On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 08:58:38 -0600, "Wendy"
wrote:
I know
Westsail is a definite possibility, but what other boats should I consider
based on my plans and price range?

You are going to get a lot of advice here. I will withhold my valuable
(in other words, free) opinion until I know more about your plans. Are
you single-handing for instance? Are you fit? Are you able to go on a
foredeck in a storm and not fall off? Do you have lots of time or a
schedule? Fast or safe or both (that's the most expensive!)
Stuff like that.

I do not have a lot of sailing experience- some time on 30' Catalinas and a
Hobie Cat. I crewed on a 90' motor yacht in the Caribbean for a year and
also ran 40-50 foot dive boats out of a resort for another couple years, so
the basics of boat operations and upkeep etc are no mystery to me (I know
what I'm getting into here, and must admit that I am wondering about my
sanity

You have more sailing experience than a lot of people if you've crewed
for a year. I would suggest that the best course you could take is to
offer to crew on a transatlantic delivery in return for instruction
and practical experience. In conjunction with this I would encourage
you to take some sort of professionally recognized sailing competency
certification such as the "Six Pack" from the U.S. Coast Guard or the
"Yachtmaster" courses in the UK from the Royal Yachting Association.

Those bits of paper will make you desirable crew, which will inform
you directly as to what is desirable in an offshore cruiser. On your
off-watch, you can read the Smeetons, the Hiscocks, the Pardeys, Hal
Roth, Don Street and a few others from the last 40 years or so who did
things the hard way in ocean cruising so you don't have to. With the
exception of GPS/EPIRBs, hardly any of the "improvements" that will
make your journey a safe and pleasant one are particularly new or
involve electronics.

The good news is that there are a lot of unfashionable (narrow, dark,
overbuilt, no wet bar) old boats that are very suitable for offshore
work, can be altered cheaply and bought for a song because everyone
wants a big-arsed Beneteau to impress the yachtie crowd. There are
some excellent ocean going cruisers made today, but not at your price
point, and most of them are not the "popular" names. An example of a
"good old boat" is the Westsail 32 "Satori". You could look that up
and learn how a well-made boat can survive even a "Perfect Storm".
It's not like the movie had things, by the way.

Your mileage may vary. The best scenario, quite frankly, is getting
the boat of some fastidious perfectionist who died putting the latest
bulletproof roller-furling on his immaculately maintained old 36
footer, leaving a wife who hated sailing and just wants to get rid of
the thing.

Skip Gundlach's saga on this list will inform you mightily. It's worth
it to take the time necessary to decide, because a thousand miles
offshore, there's no tow truck, is there? G

Good luck,

R.