What Sailboat Do You Have ?

[mercury01]

I am a 24 yr old recent college grad. I am trying to get back into sailing so that here in a few years I can get a boat when I can afford it.

Here is the question: What type of sailboat do you own? And, more importantly, why? Why did you choose that boat out of all of the others? Size, brand, year, handling, rigging style, cabin, price? What is it that stood out enough for you to put the money down?

Thanks in advanced. I am trying to figure out what type of sailboats I like best.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by mercury01

Here is the question: What type of sailboat do you own? And, more importantly, why? Why did you choose that boat out of all of the others? Size, brand, year, handling, rigging style, cabin, price?

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on having earned your degree.

There's nothing that shuts down a nautical conversation quicker than someone asking me how much I paid for my boat.

Enough said?

[Nibiruwayne]

Buy now what you CAN afford. Don't wait. Consider the immediate area you can use it and select the best bargain which meets that need. You can benefit with any type of boat from a sailing dinghy to a trailerable boat. You will either keep trading as your needs and skills improve or you will satisfy your passions. Both are good outcomes.
I am on my sixth sailboat, all have been different and have met different sailing dreams.

[kaimusailing]

Yeah, already the drift is started.

I'm older now and can look back at a sailing legacy. It started with budget boats, replacement of the failing derelicts. Daysailing catamarans. Windsurfing. Then a big old plywood boat. Gone.

Now I am with a boat that I've decided is IT, and that is the best approach to the whole thing. You have to know what you want and when you can get it, GET IT. Otherwise, the time for you now is more or less a learning process.
The normal process is small boats in youth, then going bigger and bigger into maturity. Then, as we age, smaller again, matching ability with the boat.
There is a great boating market right now for the buyer, but a boat isn't just an object that you buy and hang on the wall, it has to be maintained somewhere and you have a regular expense. For someone starting out from college and making a career, just get involved with a sailing club or crew on a race boat every week. If you want your very own boat, get something small and sweet with low maintenance requirements. Try out a lot of boat and form your own opinions. There are a lot of sellers out there willing to go out on a weekend to let you shake down their boats.

You did ask about personal boats and what we like about them. I personally like almost all sailboats. There is a secret. The old Captain Nat Herreschoft said, "It is speed under sail that is desirable, and the jump out of the gate that is very desirable". I would add that you can subtract the amount of maintenance and fees for storage, the amount of time trying to keep up the appearances. I had the most fun on a windsurfer and the least upkeep of any other boat.
I was in a couple of sailing clubs when I was younger and they schooled me at times and it is not a bad way to go when you are first at it.
If you get to crew on a boat with an older skipper like me, then you will get some direction on his invested dollar, but have to put up with the old stories.
Happy hunting!

[2Restless]

I have to agree, buy now! I started buying boats about two years ago without knowing a thing! I was stationed in Guam and about to move to Va, so I bout a 35.5 Hunter sight unseen. Of course I got it surveyed before i dropped the cash, but handed over the check before ever seeing the boat in person. I sailed it from the top of the Chez Bay to Norfolk, having never sailed anything other than a Lazer before that. I decided the boat was too big for me so I sold it a few months later and bought a 33 Cheoy Lee. It was a sweet boat, well balanced, beautiful lines, and teak everywhere. She was THE BOAT. Then i met a girl, got engaged, got married, and sold THE BOAT. But, I got lucky; I found a woman who loves living on boats just as much if not more than me, so we bought a very nice Southern Cross 35. She is well built, well balanced, just the right draft, heavy enough to take the sea comfortably, and still classy with her canoe stern. She is the new THE BOAT. Plus, there is plenty of room for my wife and I which makes me a happy man!

Hope that helped.

I doubt it did, but if you got anything from all of that, buy a boat now! You will never regret the decision... at least until your looking at the ________ (whatever broken piece is in your hand) and jumping up and down saying "I hate boats!!!!!"

-Restless Crew

[boatman61]

Welcome to CF 2Restless... nice start..
To the OP... it aint what you got... its how you use it...
Mine cost £1250... been standing on the hard in Harwich, UK for 2 yrs....
Now in bits in Portugal undergoing a stop start refit...
Don't use her much...

