Offshore Cruising

[cooper1991]

Best between a Jeaneau Sunrise 35 (French) and a LM27 (Danish) for coastal/offshore sailing?

Jeaneau exposed prop, low comfort, high capsize ratio & SA/displacement BUT fast and manouverable. OR. LM27 long keel, bigger tanks, high comfort, low capsize probability but very low SA/displacement (12.2) and probably slow into headwinds.

[Joh.Ghurt]

Those two boats are very dissimilar and of different generations, so it's very hard to understand where your question is coming from.

Have you ever been on any of those boats? If not, forget about all those fancy ratios and learn how those boats feel in reality. And should you have ingested too much of the longkeel cool-aid, get some real life sailing experience instead. There are many good reasons why longkeel boats aren't built any more and none of them are nefarious.

[cooper1991]

I agree they are poles apart but both are favourably priced and available now. I live in Bahrain where sailing hardly exists so no chance of getting experience. I'm 62 and want to sail for 4-5 years so ordinarily I'd have gone crewing etc. I only learned to sail via RYA qualifications last year so have only sailed on 2 Beneteau 40's and a Beneteau 42. I want to buy first and mainly single hand, so I've got a sense of urgency to learn as I go along. I want something safe & reliable, rather than fast and furious. Good point about long keel boats not being made.

[Joh.Ghurt]

Both boats are rather old models and might need a lot of work before you can sail them. At this age expect "ready to sail" mean at least a season on the hard fixing stuff and refitting all major systems from engine over rigging to sails. Count yourself lucky if the previous owner took care of the osmosis and you don't have some fibreglass / core problems.

Another point is bringing them into the Arabian Gulf from anywhere will me a major task, nothing that you can do quickly with a boat needing work. It's also hard to find someone to help you on the trip, in case you don't trust your skills for it yet.

For your plans, a lot more important than all those numbers are in which shape is the boat and whether it's located in a place where you want and can spend the next years sailing. I'd be surprised if the local mindset in Bahrain makes very small cruises popular. I'd have guessed it's either dhows, big brand boats or dinghies / regatta boats.