Greetings to you all!

[AussieDreamers]

Hi Everyone,

What a great forum!

We are a couple of dreamers (currently boatless) living in Melbourne, Australia who are determined to make all our dreams come true.

We are saving like mad and spending most of our spare time learning as much as we can about sailing, boats, cruising the seas and living afloat etc. etc.

We're sure this forum is going to be a valuable source of information for us and we hope too that we can contribute as much as possible.

Cheers,
Anthony & Brigitte.

[Weyalan]

Welcome aboard Anthony & Brigitte,

I am located across "the pond" from you guys in Tasmania. In my opinion, now & the next few years is going to be a pretty good time to be buying a yacht in Australia... changes to technology in the top end of racing has put (and will continue to put) a lot of racing boats on the market, which has a knock on effect right down through the spectrum of 2nd hand boats.

Good luck with your dream, and, when you find a boat that you like, don't be afraid to "dive in". I bought my boat only about 13 months ago, and I'm having a ball!

[emmo]

Hi Anthony and Brigitte,
Always great to see another Aussie on the forum.I am in Perth and my dreams have recently come true, earlier than I was expecting, so I am sure yours will too.
Good Luck,

Emmo

[markje4]

G'day Anthony and Brigitte,
Have been dreaming for several years but hope to take early retirement in a couple of years and start living. Like you I have been using sites like this one to live vicariously - although I do daysail on weekends and have had a couple of extended liveaboard trips in the Med. Just makes me all the more 'hungry'!
Mark

[northerncat]

build a boat, it makes you learn everything about the systems you want/need plan to use
sean

[AussieDreamers]

Thankyou for you warm greetings! It IS nice to see some fellow aussies on the forum, it's always good to get a local perspective on things.

Interesting point you made Weyalan about being a good time to buy a yacht in the coming years. What sort of tech advances are you talking about?

[Weyalan]

The obvious technological advance is the canting keel... not that the technology is particularly new - the idea has been around for a while, but the kinks seem to be getting ironed out, and now it is no longer only the premier racing boats (Super-maxis & Volvo 70' RTW) that have canting keels - many smaller racing yachts are turning up - even 40 footers. As a result, many of the exisiting fleet of racing yachts are suddenly off the pace... formerly quick boats that have been gun boats in their local fleets are getting their butts kicked by canting keel boats. Other technological advances that have had an impact include the newfound popularity of the prod (bowsprit), often retractible, that allows the use of very fast asymmetrical spinnakers. Carbon fibre spars and hulls are also no longer strictly for the top-end racers.

Whether as a direct result or not, a quick glance on yachthub.com reveals a plethora of quite well known 5-12 year old racing boats (Cadabarra 7, Secret Men's Business, Prowler, Mandrake, for example) that are for sale, and quite cheap too. It is my guess that their owners are looking to either upgrade to a boat that will be competetive in the open class fleets or, perhaps, get into a one design class (Farr 40 or Sydney 38, for example).

Anyway, as a result of this glut of relatively cheap boats on the market, it seems logical to assume that those with, say 10-20 year old boats might consider "trading up" to one of these newer faster boats, in turn selling on their older boats... hence a "trickle-down" effect.

It is probablw that this trickle-down will have less impact on the cruising market than the racing market, but I'm confident that there will be some cross-over.

[timjf]

Hi Anthony & Brigitte Keep on with your dreaming I did and finally got there... Meeting nice friendly people who share a common interest is one of life,s great joys and "cruiser,s are just such people

Cheers and best regards Tim [ SV Seduction of Melbourne ]

[Islandmike]

Hi Anthony & Brigitte,

Dreaming is a good thing, never stop..

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Anthony & Brigitte,

Welcome aboard!! This is a great place to fuel your dreams.

Kind Regards,

JohnL