[2Restless]

Thanks Boatman, I've been lurking this site for a year or so now, just decided to sign up and join in on some of these threads

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by 2Restless

But, I got lucky; I found a woman who loves living on boats just as much if not more than me, so we bought a very nice Southern Cross 35. She is well built, well balanced, just the right draft, heavy enough to take the sea comfortably, and still classy with her canoe stern...

I had to stop and re-read that section a couple of times until it became clear you were talking about the 35 and not your wife! <phew> ;-)

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by mercury01

I am a 24 yr old recent college grad. I am trying to get back into sailing so that here in a few years I can get a boat when I can afford it.

Here is the question: What type of sailboat do you own? And, more importantly, why? Why did you choose that boat out of all of the others? Size, brand, year, handling, rigging, style, cabin, price? What is it that stood out enough for you to put the money down?

Thanks in advanced. I am trying to figure out what type of sailboats I like best.

The best boat for you will depend on what you want to do with it. Nobody can help you figure that out. What do you want to do?
Race
Overnight locally
Some of both.
Daysail only
Liveaboard
Cruise offshore

Do you have a significant other and/or dependants?

[cal40john]

I'm in the join a club camp. I'm not good at buying and selling things. I tend to hang on to what I bought. I started sailing in a club that had about 15 different kinds of boats. Mostly dinghies. It had 2 keelboats, now 3. Met people in the club that had other boats that I got to crew on and race on. So I got a chance to sail on fairly moderate cruisers to fairly hot race boats. It gave me a chance to figure out what was important to me in the qualities of a sailboat.

John

[Adelie]

Oh yeah, what do I own? A Radio Flyer 3 as you can see from my avatar. The other photo I have in my profile explains why.

What do I want? Cal 29,34,36,40 or 43, all built 1965-75. Lots of past history with Cal's so comfortable with them. Prices are pretty good these days for the boat you get. Fairly fast, even today. Well built, well laid out. Cal 36 is the favorite for best size compromise, really wide side decks, very good berthing arrangements, good galley arrangement and price.

[mikefossl]

I'll talk about my second boat as it may be closer to your situation. Kirby 25. It's essentially a clone of the J24 penned by Bruce Kirby of Laser fame. For me it was a great boat that offered lots of flexibility: fast, relatively easy to maintain and a great platform to learn to sail bigger boats. Going from the Kirby 25 to my current boat was surprisingly painless.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by mercury01

I am a 24 yr old recent college grad. I am trying to get back into sailing so that here in a few years I can get a boat when I can afford it.

Here is the question: What type of sailboat do you own? And, more importantly, why? Why did you choose that boat out of all of the others? Size, brand, year, handling, rigging style, cabin, price? What is it that stood out enough for you to put the money down?

Thanks in advanced. I am trying to figure out what type of sailboats I like best.

You don't need to own a boat to go sailing. Join a club.

[Dwayne Lister]

I have been sailing on and off for over 30 years, and can honestly say that have never sailed in any boat that I didn't enjoy.
I have sailed all sorts, from Fireball dinghys to a 60ft schooner. All had different characters, and different temperments, but none left me unhappy.

Buy the best you can find for the budget you have. If you have some basic DIY type skills, you have the ability to add more yacht orientated skills as you go. If so, don't be afraid of a little work. As long as the boat is basically sound, you can always fix the cosmetics. Boats will always need lots of TLC, no matter what they are or how much you spend - it goes with the territory, live with it.
But above all - find a boat, or join a club and find someone willing to let you crew - you will be surprised how many people are happy to have some extra crew.

Just one warning - once sailing gets into your blood, it is there for life. There is no known treatment, and it doesn't respond to long term medication. Other things may divert your attention from time to time. Family and other commitments may mean that you cannot sail, but the longing will always be there.....


Have fun

Dwayne

[lolarose]

cornish crabber 24, could by biger boat but found this size most comfortable to handle and sail alone. i like sailing alone. even if i win ££$$ millions on lottery i would not by biger sailing boat. motor cruiser probably, but sailing boat, definitely not biger then 24, 26 foot.