Four People and a Sailboat. The Quest.

[familycruisers]

A couple of boats for you.
1998 Westerly Oceanquest 35 sailboat for sale in Maryland
A favorite of mine and close to you.
1982 westerly discus sailboat for sale in Florida


Edit: We, a family of 4, are setting out in a 26 ft boat. Albeit our kids are small (4 and , 1 , but each have their own quarterberth) and the Centaur quite honestly is a marvel in room for size.
Any aft cabin, center cockpit would fit your bill, provide plenty of cabins, and be just more managable.

[thelifenomadik]

foolishsailor, i am quoting you in my next post in our blog! I love the Shark Tank!

also, thank you for your comments, not everyone understands and appreciates individuality.

The Shark Tank « The Life Nomadik

[foolishsailor]

This forum has been referenced in more than one book, and not always positively.

Take what you can fromthis, the greatest sailing resource on the planet, but also remember that this forum does not tolerate fools and is populated by some of the best sailors on the planet.

The harshness comes towards your "genre", the "i have no f'ing idea what i am doing or what i want from life so i bought a boat, found your forum and am going to sail around the world. OMG, can you help?"

Your family fell into the micro-subsection of that genre known as "Actully has some sense and a good shot"...

...dont blame the forum, winter is coming and it is generally full of bord frustrated coastal and armchair cruisers looking for fresh meat.

I think for most of the sharks it is now apparent that you are not chum, but instead new cruisers.

Stick around, there is a huge amount to learn.

[Wattsailing]

Hi we have lived aboard now for 18 months and hey guess what we still. Love it,ii think you just need to do it

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by familycruisers

SNAFU , my wife reads the forum but won't post. Judgemental posts about them upchucking on an inlet approach with a jammed furler drum... Plenty of people, do plenty of cruising and never have to set keel in an ocean. Think he even made a point about taking it slow.

Welcome to the forum thelifenomadik
We will be transitioning to full time life aboard our boat this summer and will head south later in the year.
One thing about a boat is, for us, we never feel cramped. With the wide open view always a hatch away!!

I think you need to reread the post. It wasn't judgemental at all just giving an example of what can happen. Today one of the new boat owners at our dock went for a nice sail.................the wind was 3-5 knots. He almost sank but a quick thinking 70 year old who knew them happened to be taking pictures on another boat also from our dock and noticed the boat was listing quite a bit and quite low in the water. Seems the sink drain hose had ruptured. The old guy jump aboard and asked about closing the seacock. They were like ............... So he closed the seacock and all was well, but it could have been quite a tough day since the water temp is around 49 degrees here now.

[familycruisers]

Reread. Your right not judgemental. More like an assanine diatribe of what ifs. Thanks

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by thelifenomadik

Same as so many before us, we are now in a pursuit of freedom and happiness, but first of all, a boat that will take us there.

We have two kids, a boy and a girl, 15 and 9. We are looking for a boat with a three-cabin layout, cutter, 45 feet+, bluewater cruiser, maximum 180K, mono hull. We will live aboard, sail everywhere.

We have no sailing experience. We never had a sailboat before.

We are considering a Wauquiez 49 and a Stevens 47.

Any advise and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

More info on us and our dreams and realities can be found on our blog
The Life Nomadik

Welcome to CF. Nice blog by the way. I'm enjoying reading it.

Like Chris and Gretchen above, we have a Wauquiez Pretorien 35 and love it. The Wauquiez's from that era were extremely well built and a great value. The 49 footer in Rock Hall looks very nice and the three cabins would work well for your family of course.

Enjoy the search and the classes. Looks like you are on the right track. I suspect you will get to my area one day (Thailand) so look us up when you do.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by familycruisers

Reread. Your right not judgemental. More like an assanine diatribe of what ifs. Thanks

Actually, not quite true again. I was simply trying to (quickly) give a few examples to Foolishsailor why it might be best for that family not to just dive right in and start cruising the world, but to at least learn some of the basics first. Also, the OP had yet to say that he and his family had decided to educate themselves some before they went on their sailing adventure.

