Starting out

[Steve101]

Hello I've just spent a long weekend on a friends newly aquired Bavaria 32, I'm now seriously contamplating ordering a new Moody 38cc for myself and my young family and mooring it in Torquay. I intend to take (on recomendation) a compton crew course and a day skippers also various chart reading and VHF course, whilst I await delivery next season. I'm also going to buy a small laser to play about with whilst I wait. I feel that this should be sufficient for what I need for basics for day off shore sailing when it arrives next June. However I've been warned that a 38 may be too big for my wife and I to crew for a first boat can anyone varify or confirm this, or just give an opinion. Thanks Steve 30 and Angie 28 James 7 and Emma 5.

 

[ccscott49]

38' is a bit of a handfull, but so is a 33' or for that matter a 30' so don't worry about it, Do the courses and do everything at a slow pace, use easy marinas at first, do not attempt mooring in any of the marinas/pontoons on the Dart, without a fair bit of practice at anything but slack water!! Most of all enjoy yourselves and welcome to the sea and the forum! You'll find us a reasonble bunch and thanks for introducing the family!

 

[Trevethan]

How much experience do you have? Has the bug bitten your family too?

If I were you I'd get a season or two in sailing a smaller boat or at least do a skippered charter with the family, before dropping all that money on a brand new boat. If trying to convince swmbo of the joys of sailing do a Med charter.. of course she'll use that against you everytime she is cold wet and miserable of the UK coast!

If you want a dinghy to hone your skills, I';d suggest something a bit bigger, maybe Wayfarer sized (16 ft) so you can take the family too and give them a chance to lean the ropes.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Steve
Hello and welcome
And brace yourself for some fairly forthright views to be coming your way.

There are no hard and fast rules and you will get lots of opinions
but i think i can make the following points without being contradicted too harshly

1) Ability to sail is based on experience not just peices of paper. Read up on sailing schools on the board and you will see views on them vary. you are embarking on a very ambitious learning curve to learn how to sail between now and next season to take a new boa and family out.

2) 38 Foot is a big boat and will take some handling and stopping. If the wind catches it whilst on a pontoon you wife will not be able to hold it IMHO. A smaller boat say 32 would be fine for the family and much more manageable as first boat.

3) Both of you need to do the courses, what happens if you get knocked out by the boom

4) You may want to charter a few boats and test sail a few before deciding A) If you both like sailing B) What boat

5) you will need to oraganise a place to moor it now. The south coast is v busy and there are waiting lists for some places. with a family you will most likely want a marina and these ain't cheap.

I have no opinion on what boat as it is such a personal thing and there are so many to chose from.


Alot of people will recommend you go second hand as your views on the boat you want may change. There is also an ongoing debate as to which is better value. My own humble view is that many many 2nd hand boats are overpriced, but have qualities that have stood the test of time. Alot of the new plastic boats have unproven pedigrees and i am unsure that they are as good investments long term ( that is if you view a boat as an investment). You will lose money

I can reccomend the laser but if you have kids why not get a dinghy you can take them out on, like mirror or wayfarer for old boats or laser 14 laser 16 if u want sommat new

i do pray this post is not a wind up.

Good luck and enjoy.



...It was like that when i found it!

 

[Steve101]

Thanks for getting back to me. I was wondering if I was being a little too ambitious. I helped crew my friends 32'. Helping mooring it at Torquay and Brixham and wondered if the extra 6' was going to make it conciderably more difficult to handle. We've looked at Bavaria, Beneteau and Moody so far (The Moody is our favourite by a country mile) can anyone recommend other marques we should look at ; Westerly seems to be one that a few people seem to bring up in conversation?

 

[rogerroger]

Bear in mind the Bav 32 is really a 34 footer...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[ccscott49]

Mine was a general reply Steve, I don't know an awful lot about the newer boats, as I am or tend to be somewhat of a wooden boat man. There's going to be a fair amount of info coming your way, from peeps with a fair amount of experience, just needs sieving a little, if you get my drift??

