Is 35ft really a starter boat?

[JumbleDuck]

You are missing the point. The whole purpose of such terms is to capture the essence of what you really trying to communicate, not to be grammatically correct or even precise. They are shorthand and assume that listeners have the same reference points as the speaker. Clearly that is not the case here.

That is precisely the point I was making, so I am not sure how I missed it!

what is sad is that many try to convince you that their's is the only one that is valid.

Who was the poster who wrote, authoritatively, "So ST is not referring to it as a starter boat for everybody, but among the smallest boats available for those considering buying new" ... ?

 

[Cuan]

Good grief....

 

[Cuan]

And not a single one of those miles would count as valid experience for Yachtmaster^TM. A cruise in company on a fine summer's day from Cowes to Cherbourg in a Bavaria 36, on the other hand, would do just fine.

Didn't reply with quote before .... but.., good grief

 

[Tranona]

That is precisely the point I was making, so I am not sure how I missed it!



Who was the poster who wrote, authoritatively, "So ST is not referring to it as a starter boat for everybody, but among the smallest boats available for those considering buying new" ... ?

Both you and I were trying to qualify the term by explaining our reference points. So they cease to be shorthand and just become points of disagreement. I was not claiming that my explanation was "authoritative" (that is your incorrect interpretation) - just explaining how I thought ST were using the term.

Of course I may well be wrong and ST meant something completely different, but I guess they know their audience and expect those readers who are interested in the boat to understand what they are saying. Again it is clear that some of the readers (well at least one) does not share the same reference point, clearly stating that his recently acquired, smaller boat is his "finisher boat".

 

[eddystone]

I thought a starter boat is a dinghy which is the best way to learn to sail.

Although on reflection the 35ft AWB would be a lot less frightening than a 49er or a Musto Skiff

 

[GrahamM376]

for ocean-going or liveaboards 45ft plus is pretty much essential.

Not in the opinion of most liveaboards we meet, the vast majority being <45ft or, in our case.

 

[Daydream believer]

I would actually dispute the comment that the 35 ft is a starter boat because there are no new smaller ones available
I think a bit of research might find a fair number of different types of 22-32 ft boats out there somewhere either as cruising boats or as sport boats
It is just that in our everyday lives we are used to better living conditions so tend to demand the same when on our free time . Whether it be a camper van or a yacht

 

[Babylon]

I would match your successful Vancouver couple with a customer who bought a ******* 32 to sail off over the horizon with his wife. She gave up before they reached Gibraltar and I last saw him stuck in port in Spain a year later and going rapidly "peculiar". Sad way to enter retirement. Maybe in a 43 footer like Sailfree she would have stayed the course and kept him normal.

Fair point in return. Maybe, however, it was more that 'life on the ocean wave' brought out the stresses and incompatibilities in the ******* 32 pair, in themselves and as a couple, whatever the size of yacht.

I grant that 27ft is a bit small (I have exactly the same one as our Vancouver 27 adventurers), but 32ft is comparatively huge - the jump is from two single saloon berths and a snug quarter-berth to a fore-peak double, a saloon double, a saloon single and a generous quarter-berth, loads more accessible stowage, an L-shaped galley with twin sinks, and a separate heads/shower - whilst still being reasonably easily handle-able and affordable. The pro-rata increase in internal space from 32 to 36ft is relatively marginal by comparison with this first jump.

So I'd say that 32ft is a good modern starter yacht.

 

[lw395]

Did the article say anything interesting or worthwhile about the boat, or just drop the 'starter boat' clanger?

 

[lpdsn]

Did the article say anything interesting or worthwhile about the boat, or just drop the 'starter boat' clanger?

Yes, how did they avoid calling an Elan Impression ugly?

 

[Hydrozoan]

... The pro-rata increase in internal space from 32 to 36ft is relatively marginal by comparison with this first jump ...

Perhaps. Certainly 32ft suits two of us, and even in a late 70's design gives most of what you list.

But as I was once told "Every extra foot is a foot in the middle", and there is the issue of sailing with children. For many I suspect, by the time they can afford the cash or time for a 'starter' cruising boat it needs to accommodate a couple of biggish offspring - together with their expectations and paraphernalia.

 

[Tryweryn]

My first is a Moody 30, when i first tool kit out it was plenty big enough and is as big as ill ever need.

 

[Resolution]

It is remarkable how each step up in size is initially daunting as far as boat handling is concerned. From an Impala (28 foot) to a Sigma 33 was an enormous step. For about an hour. Then it quickly became "normal". Today my 40 footer feels very familiar (although the bow still seems a long way away in small marinas). Then a charter 50 footer which felt vast for about one day. Unfortunately age and finance render it unlikely that I wil ever be put to the test on the 60 footer that I lust after.

 

[corinthmistral]

Also depends on where you sail it. My 35' boat is at the larger end of those in our home marina but when we sail up the coast (to the Orwell) the marinas are designed to accommodate 40+ footers with ease and our boat actually seems quite small. The spacing between the pontoons is much greater and manoeuvring is very easy compared to our home berth, so whilst I don't think a 35' boat is "small" by most standards, in such areas or eg many of the marinas on the south coast I can quite understand why 35' may be at the smaller end of the scale.

 

[Niffler]

There was a time when a 26' boat like the venerable Centaur was considered the ideal size and most boats that were over 30' were just beyond reach for a lot of people.
Nowadays that has changed. People earn more and since the eighties it has become uneconomical for manufacturers to turn out boats that are less than 30-35' unless they build them in a country where the workers are paid the equivalent of peanuts (by Western standards).

Very fair assessment, there was a time when the Austin Maxi was advertised with the USP that you could fold down the seats and a couple could go camping for a few days in the back

Some on here paid their dues by sleeping five in a miserable Snapdragon or ghastly Contessa and think that everyone else should suffer like they did. Nice boats for a couple, but today's families are a little more discerning.

 

[johnalison]

Very fair assessment, there was a time when the Austin Maxi was advertised with the USP that you could fold down the seats and a couple could go camping for a few days in the back

Some on here paid their dues by sleeping five in a miserable Snapdragon or ghastly Contessa and think that everyone else should suffer like they did. Nice boats for a couple, but today's families are a little more discerning.

It's not the suffering that we wish to impose on the young, though goodness knows, they deserve it, but the experience of manoeuvring a small craft which is light enough to be blown about by the slightest puff of wind, but also light enough to fend itself off with just a hand put out without risk of injury or damage.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Some on here paid their dues by sleeping five in a miserable Snapdragon or ghastly Contessa and think that everyone else should suffer like they did. Nice boats for a couple, but today's families are a little more discerning.

I see plenty of families in smaller boats. The notion that all families sail in boats at least 35' long is a myth.

 

[Niffler]

I see plenty of families in smaller boats. The notion that all families sail in boats at least 35' long is a myth.

Yes but you're from the North aren't you?

 

[vyv_cox]

I see plenty of families in smaller boats. The notion that all families sail in boats at least 35' long is a myth.

We couldn't afford a 35 ft boat until our kids left home We sailed in 27 and 29 ft boats for years when there were four of us. Perfectly safe and comfortable.

 

[fergie_mac66]

Yes but you're from the North aren't you?

whats the problem with this sentence?

thats what the problem is with all the political parties to a person