Size is important ....or is it?

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Just the same as me

Except for me it also applies to yachts under 50', and probably more so

Point well taken! While I'm looking forward to gaining more experience & therefore confidence in handling my at times intimidating boat, I'm sure I'll always be giving thanks upon arriving at my destination!

[Dr. Sea]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Not sure how their book "Care & Feeding of the Cruising Crew" or something like that can be irrelevant and useless..

Read more carefully. I was responding only to the cryptic advice "go small, go now." Clearly, one size DOES NOT fit all.

[boatman61]

Anchor off.. if your to big for marinas apart from a few..
I know folk with 120ft+ who just rent a berth for their 25ft Rib and they come and go as they please..

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sea

Read more carefully. I was responding only to the cryptic advice "go small, go now." Clearly, one size DOES NOT fit all.

Cryptic? Hardly. I simply explained where they were coming form originally so as not to confuse the OP and then explained why some of their stuff WAS relevant.

Anyway, they are among many, but still only a handful of good material in book form. Why? 'Cuz there are a lot of qualified sailors out there. Only a handful are good writers. Not to ever take away from the great sailors either.

Any others come to mind?

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Cryptic? Hardly. I simply explained where they were coming form originally so as not to confuse the OP and then explained why some of their stuff WAS relevant.

Anyway, they are among many, but still only a handful of good material in book form. Why? 'Cuz there are a lot of qualified sailors out there. Only a handful are good writers. Not to ever take away from the great sailors either.

Any others come to mind?

I am currently reading "The Art of Seamanship," a 2015 release by Ralph Naranjo. Thus far I have found it through, comprehensive, and very well written. Not unlike the Calder books and Beth Leonard's extremely comprehensive book on voyaging, it's one that may be read through in its entirety and/or used as a reference. With more of an orientation on all the myriad factors that go into the concept of seamanship, I'd recommend it for inexperienced & experienced alike.

[Wakey]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It's funny that in all of these boat size discussions, people with small ones consistently say big boats are terrifying/uneconomical/unnecessary, and people with big ones always say that we would never want a smaller one



But none of this is relevant to the OP's question so why are we rehashing it here? He's going to have professional crew, which is a very smart decision. With professional crew and no budget problems, there is really no even wrong argument against a bigger boat



With those parameters, make mine about 90'

Fully agree with everything you posted.

However, make mine about 91'.

Am I learning or what?


Posted from my buggy iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum app

[woodenboats]

If you want comfort and money is not an issue you should look at boats like Eos or Mirabella.

As for 45 or 65 foot: 60+ foot yachts rely heavily on technology to make them manageable for a small (<6 Hands) Crew. Be prepared to have a tech fly in wherever you are to have repairs done. I crew regularly on a 60 foot Yacht built in 1936 - the only Hardware that never fails are those mechanical, muscle-powered bits from the 30s. I'm just trying to persuade some tech to pick up some parts for their autopilot and travel to an island in the baltic to fix it. Invoice will be 5 days of labour (2 days to get there, 1day repairs, 2 days to return) at 85 Euro/hour plus expenses. Btw the crew will be stuck there for like 8 days.
Repairs for a smaller unit would be available locally.

Sent from my Lenovo B8080-H using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by tinkrman69

65 FT? better get all the bells and whistles....electric winches both sheets and halliards, hydraulic windless..as electric will burnout with that much ground tackle. and or crew. yup size matters in many ways. in 5 years you won't always have fair seas. your age will dictate the number and type of crew

No need for power winches for a 65ft sailboat if you go with a Furling system....
Mine is all Pro-Furl and on schooner rig, furlers are set externally of the 2 Masts .

My 100 lb girlfriend can furl easily using a manual winch

Also not true about electric windlass. Most large supper yachts favor electric over hydraulic anchor windlasses.

Superior break out capacity and simpler installation.

I think there is also a fallacy that larger boats need to be more complicated... The primary equipment can be sized as you would for a 65ft commercial boat with the bonus of more space for installation and redundancy.

Tonnage is around the 30 to 45 range, so you should expect to motor sail more in light winds if you go with a conservative sail plan

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

No need for power winches for a 65ft sailboat if you go with a Furling system....
Mine is all Pro-Furl and on schooner rig, furlers are set externally of the 2 Masts .

My 100 lb girlfriend can furl easily using a manual winch

Also not true about electric windlass. Most large supper yachts favor electric over hydraulic anchor windlasses.