For example, I raced small catamarans for about 15 years, but we don't reef sails and we don't have engines. We also launch from the beach. The first time I went forward to reef the main in 24 knots of wind was a trip especially being singlehanded. Plus I muscled the sail not knowing at the time that I didn't have the reefing lines hooked up correctly. I had the boat (somewhat) pointed into the wind and it was laying over at 45+ degrees. I was in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay at the time about 15 miles from land.

So you see, here I am simply trying to get folks to think first and consider some options that possibly could save their lives and others call me names for it. Awesome! Another point here is, I knew a guy as a kid that saved his whole life for a sailboat. He didn't have a boat in the mean time. At about age 65, he finally bought a sailboat in Maryland and was sailing it down to the lower Eastern Shore when something happened. The boat was later found sunk with the man tied to the mast.

Btw, usually when you are very seasick you don't necessarily upchuck as you say, you blow chunks kinda like a geyser! (after which reefing the main or fixing a jammed roller furler is that much harder)

[familycruisers]

Not quite, but pretty close. What if? You can play what ifs all day. Before you posted he did say he was going to take it slow. Describing a worst case, everything that could go wrong, and does scenario, doesn't do anything in my opinion. The guy asked for advise on boats.
So, you were in 25 knots of wind before you reefed for the first time?
Look, maybe I was a little harsh and singled you out, and you weren't the only example. Just the one I pointed out.
Sorry for that.
I think a lot of people, including my wife, refuse to post because they are afraid of being jumped on. I don't think that harbors the community type experience that the forum could be. I understand people being genuinely concerned for the well being of others, but what I don't understand is how some revel in telling people how stupid they are for thinking or fealing what they do.

[KuparukGypsy]

Originally Posted by familycruisers

Not quite, but pretty close. What if? You can play what ifs all day. Before you posted he did say he was going to take it slow. Describing a worst case, everything that could go wrong, and does scenario, doesn't do anything in my opinion. The guy asked for advise on boats.
So, you were in 25 knots of wind before you reefed for the first time?
Look, maybe I was a little harsh and singled you out, and you weren't the only example. Just the one I pointed out.
Sorry for that.
I think a lot of people, including my wife, refuse to post because they are afraid of being jumped on. I don't think that harbors the community type experience that the forum could be. I understand people being genuinely concerned for the well being of others, but what I don't understand is how some revel in telling people how stupid they are for thinking or fealing what they do.

You are 100% correct -don't back down now, my wife feels similarly to yours. The OP asked about a boat. And good on ya FamilyCruisers!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by thelifenomadik

Same as so many before us, we are now in a pursuit of freedom and happiness, but first of all, a boat that will take us there.

We have two kids, a boy and a girl, 15 and 9. We are looking for a boat with a three-cabin layout, cutter, 45 feet+, bluewater cruiser, maximum 180K, mono hull. We will live aboard, sail everywhere.
Buy an end of season boat in reasonable nick with all the essentials in reasonably good order.. ignore the 'toys'... they're likely at deaths door

We have no sailing experience. We never had a sailboat before.
Spend the winter in a marina living aboard and fixing her up for the summer... get to 'know' her inside and out

We are considering a Wauquiez 49 and a Stevens 47.
Good boats... but don't limit your choices...

Any advise and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Boss man should take a course over the Autumn-Winter-Spring period... you don't have to become a 'Captain'... just a reasonable seaman who knows a bit of navigation..

More info on us and our dreams and realities can be found on our blog
The Life Nomadik

Come Spring strat off down the ICW and play in the various areas like the Chesapeake, Pamlico Sound etc... by the time you get down to Florida you'll be competent enough to go to the 'Islands'...

