Newbies on board

[Usarmyav8or]

Hello everyone!

I'm Rob and my wife is manuela. We are about 5 years from doing what you all are already experts at. I'm currently in the U.S. Army as a blackhawk pilot and we are so ready to get the cruising life on. We are planning on getting a cat. Right now we are thinking a lagoon 42 between 2008-2017. We have zero sailing experience, so pardon any silly newbie questions we post. We plan on getting some certs through ASA and hitting the boat shows soon. If you have any suggestions you would like to share, please feel free.

Currently we are thinking of cruising the caribbean for 2 years before heading over to europe and back.

Some questions I have already are in regards to registration cost, insurance costs and reliable companies. We have been binging the last year on YouTube channels such as gone with the wynns (personal fave of us) SV Delos, sailing doodles, trio travels.

Anyhow sorry it was long winded, hope to meet some new friends and insights.

Rob n Manuela

[Don C L]

Welcome aboard Rob and Manuela! Feel free to fire away with those inquiries. Sure to be someone around here who might know something.
I'd say start off now by getting two small fun sailboats so you both can learn together and then race each other while you learn. It can be a lot of fun. Lasers are a good boat to learn on IMO.

[Compass790]

Hi Rob n Manuela,
Welcome to the forum.The cruising life is great IMO but it isnt for everyone. You say you have no experience, I would suggest a charter or crewing for someone else first not to put you off but better to get a taste. I'll let the Lagoon owners weigh in on your prospective choice. Knowing how a wing works will help the sailing learning curve :-)

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Rob & Manuela.

[ClubBrooks]

I just took a fast track to cruising class at Colgate offshore sailing school. Loved it and learned a ton.

[Usarmyav8or]

Thanks for the great responses already ! I must have been up till 2 A.M. last night reading through the forums. Looks like the basic advice is to hit the boat shows before we focus on a specific cat, get some sailing experience by doing a charter for a week or so, and/or go get some sailing lessons. Definitely going to follow that advice to a tee.

Thanks so much already for the warm welcome!

Rob

[Diesel Bill]

Hi Rob and Manuela, Welcome to the forum, Good luck achieving your dreams and thank you for your service. Any one that can fly a helicopter can learn to sail.

[John_Trusty]

Welcome Rob and Manuela. You probably have a bunch of great experience from your service that will relate to managing a boat. I've never met a sailor that admitted to being an expert regardless of the years of experience. The sea will always teach you a lesson. One of the biggest cautions that good sailors give newer sailors is experiment, but do not get in over your head - There are old sailors and bold sailors, but very few old and bold sailors. You probably will not have that problem. I agree with Don C L's advice to learn to sail on something smaller. You probably did not learn to fly on a high-powered helicopter, and you should not try to learn to sail on something very big. It's not the danger part, it's feeling the relationship between wind, sail, and tiller that are difficult to feel in a large catamaran. A boat under 25 feet is a better teacher. Another bit of advice is get into a sailing club, yacht club or find a sailing friend locally. Put in your location, and we can make some suggestions.

As far as costs, they vary wildly (by factors of 2-3 x) based on location, and to a lesser extent on the boat and your experience. Your question is like asking how much are the payments and insurance on "a car" ... how would you answer?