Hello from Perth

[HankOnthewater]

Lusting for ladies? Some are bigger than you were thinking about. A slocum 43 girl "Perigrine" is available where you are, (same rounded body as her twin sister Passport 42). The Slocum is not quite sleek, and I think someone used the word "curvaceous". Very nice, and obvious a lady of of the sea. Would not hurt to do a bit of window shopping. The nautical red light district of choice is Fremantle sailing club, this lady conducts her business on the B jetty (if I recall), southside. She has been lonely and did not have much company for over 7 months now.
Disclaimer, I do not have any interest (financial or otherwise) in this lady, am happily married

[baders]

That's a lotta boat for little old me ! A bit above the budget and what I want to achieve initially (learn). Damn nice looking vessel though.

PM me Hank if you wanted to catch up !

[HankOnthewater]

The Slocum is easy to sail, very predictable behaviour, and the price? Hmmm it is an asking price, not necessarily the selling price.
As I said, window shopping on the jetties does not hurt, does not take any time from owners/brokers, and whilst on the jetty you find many people ready to talk; all you do is listen, and maybe ask a few questions.
Two warnings: most, if not all, owners are biased towards their own brand/model, and the more you look, the more you tend to look at bigger/better boats, and one starts thinking that more money is needed to buy that perfect boat.... which is not necessarily true.

[baders]

Indeed Hank I could see one falling into that trap. I'm wondering if a better approach might be to buy smaller and cheaper (to learn and decide if it is actually what I want to do). If it is then upgrade later.

[ilenart]

Hi Baders,

as a first step you might consider the keelboat course at FSC. They utilise an S&S 36 so this will give you a good introduction to what offshore sailing is like. My wife did the course last year and thought it was worthwhile.

Perry boats are fairly uncommon in Perth / Australia. You just missed out on a nice Nordic 40 that was in South Australia. It started off asking $179,000 in December 18 and last time I looked it was sold for less than $100k. So the Solcom may not be out of your price range.

If you are looking at any yacht in the eastern states you need to factor in around $25k for transport to Perth plus $5k for preparation and probably $3-5k for re-standing the mast etc (And I should know, my next yacht just passed the WA border today). So if you could find a yacht you like in Perth that will save you around $30k.

A very experience friend of mine once told me she would aim for around 34ft if she was singlehanding in WA, or 40ft if her husband came along (which she privately told me she would prefer that he did not!). So you might want to be aiming for a yacht closer to 35 ft rather than 40ft.

Whatever yacht you buy make sure it has “excellent” upwind performance. Offshore WA is very easy to sail north but bloody hard to get south against the prevailing SW’s. Thats why I brought my UFO 34 9 years ago, she goes upwind like a elevator. You might want to check out any S&S 36’s on the market, they would also have good upwind performance.

Good luck

Ilenart

[Fore and Aft]

Smaller and cheaper is the way to go Baders. You might find you are not that keen after all and chartering once a year might be the way to scratch that itch.
Cheers

[baders]

Great advice all. Yes I've looked at the training options for FSC and also Oceanwest. Gary at OW was extremely helpful with my queries (I will reply Gary if you're reading this )

I had my eye on that Nordic 40 in SA and the drool was affecting my keyboard, especially watching the price drop. Realistically though, I wasn't ready as this journey has only just begun and I need to approach this sensibly.

Much prefer options in WA for the reasons above. It does limit the scope but I'm in no hurry as the timetable is 5 years.

Understood about the prevailing WA conditions, but part of my plans may just be to retire to my old haunts over east at beautiful Port Macquarie and the Mid North Coast NSW, so need to consider that.

Getting deeper, it's an interesting conundrum this retirement business. Since I moved here some 13 years ago it's been work, work, work. At the stage where I need that change now or soon (I ain't no Benjamin Button), and cruising (at least part of the year) definitely fits the bill. Half a year in WA and the other half on the MNC NSW ? Hahaha, it's what dreams are made of

[GILow]

Well... there is a guy on this forum who is pretty good at sailing boats from the East Coast of Oz to Western Australia. [emoji6]

[ozsailer]

Gday Baders and welcome to CF, its a great resource. Just my two cents worth but when we were looking I was always browsing sites such as yacht hub and boatsales.com. Both excellent internet sites listing a huge range of yachts of all sizes, ages and prices. There are a lot of very good but little know boats on the market so it worth researching the different vessels. Lots of people here to help in any of your future queries. Just off on a tangent it may be worth considering buying a boat elsewhere (interstate) and going from there. We have done that a couple of times and we found it well worth the effort.


Greg H
Lagoon 440
Lake Macquarie NSW

[baders]

Thanks Greg. I've been going down internet rabbit holes gathering information, reviews, sales, videos. Just the subject of modern electronics and nav/weather software is fascinating to me in itself. Great fun !

Lake Macquarie is part of my bailiwick. Lived in the Hunter for many years growing up in Cessnock, working out of Singleton and ended up at Port Macquarie before moving to Perth. My best friend lives at Coal Point and is semi retired. The lake is a great place to be these days, judging by the endless fish photos he shows me.

[HankOnthewater]

Hi Baders
Talking about training/situation, here is a recent thread, where I posted a link to another Fremantle company (mainly offshore training:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...et-219995.html

[baders]

Thanks Hank I missed that link. Will check it out. They really need to fix their web site though