Which boat is the best boat for me?

[jssailem]

This query often appears each year, in many forms.

• New to sailing dreamers with visions of sun drenched anchorages adult beverage in hand,
• Day sailors who have reached the stage when they long to sail out of the lake or bay and into big waters, or
• The coastal sailor who owns a 20 something first boat and now wants to retires sailing the worlds oceans.

All are trying to deal with the conflicting internet & marina gossip or just the fears of spending money on the wrong boat. If I ask enough sailors maybe they will give me the answer.

The problem is not to find the best boat. The challenge is to understand the compromises of the various boat designs and discover the best combination of compromises that meet your own individual desires.

I came across this video that may help. The author presents some of the basic concepts of boat design. He elaborates about the similarities and differences in boat design.

Perhaps it will help some of the future sailboat owners along the way of their journey to find their own perfect boat.

 

[kappykaplan]

Nice find, John. Tks for sharing.

 

[dLj]

Thanks for the video.

Your premise was helping a person trying to decide on a boat for off shore sailing. I think as sailors we spend far too much time talking about boat design. The fact that there is so much conflicting information out there is due to the inherent differences in what an individual wants - how they are going to sail and what they need to do to know what boat will give them the best result. That knowledge unfortunately only comes with getting out there and sailing. Learning how one wants to sail and what is desirable in a boat is a hard one. It's the self awareness aspect that basically can't be taught, but must be learned by each person. I'd really like to see a similar video focused on different ways someone can gain sufficient knowledge to become their own assessor in what kind of boat will work best for them. That is a tall ask, I realize ...

dj