I would definitively start with a monohull dinghy.

I regularly sail both Lasers and Albacores (small sloop rigged, center
board, 2 sail dinghy).

The Laser is a great and very fun boat to sail. It is also a somewhat
simplified boat, meaning that you only have a main sail and limited
controls. While I do love to sail the laser, and it is a great and
unforgving master, for somebody planning to move to something bigger I
would recomend another boat.

The Albacore, the other dinghy I sail, its actually the boat that is
used by many sail clubs in Lake Ontario as a teaching boat. You can
check my old club website for photos and training material.
www.sailtoronto.com. The Albacore is a great beginers boat. You have
two sails, so you learn about main and jib, plus you also have most
other sail controls. Another advantage is that there seems to be an
active racing fleet in most large north american cities.

The drawback is that it does not have a spinaker, which you may want
to lear to use once you reach an intermediate level. For spinaker
dinghys, I like the 505, which also has a trapeze...but that is more
for the trill seekers....

Ah, a last warning, I heard of many sailors who had a plan like yours,
and learn to sail dinghys..just to discover that they loved the small
boats and preferred them to cruisers...the way somebody once described
was..."the difference between driving a convertible and a winnebago."
Mind you, the winnebago goes on longer trips to nicer places
though....



On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 11:10:05 -0700, "jl" wrote:

Just want to say that I've been enjoying this group for a while now, and
even though I'm land locked in the arid southwest, I can not resist the call
to sail. My friend got me started a couple of years ago (I'm 32) on his
small Dart catamaran (He just upgraded to a 28' Great Barrier Express, which
I've been helping to restore), and for one week each summer the last couple
of years I've been sailing with another friend in the San Juan's on his 34'
Sun Yacht. I find that it is pretty much all I can think about now. My
friend has apologized to me for getting me started in an expensive hobby in
an impractical location.

That said I'm still hell bent on learning to sail, so here is my basic plan:
I want to save up and take an ASA certification class each year in the early
spring (vacation with a purpose), starting with 101, and in the mean time I
would like a small boat to practice with. I figure I'll keep the small boat
to play and practice on, then once I'm done with taking ASA classes in a few
years I'll start chartering boats for a yearly excursion. Then someday
when/if I finally move to someplace where I can have/live on a boat, I'll be
ready, and more informed on what to get. Not to mention that this way is
slow and inexpensive enough that I can be sure I'm really into sailing
before spending large dollar amounts, not to mention I don't yet have large
dollar amounts.

Seems like a reasonable plan, I'm open to criticism of course, but I was
hoping to find out more about the small boat which I would like to purchase
next spring. I believe in doing my homework, besides it helps with my
sailing fix during the "dry season".

I've already considering going the multi-hull route with a Windrider,
perhaps a rave? But I'm starting to be convinced that to really learn
sailing I should have a small monohull, perhaps something like a laser? This
is where I'm most confused, and would like to hear a few more opinions. I
want to learn, but I would like to have fun too!