First boat for a tallish sailor

[EntropyUK]

Hi all I am starting to think of buying my first boat. I have my day skipper but very little experience.

My current current thinking is to try and find something in the 25ft to 30ft region for me to gain experience I expect to spend weekends, but not every weekend, on the boat. I am 6ft 1in and big so headroom is a huge factor for me.

I hope to be on the east coast just north of the Thames. Ideally a bilge keel but will consider anything if it fits my needs.

So what models should I be focusing on when I start looking as headroom is not a piece of data that is always available.

 

[Tranona]

Once you get above 26' and looking at cruising twin keels (think Westerly, Moody, Cobra, Sadler) 6'1" is not generally a problem. For weekend use headroom is not essential I am 6'3" and owned a 26' boat with well under 6' headroom for over 30 years and cruised every year along the south coast and across the channel. It was only as I got older that it started to become a nuisance. Twin keels are not essential on the East Coast despite what you might think. It really depends on whether you want to take advantage of what they offer such a the use of a drying mooring, exploring upper reaches and drying out and not needing a cradle for out of water storage. You don't give a budget, but most will be well over 30 years old and far more important to consider condition and equipment rather than specific design. Look at as many boats as you can.

 

[Bobc]

Bilge keel Moody 29.

 

[Concerto]

So you want to become a PBO (poor bloody owner). With little experience may I suggest you join a yacht club and crew on cruising and race boats for a year or more. You will learn a lot very quickly and with having sailed on a variety of different boats, which will assist in deciding what you want to buy.

I have sailed on the East Coast since 1965, all in fin keel yachts except the very first boat my parents bought. Drying out in this area is more sitting in mud rather than hard standing. The slightly shallower draft will make very little difference if you want to anchor in any creeks as there is always plenty of room.

Click on the link in my signature to see all my videos, presentations including the forum posts I made whilst sailing singlehanded round Britain via Out Stack (the most northerly piont of the UK).

 

[B27]

Standing Headroom is unlikely.

Some boats you may have issues with the lengths of the berths.

 

[johnalison]

I once met a German group with a mid-sized Hanse. Their tallest member went around in a cycling helmet to prevent head bangs.

Many smaller boats in the past gave only sitting room for even those like me much less tall than you, Stellas for example, and we sailed a Mystere for many years. You get used to going below and just shuffling around, but of course it is not ideal.

 

[andsarkit]

How about a Parker 275?

 

[ylop]

So you want to become a PBO (poor bloody owner). With little experience may I suggest you join a yacht club and crew on cruising and race boats for a year or more.

This is oft quoted advice.

You will learn a lot very quickly and with having sailed on a variety of different boats,

Not everything you learn is actually going to be that useful… eg if you are racing round the cans you may learn tactics and racing rules, fast sail changes, trimming every sail for 0.1knot improvement… but if your intended use is quiet weekends on an anchor you’ll never learn anything about anchoring, selecting the idyllic anchorage, when to say screw it lets motor home before the squall arrives etc. Of course you might find a club with people who do exactly the sort of sailing you fancy, who happen to be one man down on a regular basis and so slot in nicely, or you might not know what you want to do so a club with diversity might be good to suck it and see.

I see people who have been sailing longer than I have been alive who are anxious coming in and out of marinas, people who use marinas so often that picking up a mooring is a major chore and husbands and wives who have sailed together their whole married life but she’s never been trusted enough to to take the helm for the close quarters stuff… You may learn a lot, it may be as much about human nature as it is about sailing.

which will assist in deciding what you want to buy.

Is the “population” of boats you will actually get to crew on sufficiently diverse to provide useful input. Eg if most people looking for extra crew tend to have bigger boats then experience of a roomy 40 footer with full headroom for 6’1” may be an unhelpful intro if his budget is sub 30’!

Sailing in out the same harbour every day is great experience of that harbour/marina but may mean your options become focussed on one niche, one way of doing things.

If it’s purely experience then many schools offer mile builder options where you make up space on their training boats. That gets you exposure to different boats (likely bigger than op is considering) as well as different instructors/styles. If it’s real experience you want jumping around areas, eg the solent, Falmouth, N Wales, Clyde, Hebrides, should give you loads of different experiences. However none will ever give you the true experience of “well it’s your boat, you are in charge and there’s no skipper or owner to look at for a reassuring glance that your approach to fixing whatever mess you’ve got yourself into is going to be good. And if you are a solo/loner type clubs and schools aren’t necessarily ideal.

 

[ylop]

I once met a German group with a mid-sized Hanse. Their tallest member went around in a cycling helmet to prevent head bangs.

Maybe I need to try that - I’ve got sufficient headroom below but keep whacking it on the sprayhood frame!

 

[EntropyUK]

Holy necro post batman!

I have finally started looking for my first yacht. After plenty of research I thought a Westerly Centaur would be a perfect choice for me, plenty available and cheap enough to make mistakes in. Plus it would need work so I can learn how to look after a yacht.

Went to look at one today, it was an early one with round ports. I loved it as it felt manageable to handle on my own and I could stand up in the cabin. However the V berth and heads was so tight. I struggled to turn around to open the door to the heads as my shoulders were wider than the doorway. Doesn't help that I am slightly claustrophobic

So where do I go from here? To be honest my budget is about £6k but may be able to go to 10K in a year or so, so I know I am very limited in choice and not expecting anything much.

