What Size for Coastal Cruiser

[sailorboy1]

Get the biggest boat you feel you can afford to sail and maintain! You never wish you had less space and comfort!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by bluegrassholder

GoneSail,
Okay, what if I downgrade my coastal cruising in this case to simply day sailing out of Winyah bay for the day along the coast and back and within eye view of land? I would make sure I could return to the bay by nightfall on a 22 footer Catalina.

If you are referring to Georgetown as a home port to cruise out Winyah Bay; then, the distance and impact of the current on a 22' sailboat will be critical. Wether out to the ocean or up the Waccamaw, you'll need to time your coming and going with the currents. You are far better off up in the North Carolina sounds or down to Florida with opportunities to use your boat.

[Jim Cate]

FWIW, many years ago, (1970-77) while young(er) and inexperienced I had an early (hull 61) swing keel Cat-22. Raced SYRA and midwinters in SF Bay, did a few coastal trips outside the gate, and several cruises from Sta Barbara to the Channel Islands. Finally spent 4 wonderful weeks sailing the loop from Pt Angeles to Vancouver and back with wife of the time and two kids on board... all anchoring out rather than marina hopping.

Broke three masts (all racing) but never anything else serious. Was is stupid? So I have been told, but we sure had a good and an educational time for all 7 years that I owned her. Was I experienced? A lot more at the end of that time than at the beginning ! My point? Yes, you can do it if you want to badly enough, but you will get a lot of folks saying that you shouldn't.

Start out with less ambitious sailing, let your experience build, and develop a thick skin... then think about your longer coastal trips. By then you should be able to evaluate the risks on your own.

Cheers and good luck.

Jim

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

My point? Yes, you can do it if you want to badly enough, but you will get a lot of folks saying that you shouldn't.

Start out with less ambitious sailing, let your experience build, and develop a thick skin... then think about your longer coastal trips. By then you should be able to evaluate the risks on your own.

+1...

[Starbuck]

I did a 150-mile coastal loop in a C22 on the west coast, as well, after I became comfortable sailing the boat in different conditions and had some experience overnighting locally to practice setting and lying to an anchor (this was my first keelboat). Of course I was reading voraciously about how to "weekend" a small boat like the C22.

If you stay inshore so that you can run in in case of any nasty weather, read up about "weekending" or "pocket cruising," and take some time on daysails and local over-nighters to develop skills & confidence, there's no reason you can't do it.

[bluegrassholder]

Thanks for the replies you all! I was considering getting a small cabin cruiser here, but I think now I will wait a few years and continue with the open hull boats and do some lake racing to build experience. I am not interested in inland cruising since we have an RV camper. If I did not own a camper, I might be more interested in big lake and river cruising in a C22. I was hoping that short ocean cruising might be within my budget and experience out of Georgetown, but you all have helped me get a better perspective on the conditions off the eastern coast of SC and the ability of that boat. I know from spendings many summer vacations there that the waves and wind are a lot stronger than southern Florida, for example.

[Seafarer24]

Find the book "20 small boats to take you anywhere". While these boats could all cross oceans, you will at least see that certain features and standards are set for venturing away from land.

Here are a few of my short-list of small boats (25' or less) I'd love to own for coastal cruising and island hopping through the FL Keys, Bahamas, and maybe even the Caribbean. These are not the most amazing small boats ever built (like the Aquarius Pilot Cutter or the Flika) but instead very budget-minded, simple, stout boats. I've seen all of them sell for $1,000 or less in sail-away condition (except the Seawind), but this is by no means the average deal for these boats.

1965-1976 Cal 25- at the top of this list even though it doesn't have standing headroom.
1964-1972 Bristol Corsair (24')- has 6' of standing headroom and beautiful lines. I briefly owned one of these but never got it to sailing condition.
196x-197x Lapworth Gladiator, Columbia Contender, and Islander Bahama- all of these 24' boats are extremely similar so I'm just lumping them together.
Pearson Electra- the "cruising" version of the Ensign! I almost bought a nice one for $500 with 7 good sails in the FL Keys, but I was on vacation and my g/f would have shot me if I made her drive home alone (and I had no outboard to motor during the wind-less summers there).
Seawind 24- it's a catamaran with very spartan accommodations but I'd still coastal cruise the heck out of this boat. I have more hours on cats than anything so far and do not fear them!

You may notice that I'm very fond of flush-deck designs.

[Dkdoyle]

I would whole heartedly recommend a 26 ft seafarer. They are normally available at a reasonable price. This a hardy boat with 6'2" headroom. Handles it well when the wind picks up.

[Bash]

Catalina 22? No.
Catalina 27? Ok.
Catalina 34? Yep.
Catalina 42? Woof.