JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Who wouldnt prefer a new car to an old banger ...
Anyone with more sense than money?
Who wouldnt prefer a new car to an old banger ...
Surely as you approach your late 50's you should have the time & money to go boating as much as possible!
Congratulations, you've got a good deal there.
I'd like to challenge some of the comments here about a new generation of boat owners, at least to contrast it with my own experience.
I work in the City, in financial services, with a good income and have done all of my career. I got into sailing through a corporate sailing club and had many weekends and trips on chartered boats - from cruisers to racers - on the Solent.
When it came to buying a boat I considered one of these then thought what's the point - why tie up a lot of money in purchase costs and marina fees when I can readily charter for the odd weekend a month I can get out. Plus I can share the charter fees with friends, whereas if I had my own I'd be providing free sailing for them.
I ended up with a boat similar to an Anderson 22 as it more than meets my requirements for a day-sailor, with longer-time capability, for coastal cruising - often singlehanded or shorthanded. I don't mind the lack of headroom and basic facilities at all.
A couple of my friends have actually followed suit and are finding small boats can be a lot of fun.
I'm also a member of a yacht club with an impressive set of smaller, older yachts amongst the membership. I can't think of anything in my club that is newer than about 1985 or longer than 36ft. Many of the owners are under 40.
With the continuing increase in cost of living compared with minimal salary increases, even for many City roles (we're not all on six figure bonuses) I suspect more keen sailors will discover the appeal of small and inexpensive sail boats.
Besides, there's a finite supply of these well-built and well-designed '70's yachts - they don't make them any more and the popular models - the A22, Achilles 24, Sonatas, Limbos etc etc - that are maybe not in the Contessa 26 class but offer plenty in their own right should continue to be popular.
More attention to this group in the yachting press would be definitely welcome.
Enough already, I bought the boat and am going to sail her not break her up! Now all I have to figure out is what to do with my Centaur! Any suggestions?
My first broker commmision is a virtual pint please!
Apparently the Monaco Yacht Show is reported this year to be a great success, with brokers reporting sales of superyachts in the 3 million to 30 million range...![]()
Radar on a boat this small? bonkers.
I don't doubt that for one moment. And among the buyers there will no doubt be the likes of our erstwhile bankers, retired BBC executives, and many of our so-called political elite, all of whom are sitting back in the lap of luxury having a good belly laugh at the rest of us honest paupers who are swanning around in boats now worth next to nothing in the truly buggered market they created! Grrrrr ....Apparently the Monaco Yacht Show is reported this year to be a great success, with brokers reporting sales of superyachts in the 3 million to 30 million range...![]()
"Who wouldnt prefer a new car to an old banger - are boats any different?"
Blimey, I would hate to have to look after a ritzy new car, or a new boat for that matter.
My wife once won a new car in a raffle and sold it without looking at it. So that's two of us.
That apart, there seems to be a lot of good sense being spouted.
Youngsters like to ski,cycle, go for hoidays in Thailand, and hen nights in New York. They have rumbled the possibility that owning a boat is a bit of a millstone. Unless, of course, you like sailing a great deal.
Mind you, I never saw the tumble in prices coming, but I guess few predicted a ten year international slowdown either. Prices will pick up again but the era of the 12 grand Centaur has gone for a good while.
Don't be so harsh on tyre kickers and tide wasters!
we went to indulge in a spot of tyre kicking and bought the damn thing!
So did we. Never go to look at a boat on a wet Sunday in January...