Ocean Worthy Sailboats

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Jun 13, 2004
39
- - Toronto
Looking toward the future of doing ocean passagemaking. What size vessel? Which boatmakers offer the best package? What about used? Which used boats are best for long ocean passages? Comments...
 
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Steve G

Paul..

I don't want to sound cocky here, but the way your question is written causes me to ask a few questions of you before I can give you input. Are you an experienced sailor? Generally, if you were, you would have some ideas regarding makes of vessels, and their all around characteristics; Eg. Do you trust a deck-stepped mast? Many sailors do, some don't. If you don't, you've eliminated more than half of the production sailboats. If your experience is nominal, I would caution you to learn a lot before leaving sight of land. What do you mean by "ocean passagemaking"? are you going to trust an autopilot, a windvane? Are you going to stay at the helm all night, or just keep a lookout? Weather fax? My wife considers Newport to Nantucket a long ocean passage, my kids consider it an eternity. I consider it fifteen short hours without my Mother-in-law calling. I don't know if you mean Maine to Nova Scotia or Maine to Bermuda. Heck, for all I know, you might just be trying to run away from a shotgun wedding, but either way, I think you need to supply more info before anyone can help. What do you need from the boat? How many people? Most of all - get to know your options - don't head out over the horizon on nothing but advice.
 
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Paul

Experience

Let's just assume for now that while enroute to get the necessary experience for such a serious offshore passage that I have a few different vessels to consider. This is all part of the learning process. I do however find that there is a good amount of arrogance from many who reply this type of question. Just a simple reply without the raised eyebrow works best. I'll take care of the necessary experience thanks...
 

Alan

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Jun 2, 2004
4,174
Hunter 35.5 LI, NY
Paul

I think that Steve raises some very valid questions about ocean passagemaking. For one thing, the number of crew and exprience will factor into the size of boat. I certainly would not want to handle a 50 footer alone or with my wife who knows very little about sailing never mind ocean sailing. However, if it were my racing crew, I would have no problem in cossing an ocean. I really don't think he was being arrogant with these points.
 
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