I would agree that the books by Mate could be useful to a Westsail owner. I
just thought I would mention you can probably buy used copies from Amazon
for a few dollars and have them sent to your mailbox. No need to buy new or
hunt around in used bookstores although that can be fun and you may come
back with an armload of other books.

"rhys" wrote in message
...
On 13 Jan 2005 01:01:48 GMT, (MLapla4120) wrote:

I finally decided on the Westsail 32. Good
solid boat and lots of space. The Union
had alot of work that needed doing, been
flooded over the floorboards and hadn't been aired or vented in years.
(absentee
owner.) Too much to do on that one and
too many big ifs.

I recommend the writings of Ferenc Mate. Possibly the most sarcastic
and Hungarian (same thing in my experience) of boat writers, he built
a Westsail 32 and loved it so much he wrote "From a Bare Hull" and
"The Finely Fitted Yacht", both heavy on "improvements" you can
retrofit your Westsail 32 with. If you can laugh at his antique
opinions about his fellow humans, the man's a treasure trove of useful
information, and he treated his Westsail 32 as a test bed for
literally hundreds of clever modifications. Take this and Nigel Calder
and Brion Toss's book on rigging and knots, and there's your sea-going
reference library...G

Also, you've probably heard the following: Westsail 32s are roomy;
they are tanks; they are slow sailers; and they have the strength to
survive storms. All are true, but if you learn to tune your rig
properly, the Westsail, like the Contessas, will show significant
improvement, as will most cruisers not set up for racing.

Enjoy. They are great world cruisers for a couple who like safe and
cozy over wide-open and condo-like, and they tend to get their owners
home.

R.