101Boat Tests for a Poor Boat Owner please

[paulrossall]

I do not think sailing is elitist

I do not understand how you come to the conclusion that I think sailing is elitist. I don't think your comment was necessary or productive, I was only being helpful and making the point that the forum is made up of people from all walks of life, but many members strugle to find the money to fund their hobby and many of us started off in small, cheap old boats but at least get afloat and enjoy the experience.

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[yondcassius]

Re: I do not think sailing is elitist

Grovelling apologies. I feel awful now. I somehow wrongly posted my reply -it was meant for someone else. I've deleted it and reposted correctly this time.

It's obviously too early in the morning for my brain to cope so I'm off to bed. G'night

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[yondcassius]

Hi,
Wouldn't life be great if I did have a budget of £40k?
I don't know, but in any case I don't have that kind of money and I wouldn't pay £40k for a boat even if I could afford to. I will be just as happy in something old and cheap; the cheaper the better. As long as it floats
Don't be put off by lack of money, I've been very surprised by how cheap some boats are - often cheaper than some sailing dinghies. Have a look on www.boatsandboards.co.uk and I think you will also be surprised.

To return to the points you raised:

After 40+ years of dreaming about one day owning a 'proper' boat and a winter of discontent spent decorating (see my other thread on pbo) I'd almost convinced my wife that my wanting a boat is normal. She, however, thinks it's an end of life crisis (I'm 52) but was prepared to humour me. I'd told her a Hurley 22 for £3-£4k would be a good first boat. But then she saw one! So I'm still dreaming with a sea shell pressed to my ear and re-reading World Cruising Survey and Shrimpy Sails Again.

My posting regarding the 101Boat Tests tried, but failed, to make the point that some of us are unlikely 'to find our ideal boat' when over 80 of the boats tested cost £40k or more.

I should have been blunter and said that only 18 boats cost less than £40k.

Worse still "the largest collection of boat tests ever assembled in one magazine" includes only only 2 under £10k. Let me repeat that: ONLY 2 BOATS (Hunter 490 & Hurley 24/70) COST LESS THAN £10k. Both of these are in the 2nd Time Around section and, like all boats in this section, warrant only a couple of paragraphs each. As I've already said, I would not have ordered 101 Boat Tests had I realised this was the case. Which brings me back to my original post. Can we have a boat test supplement for those of us living in the real world.

Finally, I'm sorry you think sailing is elitist. That's not been my experience and certainly not on this forum; I've had nothing but help, advice and encouragement.

Yes there are people with very expensive boats but that doesn't make them elitist. My next door neighbour has just bought his wife a brand new jaguar car but he's not elitist. We all have different priorities when it comes to spending our money whether we have a little or a lot. I've found it best not to judge folk by the size of their wallet - that way madness lies.


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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

hey, they called my boat an ugly duckling, you think you have problems.

Cheeky know-nothings, many people love the heavenly twins and she is far from an ugly duckling!

Yours Angry
from N Wales

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[snowleopard]

prices are relative

once mentioned sailing in a pub. the guy next to me started the usual 'sailing is for the rich' gripe so i pointed out that the boat i owned was a secondhand dinghy costing £200. response: 'i wish i had £200'. (i wonder how much his football season ticket cost).

on the caribbean cruising circuit our present boat, a home-built 40 footer, is very much a poor relation but when we anchored by a hotel on loch ness the manager referred to it sarcastically as 'that great big fancy thing'.

at every boat show the tv preview looks at the biggest sunseeker and talks about multi-millionaires yet in st maarten there is always a row of yachts that could use a sunseeker as a tender.

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[craigbalsillie]

I apologise for getting the wrong end of the stick. I can see from the other posts
that the "elitist" tag is applicable to a very small minority of the sailing community and (with all due respect) I don't think it is prevalent among the contributors of this forum.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with a wife who thinks this sailing lark is crisis point in my life. I'm 32 so I have 20 years to try and convince her...

It seems I am not the only person trying to take up sailing on a budget of a hundred quid or two...
There is an article in PBO this month about a chap who bought a yacht in a run down state from a boat yard where the previous owner of the boat had simply had enough and left the boat and no longer wanted it....

There must be hundreds of boats like this up and down the land lying there rotting away when they could be a nice little project for someoone like me to get started with...

There's a niche in the market there for someone with the contacts and the where with all to get something up and running.... (I'll accept 25% of first year profits as payment)

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