you posted this on another board and my answer is below - but will post it here for the sake of others
if you are seriously thinking if sailing down the usa west coast to the canal and across why buy a boat to try and sell later.
as for courses, in the med there are occassions that you have to show your certificate of competence and they do accept asa. have no idea on the others and i must say asa did provide us with a firm foundation.
we were never on a sailboat until dec 2000 when on a lark we took the first asa sailing course.. liked it so much took 2 more lessons in march and the boat 3 days after the lessons. we chartered a couple of times and in 2003 bought a brand new jeanneau ds40. at the time we lived in miami and we sailed 3 weekends out of 4. we kinda learned to sail. 2007 at age 62 i retired, we got rid of everything and headed out. we have not been back. and we are still learning how to sail. we will never be great sailors but then we know a lot of sailors who are much better who can't seem to get much beyond their home port while we have sailed the east coast of the usa 3 times, bahamas twice, the western caribbean from mexico to colombia and across the caribbean to jamaica and down the eastern caribbean to trinidad the back up to antigua and across the atlantic on a 2 peron crossing. we just completed year 2 in the med. great sailors we will never be - adequate i guess would describe it. we can hold our own but will never be great.
as for a small boat in our opinion not. a few reasons.
first boats never appreciate in value and depreciate a lot and the curve is steep. how much of a loss are you willing to take?
second the market for used boats is not great. we know of a couple of people who went small and could not sell small or took a huge hit on it. how long are you willing to sit and read about those out cruising while your small boat is for sale and you sit.
third you can write off some of the cost of the as a second house and get it partly paid down while you have an income.
fourth you will get to know your boat and what works and what doesn't and what you think the boat needs and spend some time getting her ready.
good luck and lets us know if we can help in any way. in 8 years out now we have made more than a few mistakes but what a wonderful life.
if you are seriously thinking if sailing down the usa west coast to the canal and across why buy a boat to try and sell later.
as for courses, in the med there are occassions that you have to show your certificate of competence and they do accept asa. have no idea on the others and i must say asa did provide us with a firm foundation.
we were never on a sailboat until dec 2000 when on a lark we took the first asa sailing course.. liked it so much took 2 more lessons in march and the boat 3 days after the lessons. we chartered a couple of times and in 2003 bought a brand new jeanneau ds40. at the time we lived in miami and we sailed 3 weekends out of 4. we kinda learned to sail. 2007 at age 62 i retired, we got rid of everything and headed out. we have not been back. and we are still learning how to sail. we will never be great sailors but then we know a lot of sailors who are much better who can't seem to get much beyond their home port while we have sailed the east coast of the usa 3 times, bahamas twice, the western caribbean from mexico to colombia and across the caribbean to jamaica and down the eastern caribbean to trinidad the back up to antigua and across the atlantic on a 2 peron crossing. we just completed year 2 in the med. great sailors we will never be - adequate i guess would describe it. we can hold our own but will never be great.
as for a small boat in our opinion not. a few reasons.
first boats never appreciate in value and depreciate a lot and the curve is steep. how much of a loss are you willing to take?
second the market for used boats is not great. we know of a couple of people who went small and could not sell small or took a huge hit on it. how long are you willing to sit and read about those out cruising while your small boat is for sale and you sit.
third you can write off some of the cost of the as a second house and get it partly paid down while you have an income.
fourth you will get to know your boat and what works and what doesn't and what you think the boat needs and spend some time getting her ready.
good luck and lets us know if we can help in any way. in 8 years out now we have made more than a few mistakes but what a wonderful life.