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by familycruisers

Not quite, but pretty close. What if? You can play what ifs all day. Before you posted he did say he was going to take it slow. Describing a worst case, everything that could go wrong, and does scenario, doesn't do anything in my opinion. The guy asked for advise on boats.
So, you were in 25 knots of wind before you reefed for the first time?
Look, maybe I was a little harsh and singled you out, and you weren't the only example. Just the one I pointed out.
Sorry for that.
I think a lot of people, including my wife, refuse to post because they are afraid of being jumped on. I don't think that harbors the community type experience that the forum could be. I understand people being genuinely concerned for the well being of others, but what I don't understand is how some revel in telling people how stupid they are for thinking or fealing what they do.

I think sometimes our opinions do come across a little rough when we are actually just trying to help..

But, yes, I didn't reef til I got big wind. It's the racer mentality. Like I said before, you cannot reef on small racing catamarans. On heavy wind days, we rake the hell outta the mast, crank in more diamond wire tension for max mast prebend, then slide the main traveler out. Then we downhaul the main as hard as we possibly can for a flat sail. We also do not use any mast rotation (some guys rotate to the max to break the flow over the main, others use no rotation because of the prebend which can really flatten the main. We may even feather the jib going upwind so it doesn't do anything.

The last catamaran I had weighed about 300lbs and carried as much sail as my Bristol 27. (the cat had a spinnaker and was a single hand boat about 17'9" LOA/LWL) I figured with 6600 lbs of boat under me flying all sail at 18-22 knots wasn't that bad. It was gusting to 24 let me add.

One last point, my Chesapeake Bay and your Chesapeake Bay or two different places. I've never been seasick near home but the lower bay is different.

I was bringing my boat down here to Va Beach from the Onancock, VA area (where I'm from). I was off Kiptopeke to the west at about 76.09 lined up for Little Creek. The wind was NE. The boat kept trying to turn back up wind. I was already feeling queasy from my bad anchorage the night before off Eastville. This is when I reefed.

The boat did the rest on autopilot (with a few corrections from me) as I laid in the cockpit trying to keep down my sardine and crackers breakfast!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by KuparukGypsy

You are 100% correct -don't back down now, my wife feels similarly to yours. The OP asked about a boat. And good on ya FamilyCruisers!

But it was obvious the OP needed more than just a boat since they had no sailing experience. I thought it best to just try and slow them down a bit.

[KuparukGypsy]

Originally Posted by thomm225

But it was obvious the OP needed more than just a boat since they had no sailing experience. I thought it best to just try and slow them down a bit.

So maybe your heart was in the right place, but I'm with FamilyCruiser on this. Sometimes it's best to let people learn at their own pace."But they might get the kids killed!!!!" Their kids, their lives, and so far they're doing a pretty interesting job of enjoying this life. It's not my path, but I'm not telling them how to live it either. jmo

(And they do have a tiny bit of sailing experience, read their blog.)

[The Garbone]

Originally Posted by thelifenomadik

Same as so many before us, we are now in a pursuit of freedom and happiness, but first of all, a boat that will take us there.

We have two kids, a boy and a girl, 15 and 9. We are looking for a boat with a three-cabin layout, cutter, 45 feet+, bluewater cruiser, maximum 180K, mono hull. We will live aboard, sail everywhere.

We have no sailing experience. We never had a sailboat before.

We are considering a Wauquiez 49 and a Stevens 47.

Any advise and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

More info on us and our dreams and realities can be found on our blog
The Life Nomadik

Love this thread.

My wife and I are on the same path but have a 10 year plan before we start international travel.

We looked at new and used boats, started lessons, checked mooring fees and insurance rates etc. At the start we were thinking of something in the mid 30s but prudence dictated we get a 27 generic production boat. Saves bunches of money on mooring fees and outfitting as well as being easier to handle. I will not even mention the prospect of maintenance if teak and bright work is involved. We will get a bigger boat when we feal ready.

We have had watercraft in the past ranging from jet skis to power boats. Took lessons on a 23ft sail and have sailed our 27. Each step up in size makes boat handling progressively more critical, dangerous not only to your crew but fellow mariners boats. Our 23 training boat was half the weight of our 27. I think starting above 40' may make things less fun. Just something to think on.

Good luck. I will be following your quest and hope to see you folk out on the water some day.