My first dream
boat was a spinnaker-equipped beach cat. At the time a souped-out Tornado was the thing, but I ended up with an 18' version that cooked. The idea of a cruising
boat that was litterally, 3 times slower, was corny. If I wanted to go to the islands I would fly, and I was getting plenty of adventure climbing and in the mountains.
I moved up to a Stiletto 27 (27' Kevlar cat) to which I promptly added a chute and some other stuff. It had just enough acomodation that you could
cruise, if you had and mini-RV/camper mind set (some
electric, 2 nice bunks, and a sink). Just as fast as the beach cat with a lot more all-day speed. I once logged 200 miles in day light. It was a long day.
Then a cruising cat caught my eye. It had all the comforts, including hot showers and installed AC. Not as fast, but I was OK with that. double digits were still common and I revised the keels and sail plan so that she was pretty weatherly. For singlehanded cruising it was shear perfection, with a
family a few more feet would have been nice.
And then I got tired of cruising and got a quick little tri (F-24). In fact, I'd spotted this model when I had my Stiletto 27 and thought it looked like great fun; a little slower, but weatherly and better in a blow. For what I'm doing now--day sailing and trivial cruising--it's close to perfection.
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Each time I had something pretty close to my "dream boat," though many were not big at all. If my "dream" were long term
liveaboard, something large and posh would be nice, but most of us really aren't interested in that. We like houses. And personally, the idea of having a cruising boat I only use a few times a year is completely unappealing. Ick. It should be something I really want to use.
a. Your dream changes. How do you plan for that?
b. Face it, most of us only day sail. What is your
day sailing dream boat? It really should't be about how many it sleeps, but about how much fun it is to drive.