wrote in message
...
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.

Right then- would like to do some single-handing now and again, I am pretty
fit (rock climber), barring 60' seas I doubt I'd fall off, and I probably
have a year or so to find what I want.

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.

I have loads of experience on the water, just not much fooling around with
sails. I've all the documents rounded up to sit for the USCG 100-ton
license, I've just not gotten around to doing it. The transatlantic
delivery idea is a good one, but not terribly practical at this point in
time. I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, though.

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.

I am more interested in the former, obviously I'm not averse to a bit of
work, but I decidedly do not want a project. Boats are enough work as it
is.

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.

One can dream

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

I'll google up the saga. I've been doing a bit of flying and, as
problematic as the broken-down boat can be, I can't imagine the situation
would be as dire as an aviation-related failure. I can deal with stress

Good points, all of them- thanks for taking the time to write them.

Wendy