Need Help Choosing Blue Water Boat....

[roverhi]

Waterline determines ultimate speed. Longer waterline will generally result in more miles covered in a day. The Baba will probably sail to windward a bit better than the W32 but in the real world of long distance cruising, windward ability is seldom an issue.

We built W32 hull #163 from a power away kit, lived on it and cruised SoCal then to French Polynesia and back to Hawaii. Subsequent owner took the boat twice to SoPac and sailed through a named storm off of Fiji. Neither one of us complained about lack of speed. We averaged 118nm per day for nearly 5 figure miles with less than 500 hours of engine time, most of that for battery charging at anchor. Sailed twice through the ITCZ with less than 24 hours engine time so boat will move in light air. It's a full keel boat with lots of wetted surface so most fin keelers will beat it handily in those conditions. Give her a cup of wind and ease the sheets a bit and they will walk away from supposedly faster modern boats and do it in comfort. A w32 absolutely will not go to weather in light air and choppy seas. Do not pinch them up, fall off a little and keep the speed up.

We spent 4 years on our W32. Found it to be a very comfortable boat for a couple and able to swallow all that we brought on board. Wouldn't really ask for more space except to add toys. We had no roller furling and found the cutter rig to be the best solution for hanked on sails. Cruised with a boomless maximum sized staysail, yankee jib, reacher/drifter off a Morgan 35 and main. If I was doing it now would add roller furling to the Forestay and fly a 100% jib off that that could be furled for varying wind conditions and an Asym spinnaker, Should get you by about 95% of the conditions that you will see.

PM me if you have more questions about the Westsail.

[letsgetsailing3]

One thing you should really ask yourself is how you want to spend your time.

Maintaining teak? Sailing? Living on a boat? All of the above?

Those questions should be at least as important as "Which bluewater cruiser should I select?"

[gonesail]

as long as you are looking at the full keel cruisers in that range maybe you should check out the island packet 31

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

One thing you should really ask yourself is how you want to spend your time.

Maintaining teak? Sailing? Living on a boat? All of the above?

Those questions should be at least as important as "Which bluewater cruiser should I select?"

That is a true statement. People spend a whole lot of mental time thinking/worrying about that 0.05% time of a storm and forget that if they are cruising they are spending 75%+ of time just living on the boat (because they shouldn't have gotten caught in a big storm). Get a boat for what you are going to use it for, not for your fear!

[Kenomac]

To the OP. You are on the right track, the Baba 30 or a Tayana 37 will take you anywhere you wish to go in any weather. On our previous boat, I opted for no exterior teak because I didn't wish the expense and time necessary to work on it. However, on our present boat, we have more teak than you'll have on any of the yachts you're considering, and have found it to not be that big a deal to do the work ourselves. When you live on a boat full time, working on the woodwork just becomes something you need to attend to a little each day, but the enjoyment factor can be quite satisfying... Like hardwood floors in a house.

[boatman61]

Reckon you've made your mind up on which type.. and size..
Just boils down to which your most comfortable on.. and only you can answer that...
Bit like the guy who was asking if he'd be happy on a 27ftr... HTFWIK... I would.. but then I was happy enuf on 22...

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]Reckon you've made your mind up on which type.. and size..

I think these things come down more to having made up your Heart (for the moment), because if you really used your mind you would come to your senses and just start hitting your big toe with a hammer.

[DDabs]

OP, since you've decided on the style of boat you want, you need to go see some different models in person and decide which one feels the most comfortable to you. Photos online can provide an idea but you won't know for sure how they feel down below until you step aboard.