Cape Dory 30 or greater will take you nearly anywhere in style and class if
it is in decent shape. They were built for blue water, not just daysailing
outside the breakwater.

Check out the Cape Dory web site:
http://www.toolworks.com/capedory/bboard/index.html

Keep on sailing,

Ken Coit
S/V Parfait
Raleigh, NC


"Dan Best" wrote in message
...
I can't say anything aout the Newport 30, but I used to own a Catalina
30 and know of at least one that went to Australia on her own bottom.
I'm not sure that I'd do that, but I did do extensive coastal cruising.
Our longest trip was from SF Bay down around the tip of Baja and up into
the Sea Of Cortez - a total of two months.
Here's a photo us us crossing the Mexican border
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/sc-600-400.JPG

The two biggest negatives we found were the minimal tankage (16 gal
fuel, 18 gal water - note all the fuel jugs stored on deck in the photo)
and lack of immediately accessable storage (lockers, drawers, etc.).
There were a few large storage areas and whenever you wanted anything,
whether a can of condensed milk or a deck of cards, it was always on the
bottom of a lot of other stuff.

Also, that trip down from the Pacific NW can be a rough one. Assuming
the boat/rigging/sails are in good shape it can take it (our worst was a
40 kt gale w/ 8-9 ft square waves), but the motion of a boat that light
can be really uncomfortable when things get rough.

Good luck - Dan

jens teglman wrote:

Can anybody help me with the following.
We are new to northamerican sailboats, but have done a lot of sailing in
Denmark where the market a dominated by Swedish boats. We want to go from
Vancouver Island to Caribien and don't really know what is good boat for
the
trip.Any tip or suggestion welcome
Thanks
Jim





--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
http://home.attbi.com/~rangerbest/TriciaJean.JPG
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"