Ranger 22 purchase

[headsup123]

I'm looking to purchase a Ranger 22. I cannot get a consensus regarding whether the boat can be sailed single-handed. I'll sail mostly alone so I need to have something I can handle on my own. I've had a Hobiecat but I'm a relatively new sailor. Can anyone give me some guidance. Oh, and my local sailing club is very competitive so I need a racer. Thanks

[BubbleheadMd]

The reason you cannot get a consensus is because people have different definitions of "singlehand-friendly" and because you haven't provided quite enough info about the boat in question.

You should be able to single hand a 22' boat. You can make it friendlier by adding equipment that consolidates controls near the cockpit, adding roller furling, etc.

This free book- Singlehanded sailing & racing has some great tips on boat setup that can help answer your question. You actually don't necessarily want to run all lines aft on a small boat and clutter up what little deck space you have with clutches, turning blocks, and other hardware.

I singlehand my Coronado 25 all the time, including flying an assymetric spinnaker and I don't even have roller furling.

[MarkCK]

I agree with bubblehead. A 22 footer should be easy to singlehand. It shouldn't even require much modification.