Conference unifix::sailing

85.0. "rationale for a bigger boat" by MOTHER::BERENS () Wed Feb 20 1985 17:23

Almost every sailor yearns for a larger boat. Those of us on speaking
terms with reality realize how expensive owning a boat is. Yet we all
have some rationale or excuse or self-deception that justifies buying a
larger boat. I think that it would be interesting and perhaps fun to 
discuss what our rationales are. For example ....

Once upon a time Julie and I owned a very nice C&C 26. We enjoyed 
sailing it in Marblehead waters and we even sailed it to Maine twice. It 
brought us safely through the worst gale we have ever experienced (but 
that is another story). Nice though it was, it lacked a few things -- 
water tankage, a decent engine, a nav station, a double berth, ability 
to handle more than mildly heavy weather. 

So we decided to look for a bigger boat and promptly discovered how much
more expensive a bigger boat is. After eight months of agonizing we
found an acceptable rationale for paying more for a boat than we did for
our house (before the big rise in prices and interest rates). We decided
that we wanted to spend a year sailing in the Caribbean and maybe sail
across the Atlantic to England. This after owning a boat less than two
years. In due course we bought a Valiant 32 complete with 90 gallons of
water tankage, propane stove, 25 hp four cylinder diesel engine, a
proper bow roller for an anchor, a chain locker of sorts, double berth,
big nav station, cutter rig, and so on. A real blue water cruiser we
were told. And happily we were told the truth. In the last five summers
we have made several offshore trips to/from Maine and one trip to Nova
Scotia. The boat has been comfortable in gales and calms and has always
done what we expected and more. And we have been busily buying all that
expensive gear needed for real voyaging. Financially our long cruise is
less than three years away. 

But only if we don't buy a Valiant 40. A little more storage would be 
nice, and a bigger space on deck for the hard dinghy, and a bit more 
speed, and ..... And we could even sail around the world like Dan Bryne 
and Mark Schrader and the Blacks did on their Valiant 40s ..... 

Don't tell me about the Pardeys and John Guzzwell and all those other 
folks who have circumnavigated in little boats. It doesn't fit my 
rationale.

Think of it this way:  A Valiant 40 would be "nice", but would it
be as nice as making your trip in only 3 years?  (Instead of
how much longer you will have to wait before you can afford
the trip, having spent all your money on a -40.)

But I think you don't REALLY want to be talked out of this...

We are planning on going voyaging in 1987 on our Valiant 32. We can buy
a larger boat when we are old and gray. For now we are feeling more and
more intensely the need for a major change in our lives. By the summer 
of 1987 our boat will be ours and the cruising fund big enough for a 
couple of years away. Maybe I'll be able to convince Julie that we 
should be the first to sail a Valiant 32 round the world.

Alan

See NOTE #121....