Akacake (Kelly)

[ndsailor]

Hey Kelly, did you ever find a boat you liked? Hope your getting ready to get out sailing by now as I am also chomping at the bite to finally get "Levara" waterborne...Rick

[Akacake]

Hi Rick, well we didn''t get the Westerly that we had our eye on We have looked at no less than 50 boats and have made many long distance trips to some faraway marinas to check them out. We have found a boat that we love and is affordable! ( I posted a while back but didn''t get any answers/opinions from anyone)!) This is our first boat, and we have never sailed before .....
We are flying down this weekend to do the sea trials on it and then get a survey done on it as well.
We are very excited...

Regards, Kelly

[hathanger]

We too have never sailed before (except on someone else''s boat) and want to buy our first boat. So what does everyone think is best: take sailing lessons first and then buy the boat (we want about a 42 foot boat) or buy the boat and then take the sailing lessons. We''re ready for either but don''t know which to tackle first. Can we understand and communicate as we should in the looking and buying process without having learned to sail first.
Tom

[Sailmc]

You should learn the basics of sailing in small boats less than 20 feet or so. A big boat will not give you the feedback you need to learn. The next step would be to sail small keel boats and learn sail handling and systems. After that you should be ready for the big boat. Remember, the bigger they are the more complicated the systems and gear become but the basics of sailing the boat do not change.

[doubleplay]

You should definitely learn the basics of sailing and boat handling in a smaller keel boat in the 20-24''range.That said, taking a beginners course with one of the reputable schools will help to get you started.However one week is not enough to learn anything but the basics.I would suggest buying a daysailor/weekender which will give you more feedback and gain more experience before you make the jump to a bigger boat.At the end depending on the type of sailing you will do you can even change your mind and stick with a smaller boat.
Good Luck

[DirtManly]

I would definitly buy something a bit smaller to learn on. The smaller the boat the responsive it will be to sail trim. Look around your local area and you will probably find a sailing club that gives sailing lessons very inexpensively.

You might want to consider buying something like a Flying Scot to learn to sail on. They are very stable, easy to sail, forgiving to learn on and hold there resale value very well. Furthermore you can hook up with a local fleet of Scot sailer''s who are usually most helpful with teaching folks to sail.

I bought a 26 foot boat for my first boat and it stayed on the dock for a couple years while i learned to sail other boats, like the Sunfish i bought for the kids, then i started crewing in races for some one who new how to sail. I really don''t like racing sailboats, however i have learned everything i know about sailing my boat from racing.

Good Luck
Dirt