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Mr. Tom -- it does not say where you live and I can only tell you what worked for me. I use to climb big mountains and finally got too old for that and was looking for a new hobby - tried skying diving but after a few jumps found it booring - had attend a lot of boat shows and when the Whitbread came to annapolis i managed to get on the docks and see the boats. my instant take was I can do that and i was bite. I had to move to dallas to take a new job and eventually drove to Galveston to take sailing lessons. by the way i had never been on a boat before. Had a great instructor and an absolutely great time. I then went to Charlottes harbor and took 2 more lesson from sw fla yachts (remember i live in dallas) which I lived on the boat with the instructor and then took the boat out by for 4 days. I got the fever. I then had to move to conn and started to get serious about a boat - I charted about 1-2 hours from the house - I also went to every boat show I could. met a great broker who while wanting to sell me a boat took time to teach me what makes the difference between boats - as i was approaching retirement my decision was to purchase a 40' as my first boat - as i did not want to get a smaller one, learn for a few years and then try to purchase a larger one as from a financial standpoint boats depreciate in value rather quickly - I purchased a new Jeanneau 40 DS which will take me anywhere in the world i want to go or if i don't wnat to go will be a great boat for crusing the bay. I then moved to Miami and brought the boat down here - I sail almost every weekend and joined a local sailing club that has a kinda race every month - I race to get to know my boat better but get my butt kicked each and every race - but the knowledge gained is significant - i have taken her to the bahamas and just got back from a 6 day trip to key west -
for you - take the first ASA lesson and then either find a charter in your area or go ahead and take a vacation to take ASA lessons 2 & 3 as you will learn somewhat what living aboard is like. - then you can bareboat charter - then go to the boat shows and talk to all the brokers and find which on is a seller and which one really knows what they are talking about - the guy we bought our boat from is in Conn. (ted novakowski of sound yachts) is a former cruiser so I got a lot from him on how to outfit the boat as well as what works and what does not work
good luck and enjoy the ride as it has been great for me
chuck and soulmates
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