Entry level boats

30boat

30boat

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This year the size is about 45ft from what I've been seeing in the Algarve.My Fulmar was the smallest boat in Culatra dwarfed by all the Sun Odisseys 52 and Oceanis 48.Even saw a Hanse 630e.Can't understand how this can be with marinas becoming more expensive and a crisis going on.
 
Amazing, I agree! We started with a 19ft Seamaster Sailor - 2+2 berth cruiser, and we were usually the smallest boat at anchor/on moorings in the Firth of Clyde / Oban / Mull area of our sailing grounds - until the Drascombe fleet arrived, of course!

We bought this year a Bavaria 30 - an enormous step up for us - and at 31 foot we're still generally the smallest boat in these areas. It's not a problem (I really DON'T have a size issue!) but it is interesting. Is it an increasingly affluent society, or fewer people entering sailing through the old dinghy route???
 
All the reasons given go to explain why those of us with smaller, older boats can beat a brand new behemoth boat to windward - less windage and narrower beam. My own boat has 6 ft headroom which doesn't meet with the approval of the designer who settled on 5'9" to reduce windage, but this is achieved by setting the cabin sole down into the wineglass shape of the hull - wide enough to walk with interior furniture set into the shallower bilge sections. A modern boat with a near flat canoe body sits on the water and is nearly all freeboard. Others have commented on the forum about how it is near impossible to climb on and off such a boat!

On the question of the economic climate, I am pretty sure that "the common man" can no longer afford to buy a newish boat, so only the rich - or rather those whose income supports large loans - can afford to buy and they want to be seen in something large and new. A certain town near me on the Thames has the highest concentration of Ferraris I've ever seen and they all drive round and round the town every Saturday, first gear and ten miles an hour, just to be seen - same mentality. Just console yourself that the older boats are more comfortable at sea and the Ferraris will coke up and wreck their gearboxes...

Rob.
 
I noticed during a 6 month cruise from panama to the society islands earlier this year that the rival 38 we were on was the second smallest boat of all the boats we saw. Most are over 45 feet. The smallest was a Nicholson 31 belonging to an australian couple who were in their 7th year of cruising. I myself have a sabre 27 which has standing headroom in the main cabin but even so I would like more room. A Nich 31 would be just peachy.
 
Of course it depends on a persons disposable income and their love of the boat/sailing. I think the term "entry level" is all abit misleading. I don't think a person needs a small boat to learn to sail/handle the boat. I think big is just as easy as small to learn on. It is far better to buy your last boat first.
What is far more difficult for a new comer is the discovery of just how much they love boating. The risk is huge of spending a lot of money (especially as compared to overall personal wealth) on a large boat to discover that it is not used or loved as much as person expected. That is the advantagee of buying small. Not so much capital outlay. On the other hand buying a small boat might put the new comer off boating because of discomfort in accomodation and also in rough conditions.
It is all very difficult. However subsequent posters should never by ashamed of having a smaller boat than the rest of the fleet. Boating is not all there is in life. In fact if a person is totally committed to boating that might reflect a very sad life overall. Indeed the guy with the 10k boat might have 200k in the bank so be able to smile benevolently at those showing off their 200k boat not paid for. good luck olewill
 
William_H said:
. Indeed the guy with the 10k boat might have 200k in the bank so be able to smile benevolently at those showing off their 200k boat not paid for. good luck olewill
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Absolutely right. I have met many people over the years who borrow and spend money on a yacht that they can only afford to keep for a few years only, having to sell it afterwards, usually in a rush and at a great loss. Boats, unlike houses, don't go up in value.
 
William_H said:
Boating is not all there is in life. In fact if a person is totally committed to boating that might reflect a very sad life overall. Indeed the guy with the 10k boat might have 200k in the bank so be able to smile benevolently at those showing off their 200k boat not paid for. good luck olewill
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How true.I'd be bored if I only had sailing in my life!
 
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