Hello All,

I've been reading your forums for quite some time. Now I have a few questions. I am absolutely, completely and utterly sure that I want to get into sailing. Blue water cruising, in fact. However, I am more than green when it comes to sailing or knowledge of sailing. I am reading everything I can find and watching YouTube movies on solo sailors of 26'-30' boats. As soon as I am allowed some freedom from work (after the crazy retail blackout period), I will be taking some sailing lessons.

My questions at the moment fall around the costs of boats. I understand that it is a general consensus that boats take all your money and then some but what does that actually mean in figures? For instance, what does each sail roughly cost for a 28 footer? What are parts of a boat that need replacing each year and how much do those parts cost? Are there repairs that I could learn to do myself for cheaper? Is it wise to use secondhand parts on a boat that is bound for open water? Which autopilots are best? So many questions!

It all depends on where you live and what you are looking to get out of sailing. To some people its a chance to throw money at a boat, others can do it very cheaply. I find the enjoyment is inversely proportionally to what you spend. That Black Soo Cisco linked to above has been around since the late fifties [think I have seen it in Lincoln]. The running costs are basically slipping fees and antifoul paint and of course mooring fees. Sails don't get replaced all that often and there are plenty of good sails on eBay. That mahogany Folkboat with the new Yanmar diesel that just sold on eBay for $2500 is a perfect example of a first boat. The Black Soo might be a bit too fast! Might only last another 40 years or so.
Fill in some details on your bio so people know where you live. Bludge a ride on a few yachts to find what suits. Hang about the sailing environment, annoy people working on their yachts at the slips etc. Do not rush into buying a yacht. Heaps of excellent buys out there but also a lot of dross. Plenty of people around here with two yachts, updated but can not sell the old one. Just work out what sort of cruising you will eventually do.

Cisco, Charriot, Ramona and Blue Moon have all offered good advice LynxFX.

As Nike says; 'Just do it'. Once you start and immerse yourself in this lifestyle, you will find many who are genuinely helpful, whether that help be advice or assistance. Find yourself a crewing position (twilights are a great starting point) and drive the skipper and crew ???nucken futs??? with all your questions. I doubt if they will tire before you do! As to costs, as with everything, this is all relevant to your own personal situation. People have sailed around the world in boats that, maybe, should not have gone offshore. However, a genuinely seaworthy yacht (as per Blue Moon???s comment) doesn???t cost the earth and the maintenance costs of the same are more than satisfactory. Just throw yourself into any and all tasks yourself and learn, not just from being shown, but by doing. There is a quote that has stayed with me for many years that I try to reflect on when my ???priorities??? in life become conflicted.

???To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? ???
??? Sterling Hayden, Wanderer

I thought the same thing Southpaw err sorry southace