New to sailing

[SoOkay]

Dominick

Good luck and happy sailing. If you do go with the guys at Nelson, tell "Cautious Bob" and Pete K. that Harry and Karen from So Okay said hey; let me know how they work out. And let me know when you're out sailing, we'll hook up, we sail out of Raritan Bay.

Harry

[DominickNJ]

will do

Thanks for all your help

[volleyballchica88]

hey i'm new to sailing also. i wish i would of gotten into sailing sooner than i did because its a great stress release and when i'm doing it i seem to forget all my problems

[camaraderie]

Dom...
"In many ways, larger boats are easier to sail."...is really true. The only thing you'll really need to get used to is the additional weight when under power and pulling up to a dock. They don't stop as fast as the lighter boats...don't ask me how I found this out!
May I also suggest you expand your search a bit to look at Catalina 30's.
Nice boats and lots of 'em around at good prices...Similar to the Hunters and Beneteaus...maybe geared a bit more to comfort/space rather than speed under sail than the Bene.

[PalmettoSailor]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Dom...
"In many ways, larger boats are easier to sail."...is really true. The only thing you'll really need to get used to is the additional weight when under power and pulling up to a dock. They don't stop as fast as the lighter boats...don't ask me how I found this out!
May I also suggest you expand your search a bit to look at Catalina 30's.
Nice boats and lots of 'em around at good prices...Similar to the Hunters and Beneteaus...maybe geared a bit more to comfort/space rather than speed under sail than the Bene.

If a 28 meets your needs, you should look at Sabre 28's. They have a reputation for better build and sailing qualities than many other production boats. Also, Tartan 30's are another boat you might consider for the same reasons. IMHO, both are pretty classy looking boats, but the trade off is creature comforts you get with a Cat/Hunt/Bene. It will pay you to consider your needs here carefully. In our case, we live >4 hours from the boat and ususally spend 2 nights aboard, every time we go down. For us, the need for more room overcame my attraction to the traditional appearance and superior quality of the Sabre and Tartan. After looking at a lot of Catalina's and Hunters we found and bought a really clean O'day 322 for it's roomy interior. If we lived closer to the boat, we might have chosen differently, but are very happy with our current situation.

One thing that suprised us was difficulty finding insurance. As newbies, we had a little trouble finding coverage for the O'day 322 we purchased as our first boat. From what I could gather, we would not have had an issue if we stayed under 30' and might not have been able to get coverage at all if we'd gone much bigger than our 32. You might want to call around insurance companies to see what coverage you'll be able to get before settling on a boat.

Finally, it sounds like you have more training than we've had so far, and we haven't had any problems daysailing our boat on the Cheseapeake Bay. We only took a 2 day ASA 101 class before buying the boat, but plan take private instruction on our boat once we have the basics fully assimilated.

Good luck,

Bill and Jill
s/v Palmetto Moon
Stingray Point, VA

[resdog]

The difference between 26-28' and 30-34' boats is considerable in terms of space (obviously) and sailing characteristics. My opinion? Buy as much boat as you can afford. That not only includes the boat but all the other expenses. trading up for another 2 feet every other year is a pain.