No boat, no clue, no problem

[bene.job]

Hi,

My name is Ben. I am an artist. I build playgrounds. Part of the 10 year plan is to move my wife and child onto a boat for a few months in Green Port NY and a few months down south (Carolinas, Caribbean,...)
My wife was a captain on a beautiful wooden boat in her twenties. She knows her stuff.
I want to catch up with her and learn. I'm signing up for an adult sailing course in the spring. We currently live in East Tennessee
Looking for great books.
Looking for a boat.
What should I be starting with right now?

Thanks y'all!
Ben

[BlueH2Obound]

Welcome aboard! Things that would be helpful knowing in order to address your questions would include:

• Proposed cruising area? You mentioned a few months in NY, and a few months down South. What about the rest of the year?
• Are you planning on marina hopping, or anchoring out?
• Budget, or range, ie; $50k, or $250k
• Sail or power? I assume you are looking at sail?
• Fixer upper, or turn key? What are your and your wife's mechanical skills?

The more info you can provide to "fill out" your question(s) the better!

[bene.job]

Well, that was fast.
Thanks, BlueH20Bound.

We will be landlubbers in Tennessee when not on the water. We have a dock in New York at a family house. Anchorages otherwise (for the most part)
No need for a turnkey boat. Probably 50 to $80k range. Our building skills are high. Mechanical skills are mid range. My brother works in Rockport Marine, in Maine. He's my main source of knowledge. Along with my wife.

Very interested in Caribbean, Mexico, eastern seaboard to start sailing.
Looking into a bareboat charter in Sicily in the next year or so. Also interested in chartering a boat in/near the Bahamas some time soon.

Sailing is optimal. Open to a beautiful, livable motor for starters though.

[Pete7]

Buy a book on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. Then read it and read it again, again and again. I have obe on my desk at work and read it occasionally during the lunch hour.

[TrentePieds]

If your wife was once a captain on a beautiful wooden boat, would she not be the "go to person" for the guidance you are asking us, who obviously can't know you, to give you?

If you have a dock at a house in NY, you are well away in respect of the perpetual problem of finding permanent moorage, but since you want to cruise the Caribbean, think about how long it will take you to get from NY to, say, Christiansted in the USVI at 6 knots or even 8, which is likely to be your effective speed over the ground. Your wife, as a captain, will intuit that, and, even better, she will be able to lay a definitive passage plan taking into account such fundamentally important elements of passage planning as weather forecasting.

The boat itself will be the least of your concerns. Modern boats are commodities, and at eighty grand there'll be lots to choose from, particularly as you have, as you say, "building skills".

But you ask for books:

Pete's suggestion is spot on. You've GOT to know the COLREGS inside out, to the point that they are as "second nature" to you as is looking left and right when you cross the street. But as a captain, your wife already knows that.

You, yourself, should probably start with the old standby: Arthur Beiser's The Proper Yacht. That book will begin to give you an inkling about what cruising yachts are all about.

Bonne chance!

TrentePieds

[leecea]

Sailing

To become familiar with sailing terms and concepts we read the ASA sailing books. You can start the process by reading the ASA 101 book, even if you don't take the class. There are lots of sailing books and each person will have their favorites but I liked the ASA books. I believe they are well structured to introduce concepts and terms as you progress.

Boat Systems & Maintenance

If you want to get started on learning boat systems, you could start with "How Boat Things Work: An Illustrated Guide".

Many people recommend "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems" by Calder as great reference. I bought an older version (2005) as it was half the price of the latest version.

[Kettlewell]

Depending on your child's age you will need to make sure she/he is safe, having fun, and possibly is getting schooled. When our children were small I built a pilot berth that a child could be sealed into with netting and canvas, and was completely padded so they could be safe and secure in there in any sea. Later, when toddlers the big problem was keeping them from roaming where they shouldn't, which meant netting all around the boat's lifelines, a lifejacket with built-in safety harness, and lots of vigilance. Again, I built a canvas door blocker that could seal the child in below if needed. When the kids were older we had to bring lots of books, computers, and school supplies with us--don't count on being able to get what you need easily once outside of the USA. Older kids will want to be with other cruising kids, so plan on cruising in company with like-minded sailors, even if it changes your plans. Get your child really comfortable around the water, with early swimming lessons and lots of fun play around the water. Both of our kids fell in from docks when little, but popped right back up with no water in them due to early water lessons. From my experiences with little kids around the water, the most dangerous time is not on the boat but when transitioning between the boat and land. That's when lifejackets might be off and adults can be distracted tieing up the dink or putting their shoes on.

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

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.