Good small cruising sailboats?

[Jeffamc]

I was looking for a sailboat between 25ft-30ft and that is good for sailing out and crossing the atlantic and pacific, going to asia, europe, australia, ect????????

[JohnDrake]

This month''s issue of Cruising World just had an article on small cruising boats, 30ft and under. You could also get a copy of "20 small boats that can take you anywhere", John Vigor (I believe). There are also many lists floating around the net. Try doing a google.com search.

[c172guy]

I read Vigor''s book and checked out a few of his recommendations. We looked at a Seawind ketch. Man was it rough. My wife flatly refused to live on such a thing. We finally decided to buy a compromise Pearson 323 and are happy so far. It is pretty fast and reasonable sea kindly.
For us realistically we are not crossing oceans any time soon. The pearson seems rugged enough for sailing to the Bahamas and fast enough to sail along the coast. Some of Vigor''s recommendations require a storm to move!! Just look at their PHFR rateings.
If you are serious about crossing oceans we looked at a seawind two. It would be my choice. But it will be slow in the bay.
There is a net resource called the sailcalculator that gives the numbers on a lot of boats. I used it to pick the P323 as a good compromise. I liked the comfort and capsize ratios. Some of the boats with better ratios such as the Cape Dory 30 were just too small for a couple. We almost bought a CD 30 but there wasn''t a good place for me to sleep. The forberth on the P323 is very comfortable for my wife and I. If we become good enough sailors we may have to buy a more seaworthy boat but right now we figure we can have several years of fun cruising the east and gulf coast and hopping over to the bahamas. That''s another thing with the P323 it draws 4.5''.