"Starter" boats?

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Laurie

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Who is kidding whom here? I have just been whiling away a pleasant few minutes looking at YM boat test videos....good fun and quite interesting, but nothing less than 30 foot unsurprisingly.....
However, two yachts both well over 30 foot and into 6 figures were described as "STARTER" boats!!!!

There is no hope, all ye who enter here.........:confused:
 
Well, for a beginner size can be an issue. I well remember doing MOB drill on an OYC ketch, thinking I'd got down to a suitable speed to approach the "casualty" and the skipper informing me we were still doing seven knots. Manouvring a sizeable boat requires greater finesse, purely because several extra tons of boat can do considerable damage.

Rob.
 
jac said:
Size shouldn't be an issue and we all start to somewhere.

Where I have an issue is a boat cost several years salary being described as a starter.

Starter should be something that an "average" family can afford without selling bodily parts or relatives.
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Too true.....when I bought my first (starter) boat ( a Jaguar 22) at £ 2K, I was terrified at the expense....and it STILL had no reading lights in the aft cabin!!!

If no one is now making affordable sub 30 footers, and I understand the economies of costings, then slowly and surely the market for new expensive yachts must diminish.
One would have thought that that would support the 2nd hand market for late 70s boats, especially as most will have had by now much in the way of upgrades, maintenance or restoration; but looking at some prices, maybe not?

We all are familiar with the plethora of names in the smaller boat size market, that have gone to D. Jones' locker, and now there seems to be a litany of those in the large luxury market following. Seems to bear me out?
 
I started in a Hurley Felicity (was my dads) in the mid 70's and we had a silhouette on the next buoy. All the boats then seemed about the same size. A centaur was huge.

Scary to think that present boat is twice the size.
 
Sub 40ft but it's a Colvic Watson 35 and so it's 3ft wider than my first boat was long.
 
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What an absolute joy your video is: encompasses all I love above pottering around the east coast! I had fun trying to identify the creeks "Lazy Kipper" was in......a handsome yacht indeed.
 
I don't think the skill level is the critical thing. Anyone can learn (albeit a bit more difficult ) on a larger boat.
The real problem for mere financial mortals like us is the question of what kind of boat will suit me and my family.
To buy a large therefor expensive boat to buy and keep demands then that you and your family love it and use it often.
To buy the big boat then discover over a period of time (by not using it) that it is not what you really want is a huge waste.
A smaller does give you the opportunity to try and find out if you really are a boating person. Problem being that a smaller boat being cheaper does not demand the frequent use but on the other hand being smaller will be more uncomfortable in bad weather and more cramped.
So the trick is to buy your last boat first. But how do you know what you want till you try. That is the hard part. good luck to all those discovering themselves and their ideal boat. olewill
 
On my 7th since 1968. Started at 13' and developed the ability to define my requirements along the way of stepping up to 16', 21', 24' and now 32'.

Starter boats may very well be entry level designs (manufacturers aim to meet even modest budgets), and well kept 2nd hand boats can give a lot of good value even without the bells and whistles.

Putting together a prioritized list of requirements and a budget comprising both buying and running the thing, will set a base for looking. And a threshold for not looking at offers out of reach :)
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Yes, I have noticed that No Experience Required, when I sail in the Solent and I see some very nice yachts the way they are sailed!!!
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There may be an element of this - in the days when cruising boats at most sailing clubs were 17-25 ft, the new Centaur was a big boat, and even the Prime Minister only had a S&S 34 for top-flight ocean racing, I don't recall seeing so many horribly set sails about.

Maybe getting acceptable passage speeds out of plywood Silhouettes, Caprices (I had one) etc. forced people to actually learn to trim their sails properly. And we didn't have 7 knots in any direction all day on tap at the turn of a key.
 
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