New want to be sailor looking for advice

[JohnOB]

Hi, I hope you are all safe.

I am a South African who wants to start sailing the Med in a few years when all kids are at varsity for fun and sightseeing purposes with my wife and 4 kids (from time to time).

I am leaning to a Catamaran as they are spacious and comfortable.

I see there are many ways to own a Cat, outright, charter owner, fractional owner etc. The question I have for the community is who are the right trustworthy people to help us with our decisions.

Cheers John

[shrspeedblade]

If you're fairly new to sailing, this doesn't directly answer your question but the best thing you could do would be expanding your knowledge base so you can learn what YOU want and not rely just on the opinions of others.

Start sailing a lot, either by joining a club, partnership, or volunteering as crew on board other boats. The great thing about this is you learn fast but keep expenses low too!
If those opportunities are limited and you need to get your own boat for lots of sea time, just get a decent condition 22ish foot long (7 meter, sorry I'm a Yank) little monohull and sail the absolute snot out of it. You can have a lot of fun and enjoyment while you learn.

Then, when you're ready to move up and go cruising, you're better prepared in a lot of ways.

[JohnOB]

Thanks so much for the advice, makes sense.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, John.

[JohnOB]

Thankyou

[capn_billl]

What I did was buy a small cheap boat, and learn on close to shore.

I stay away from things like fractional ownership, and other alternative ownership, because in the US it makes more sense to be the sole owner, and many of these other options are fraudulent, or have hidden fine print that makes them less than ideal.

In other countries it may be different.

I know a guy who wrote one of these contracts, with advice from a lawyer, and with some inconvenience, (the boat is often booked by another member on his days off), it has worked out ok for him.

It would vary widely depending on the particular group, and contract.

But Cats are fun, a little more challenging to sail.

I plan on sailing mine to the Med in about 3 years, depending on Covid, and world events.

Keep in touch, I'll let you know if I make it there.

[JohnOB]

Excellent thanks, will do. I see you have the Cat make I like the most from my research.

[Adelie]

Welcome.

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.