tracy wrote:
What would be a nice first boat to get to go cruising.


Tracy,

I'd suggest that before you even think about buying a cruising boat, you
first spend some time cruising on lots of other boats. Spending time
out at sea on as many different boats as possible will greatly increase
your ability to judge what is right for you. There are numerous
organizations that place "boat owners in need of crew" in touch with
"crew in need of boats", usually for specific outings, passages or
deliveries. In the SF Bay area, there is a magazine called Latitude 38
that is considered an excellent starting point for this.

You might also like to spend some significant amount of time racing, as
this lends another dimension to your awareness and ability to judge a
boats cruising potential. I'd also recommend reading some of the more
popular books on the subject. Lyn & Larry Pardee have written numerous
texts on this topic, as has Steve & Linda Dashew, as well as many other
authors you will see mentioned in this newsgroup. All of them have
opinions, very few of them agree on much, but they are all right or
wrong, depending on your own needs, economy and desires.

I'd also suggest that should you decide to skip the above good advice,
you at a minimum buy the least expensive boat you can possibly afford.
No matter what you choose, it will ultimately be "wrong" in that you
will come to realize its faults, or outgrow its abilities, or decide you
need something more. The less money you invest in this process the
better off you will be. By far the cheapest, easiest solution is to
find or make friends with boat owners and go sailing with them.
Possibly my single biggest regret in life is not following this exact
advice.

Of course, if you really need an answer and want to "just be out sailing
now", I'd say a nice first boat to go cruising in would be the Robertson
& Caine 440, a 44' cruising catamaran. After adding the obvious
necessary items like a genset, air conditioning, satellite
communications, dive compressor and hot tub it comes in under a million
dollars, plus annual upkeep of probably only thirty thousand a year. It
will provide years of reliable fun and minimal effort, is blue water
ready and sails easily.

Cheers,

Robb