Superior break out capacity and simpler installation.

I agree and really don't know where most of these responders come up with the silly ideas that smaller is better. Our boat is 54ft, 25 ton and I just finished bringing her over to Porto Cervo myself, anchored inside the harbor near the small beach, was then told to take a mooring by the harbor fellow.... No problems, no issues, do it all the time by myself. Have had all the hydraulics, electrical devices and engine fail all at once, still got the boat in safe.

I'm not some kind of superman at 58yrs and 150 pounds, but I feel confident that I could do the same on a sailboat up to about 65ft with in mast furling and a furling jib.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I agree and really don't know where most of these responders come up with the silly ideas that smaller is better. Our boat is 54ft, 25 ton and I just finished bringing her over to Porto Cervo myself, anchored inside the harbor near the small beach, was then told to take a mooring by the harbor fellow.... No problems, no issues, do it all the time by myself. Have had all the hydraulics, electrical devices and engine fail all at once, still got the boat in safe.

I'm not some kind of superman at 58yrs and 150 pounds, but I feel confident that I could do the same on a sailboat up to about 65ft with in mast furling and a furling jib.

Thus far I can echo your positive experiences on my 20+ ton 47'er. If anything, it's size & heft seems to make everything from sail handling to anchoring to mooring and yes, even docking, more vs. less forgiving. I have had some serious system failures but fortunately not in rough seas so I've been able to handle. But that's exactly what worries me! The "cascading series of small failures" one often reads about leading to something potentially far worse. But then I have backups to my two electric furlers so why worry, right? Still . . . I have this sense that if the boat was smaller and not so reliant on electrical systems . . . . Worries will probably get cured with accumulating more of the experience you & Dock already have single & short-handing your big boats. If I survive it, that is . . . .

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Exile

... I have backups to my two electric furlers so why worry, right? Still . . . I have this sense that if the boat was smaller and not so reliant on electrical systems . . . . :

Just to clarify, my furlers are NOT electric.
Just furling lines from the drum spools to manual winches.
This means you need to de-power the wind from the sail to furl, which is OK by me.

I like the feel of manual as you can sense before damages that something is not furling properly.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by woodenboats

If you want comfort and money is not an issue you should look at boats like Eos or Mirabella.

Well, that might be overdoing it, just a tad... ;-)

However, with unlimited funds at my disposal, an off-the-shelf boat like a Jeanneau would not be one of the first that comes to mind. Particularly, for a boat being taken to high latitudes...

I'd get me a designer, and a project manager, to create a purpose-built high latitude voyager just for me... Hell, 'The Project' is half the fun for most of these guys, anyway...

As evidenced by how quickly so many of these CRUISING WORLD "Globe-Girdling" Cover Girls wind up in the brokerage pages, long before they even come close to fulfilling their 'Mission Statements'... ;-)

Hey, come to think of it, KIWI SPIRIT is on the market... Awesome boat, one should be able to whittle a bit off the asking, considering the first thing any new owner would have to do is get rid of that ugly-ass topsides paint scheme...

;-)

Not really my idea of a high-latitude cruising boat, but still... A bit more distinctive than an Oyster, no? ;-)

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2012...s#.Ve4N6c56jIB

[Maka]

Might want to take a hard look at Cats. Roomier, less draft, more speed.
If money is no object check out Gunboats.

Sounds like a Wonder Full adventure.

If you need someone for the Dog Watch, who is good company at Cocktail Hour, and can lie and brag with the best of them ..... get a hold of me.

[mitiempo]

For high latitude sailing hard to beat a Bestevaer by K&M. They can be sailed easily shorthanded and the build is second to none in my opinion.

Bestevaer / KM Yachtbuilders

[Mikado]

Great post. I enjoyed reading all the different perspectives on size and function. I have had three boats over the past 20 years so I can relate to almost all of the opinions shared. I started with a 26' Ben Seaborne designed Sierra which was great for the Puget Sound. Next was a 42" Lyle Hess Designed and built custom cutter that was perfect for SF Bay sailing. Now I have a 56" CNSO Mikado that so far has been exactly what I was hoping for blue water and ocean passages. In most cases I believe that the size of boat you purchase is dictated by your budget but given no budget constraints I can't imagine anything less than 60's for where the OP wants to go and the comfort in which he wants to travel.

Good luck!!