My wife and I are looking for our first boat to learn to sail. We've mostly
looked at MacGregors and Catalinas, but someone's selling a 21' San Juan for
$1,300. The price sounds great and the boat looks good, but I haven't heard
of a San Juan. I've Googled them and learned some stuff, but what's the
general opinion from you guys on these boats? We're looking for something
easy to trailer and setup and eventually something that we could spend the
night on. I appreciate any info or opinions.

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:03:57 GMT, something compelled "Crimson*"
, to say:

My wife and I are looking for our first boat to learn to sail. We've mostly
looked at MacGregors and Catalinas, but someone's selling a 21' San Juan for
$1,300. The price sounds great and the boat looks good, but I haven't heard
of a San Juan. I've Googled them and learned some stuff, but what's the
general opinion from you guys on these boats? We're looking for something
easy to trailer and setup and eventually something that we could spend the
night on. I appreciate any info or opinions.

My first sailboat was a SJ21. The mainsheet system is a little
goofy, but it works. It has a self bailing cockpit, is light
enough to tow with just about anything, and I could have mine set
up in about thirty minutes.

You can spend the night on it, but you probably wouldn't want to
spend more than about three of those in a row. I liked mine just
fine.

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 19:03:57 GMT, "Crimson*" wrote:


I crew on an San Juan 21. We have a large fleet of them in Calgary.
(http://members.shaw.ca/SJFleet28/) They are great fun.

My wife and I are looking for our first boat to learn to sail. We've mostly
looked at MacGregors and Catalinas, but someone's selling a 21' San Juan for
$1,300. The price sounds great and the boat looks good, but I haven't heard
of a San Juan. I've Googled them and learned some stuff, but what's the
general opinion from you guys on these boats? We're looking for something
easy to trailer and setup and eventually something that we could spend the
night on.

It is easily trailerable and set up. It is not really set up for any
type of cruising. You could spent a night on it. But the galley is
really non-existent.

They sail well in light air. But as the wind picks up you need some
on the main. They are rather tender (ie tippy).

The large number of SJ21s means that you can get no end of advise.

Jack

__________________________________________________
Jack Dale
Swiftsure Sailing Academy
Director/ISPA and CYA Instructor
http://www.swiftsuresailing.com
Phone: 1 (877) 470-SAIL (toll free)
__________________________________________________

Thanks to you both for the info.