado 34 sloop and sailed a lot on it. I was living aboard these last few boats. I missed the big Wharram cat and was always looking for another.
Found a Wharram 44' project in California, surveyed it, shipped it to Connecticut, semi completed it and sailed to the Keys and back. Still completing it, but almost done. Love how it sails.

[SkiprJohn]

Kaimu reminded me that in addition to all the othere boats I mentioned in a prefious post I sailed a Wharram 23 many times with our local club. Great sailing little catamaran and I'd definitely try a larger version if offered the opportunity. I couldn't make it heave to but everything else about it was pretty much fun.
Lost the use of a rudder on it due to a pintle and gudgeon failure but not a problem since I had another rudder on the other hull that worked just fine.
kind regards,