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Hello everyone, I'm a new member looking forward to swapping stories for many years to come. I am new to sailing. Have lived on a lake in North Carolina for 15 years owning powerboats and pontoons. I am now looking forward to moving up to a gentlemans sport with sailing. I have looked around and been reading the sailing magazines. I would like to purchase my first sailboat and "think" I would like a Hunter 170 or a Catalina 16.5. I live on a smallish lake, approximately 110 miles of shoreline, but the lake will be cut in half for me by a bridge in the middle. I have sailing lessons scheduled, at "Orientals School of Sailing" in Oriental, NC and want a boat to come back to as to hone my skills. My goal is to learn the basics on this boat before trying to move upward and onward. I am asking opinions of these two boats as a starter but would entertain any other suggestions. Thanks to anyone in advance who might be willing to share their advise with me.
Most people don't use the smaller boat to learn anymore. I applaud you. The smaller boats are less forgiving and more responsive and you will be better for it. Good luck.
The most common type of pleasure sailboat, by far, is a sloop (a single-masted sailboat that flies a mainsail and one jib at a time.) All the good commercial sailing schools use sloops as training boats. The most fundamental principles involved in sailing a 15' sloop and a 51' sloop are the same. So, most monohull sloops would be good boats for you to use for practice, although a few small racing sloops are notably tender, and would probably be a little more challenging than necessary. Either the Hunter or the Catalina would be good choices for your purposes, but you have a wide range of choices.
I'd give the nod to the Catalina 16.5 just from the drawings and specs, it's got a little nicer lines and a bit less weight than the Hunter, may be a bit livelier and better upwind.
I'll chime in with the others, learning on a smallish centeboarder is the way to learn sailing. The best big-boat sailors are the ones who started in small sailboards or sloops.
There are lots of used boats in this size range, too--The O'Day Day Sailer and Coronado 15 come to mind.
Well, had just about made up my mind to purchase the Hunter 170 when was offered a 2004 216 with a 2hp Honda on it with a trailer for $8500.00. Boat looks brand new. Looking around this seems to be very cheap for this boat. This too big a boat to get the "small boat" feel to sailing? Anyone have any thoughts about starting with this 216?
We have a member at our marina with a 216. Seems to be a good sailing boat. While not a dinghy, it's certainly not a big boat either. One note, it does have a fractional rig, rather than a masthead rig. So your main will be your power sail rather than the headsail.
The Hunter 216 should be easy to trailer, rig and launch. The fractional rig will make it easy to sail. It has a ballasted centerboard, so it will be more stable than a small, unballasted dinghy. It has a small cuddy cabin and vberth, and will accomodate a portable head. You could probably spend a few nights camping on the boat in fair weather, but you wouldn't want to be cooped up inside the boat on a steamy, rainy day. You should be able to tow it easily with a midsized suv.
It's nice if you learn how to sail on a small, unballasted dinghy, but I learned on a 25' ballasted cruiser, as did many of my sailing friends. If you have the desire, you'll learn on any kind of boat.
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