 

[Sandy]

Mirage 28

 

[Stemar]

One important question is, what kind of sailing do you enjoy? If it's racing, bashing round the cans on a Sunday afternoon, chasing that extra 1/10kt, an ageing cruiser with bilge keels will drive you nuts. OTOH, if the object is just being out on the water, cruising gently, you'd hate the sort of racer your budget would buy, but that Centaur or Sandy's Mirage would do very nicely, and either will go surprisingly well given a bit of care in setting up the sails.

I wouldn't knock the idea of joining a club. There's also Crewseekers, and the like. They may be more likely to get you out cruising than a club, where you're more likely to find racing spots, which will also be good experience - knowing how to set up a boat to give its best makes sailing far more rewarding, even if you're only out for a potter.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Vancouver 27 or 28; genuine 6'2" headroom in the saloon.

 

[Tranona]

Vancouver 27 or 28; genuine 6'2" headroom in the saloon.

Tell me where you can buy one for the OPs budget of £6k and I will buy the lot - even though I don't need one.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Tell me where you can buy one for the OPs budget of £6k and I will buy the lot - even though I don't need one.

Missed that

 

[Tranona]

Holy necro post batman!

I have finally started looking for my first yacht. After plenty of research I thought a Westerly Centaur would be a perfect choice for me, plenty available and cheap enough to make mistakes in. Plus it would need work so I can learn how to look after a yacht.

Went to look at one today, it was an early one with round ports. I loved it as it felt manageable to handle on my own and I could stand up in the cabin. However the V berth and heads was so tight. I struggled to turn around to open the door to the heads as my shoulders were wider than the doorway. Doesn't help that I am slightly claustrophobic

So where do I go from here? To be honest my budget is about £6k but may be able to go to 10K in a year or so, so I know I am very limited in choice and not expecting anything much.

Just a product of trying to fit 5 berths, toilet, workable galley etc in a boat that size. By the standards of the day it was considered spacious. Slightly later designs like the Mirage may be better because they had greater beam 9,25' compared with 8.42' and a hull shape that was fat in the middle making the saloon and loo more spacious. However the forecabin likely to be more pinched but longer because of the extar hull length. Boat design is always a compromise and you have to learn to live with some features because the boat overall is better for your purposes.

 

[ashtead]

If a centaur is considered too cosy then maybe a Berwick,Renown,Longbow or Pentland would be a suggestion. I first started family sailing in a Centaur with square portholes from 1976 but my Dad didn’t buy a Berwick as the Westerly chap who was a veritable grey beard of many years told him it was too large for a first cruiser . I think on reflection centaurs are great provided you don’t intend to travel far but clearly others have sailed around uk in them. For a tall sailor the coffin berths are a better bet than the cramped bow cabin. Also there were 3 different interior layouts in saloon. As said I doubt a Berwick can be had for £10k but maybe you buy a half share in one with an old sailor who will also give you some advice etc on vessel and all the issues which even Westerly’s have by now. You might join the westerly owners association to learn a lot on different designs. The key consideration when looking at vintage craft should be condition of engine and rigging - you could easily blow your budget on replacing items like this.

 

[Concerto]

Lots of information about the different Westerly classes are linked from this web page.
Westerly Classes - Westerly-Wiki

Have you looked at the Westerly Owners web site for sale page?
Craft for Sale

This Westerly Griffon is a boat I know the owner very well and he is swallowing the anchor due to ill health. It could be a good recommendation at the very top of your budget. It is a generation later than a Centaur so will sail better.
Westerly Griffon

 

[LittleSister]

I think the OP is not used to boats, and therefore doesn't appreciate that one doesn't necessarily actually need full standing headroom, etc. (nice though such things are to have). One quickly adapts to some degree of restriction in height/width etc.

I am not saying that headroom etc. is unimportant, but highlighting that it is probably not crucial to have full clearance of one's height

I am the same height as the OP, but my last boat, a 23 footer, didn't have full standing headroom for me - it was perhaps 5'9", 5'10" or so - but I was just used to having my head tilted as I moved about below and was barely aware of it being a restriction. Increased height didn't even appear on my lists of 'must haves' and 'would like to haves' when I was looking for a replacement boat! The boat I did get has a little more height, and more extensively through the boat, but is still not full standing headroom for me, and hasn't bothered me.

Likewise various other constraints. The OP mentions the toilet compartment in the Centaur being too cramped, and it being difficult to enter/exit, but often such things will soon seem less so, or be forgotten entirely, when you have quickly and unconsciously learnt that you need to, say, enter right shoulder first, and move your left foot this way or that when you are opening the door to leave, or whatever. There is a difference between a compartment that is cramped (as they all will be on a boat that size), and one that is too cramped.

Strangely enough, on my previous boat it was not me but my then partner, significantly shorter than me, who used to sometimes bump her head on the ring beam that supported the mast and further restricted the headroom between the saloon and the forward V berth!

A berth that is too short, though, is definitely a pain, but as others have said, you would normally sleep on one of the other berths, rather than the V berth (which are often, in boats of that age and size, really more suited to kids and other shorter people, or storage).

 

[peter gibbs]

Hi all I am starting to think of buying my first boat. I have my day skipper but very little experience.

My current current thinking is to try and find something in the 25ft to 30ft region for me to gain experience I expect to spend weekends, but not every weekend, on the boat. I am 6ft 1in and big so headroom is a huge factor for me.

I hope to be on the east coast just north of the Thames. Ideally a bilge keel but will consider anything if it fits my needs.

So what models should I be focusing on when I start looking as headroom is not a piece of data that is always available.

Westerley Konsort or Fulmar should suit, at 30 ft. But as a 6ft 4 in sailor myself, you have to get into the high 30 footers to gain more headroom and that's demanding for a starter hull.