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Westerleys are good boats, seaworthy although i wouldn't choose one over a moody!
one thing i forgot support the RNLI wherever possible
you can join shoreline or offshore to guarantee the support.


...It was like that when i found it!

 

[Steve101]

Thanks for the reply. It seems to be a common theme that most people have to convince there partners into either a) Having a boat in the first place or B) Getting her on the damn thing in the first place! Thankfully I have neither problem, in fact when I rang her to ask if she really wanted to move to a bigger house or change all the plans we had made for the last 12 months and buy a boat there was no hesitation, the boat was a resounding winner...My only hope is she doesn't think it's an alternative place for me to live when she eventualy divorces me and take me for everything. hahaha

 

[ccscott49]

Never joke about divorce!!! Theres many a sailor on here knows all about it!!

 

[ccscott49]

Never joke about divorce!!! There's many a sailor on here knows all about it!!

 

[Steve101]

Thanks for the reply. My wife and I intend to both take the courses. we also intend to test sail a few boats before we make a final decision. My only real query is ok ok the 38 is a fairly decent size boat, but it's only 6ft bigger than the Bavaria '32 which I'm fairly confident we could handle. The two points that concern me are 1) Financially I don't want to have to lose money on a 32' when I sell/ Trade it in to accomadate my growing family. 2) Is'nt it better to gain 1/2 seasons worth of sailing a 38 rather than cutting my teeth on a 32' and then moving up to a 38'.. Sorry if these are FAQ or naive points but I am a newby.....and I'm reading every bit of literature I can get my hands on.

 

[Trevethan]

*Grin*

Mine keeps threatening me in much the same way... I can live on the boat allowing her a nice clean and tidy apartment. She was kind enough to say I'd get visiting rights, but I wasn't allowed to leave things behind when she sent me back.....

Make sure when pricing up your new boat you include all the extras you invariably need - instruments, decent lighting, battery capacity, dinghy, etc etc etc. Those add considerably to the price!

 

[ccscott49]

Stck to your guns! 38'

 

[Steve101]

So what you're saying is that I would only be handling a boat 4ft bigger?

 

[Guest]

I commisioned one of the new Moody 38 CC's this time last year and we are very pleased with it. If you send me a message with your email address I will forward you an article we wrote on it for the Moody Owners Mag. We sail two up plus retriever....No problems with handling. Previous boat was a Moody 336. It sails well in all weathers as we have proved to our satisfaction this season.

Pete

 

[sailbadthesinner]

I understand
I cannot comment on future values
you could ask the agent i cannot warrant their advice ( sorry this is a bit useless)

My relationship is such that SWMBO has to come first. Your ownership of the boat will be no fun if she cannot handle it easily. Personally my other half found it nigh on impossible with an oceanis 400 but a 30fter she could help pull about and raise kedges etc.
It is all quite personal, but I would start small and accept you may have to trade up. It is quite a common pattern.



...It was like that when i found it!

 

[Steve101]

Tell me about it, the extras I added them up in the catalogue and almost died . My wife wanted a blue hull and heating.....we compromised on ducting for heating to be added in the future and in mast furling..I think I did quite well out of that one. Do I have a dinghy and a life raft or just a dinghy. I know I've got to hire a life raft when it is handed over and skippered to Torquay. But is it something that really can wait, after all for the 1st season I don't really intend to lose sight of land.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

at my cousin's wedding (she is an advocate on Jersey dealing in marital law)
her uncle told her there are 2 parties in a divorce
You and That B*st*rd

...It was like that when i found it!

 

[Steve101]

Thanks for replying there's nothing like a personal recommendation. My E-mail is steve@arc-g.fsnet.co.uk. When we saw the moody 38' we both said straight away that that was the boat for us. Luxury combined with a practical use of space and the centre cockpit seemed more practical with having young children.