Hi Marshall,
I would suggest starting with a sloop or Marconi rig, a single masted
boat with a
main and foresail. It is one of the simplest rigs to handle. For learning,
a smaller boat would have advantages, but for ocean crossings you will need a
larger vessel.
The disadvantage of a larger boat is that is has larger sail which require
winches and
can be a handful in a blow. Many of the newer boats have roller reefing jibs
and main sails, which would make sail handling easier, but more susceptible
to failures
which is critical on an ocean cruise. You can overcome some of the sail
handling
problems with a fractional rig, that is one with more than one mast. This
reduces the
size of the sails and usually makes the boat easier to balance. If you can
manage, I
would start with a smaller boat to learn on, and trade up to a larger boat
for your
ocean cruising. If you go with a sloop, try and get a boat with a keel
design that allows it to sail comfortably with main alone, usually a full
length keel does this. This
helps when learning, and is even more important on ocean voyages.

Sherwin D.

MarshallE wrote:

Hi,

My family is interested in what sailboat to buy and learn that can handle
offshore or perhaps ocean crossing. Older fits our budget better.

What type? How long?

I know this is vague but just trying to develop preliminary ideas to
consider.

thanks
marshall