Gotta admit I amazed..

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Connemara

small boat before stumping up the cash for something with three staterooms, a formal salon, and a billiard room. But we do want the big boat one day soon


MS

Make sure you get the nautical billiard set which has square balls.

[AudreyK]

Well I for one, want to know what im doing before I buy my boat! I could renovate my house now and sell it and have something in 6 months, but I wouldnt really know enough to sail it properly or more to the point, safely. Im going to spend the next two years learning to sail at a proper sailing school where the Qualifications could lead to commercial certification if I wanted to go that far - that would take longer than two years. but in two years Ill have done a fair bit of navigation, Ill have skippered a yacht offshore (under supervision) and Ill have practised mooring and motoring in and out of slips, and in Moreton Bay I may have even run aground (its very shallow). If im going to be responsible for the people who come on board, I want to be confidant in my ability handle the boat, but I will still probably bugger stuff up, but hopefully not to dangerouse levels

Audrey

[SkiprJohn]

Thank you Audrey. You'll be a safe Captain.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Connemara,
Congrats on the new (to you) boat. I'll bet you'll be reading a lot and tinkering with your boat while winter.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[cat man do]

Hi AudreyK , try gettig down to R.Q.Y.S at Manly on a Wednesday arvo around 1:30 and start doing WAGS races. Get to have a ride on a MULTI tude of different size , type and $$$$ value boats in a 2 hour race around Green Is out to Hope banks and back, multi and monohull. Some of us have had it down to around 40 mins, but might be a bit wild for a newbie.

You really should do it, lot's of good folk and most of 'em are just after an excuse for a pleasant sail, not all are piss drinking speed freaks.

Ask at the bar and they'll tell you where to sign on, usually around 50 boats and most are happy to introduce people to the pleasure of sail, and the cost.........Nothin' , but I'm sure the skipper would'nt say no to a few light beers. Worth getting there around that 1:30 though as a few backpackers are in on this one.

R.Q also run sail training courses

Have fun and let us all know how it went,

Dave

[Connemara]

The information overload is already enormous, thanks.

But it's learning that keeps you young. I hope, because trher's so much to learn.

[AudreyK]

Thanks cat man do, Ive been told about the WAGS races but unfortunatley Ive been sentenced to industrial sevitude - now if they were on the weekend! - I had originally booked my first training course wit RQ but they had some kind of reorginisation and they only seem to do kids in small boats at the mo - they passed me on to Southern cross who are RYA accredited. theyre not cheap but Ive been quite happy with the level of instruction - its not just a pleasant days sail, they make us work! So ill stick with Southern cross for the moment. (sigh) looks like itll be a while before I get on the water again
Audrey

[44'cruisingcat]

It's simple enough - bigger boats, have bigger consequences for the same mistakes. If you nudge someone else's boat with a 50kg tinnie you might scratch the paint. If you nudge someone else's boat with a 25tonne steel yacht, you just might sink it. Better to gain experience while the consequences are small.

[cat man do]

Exactly right 44 footer, the bunnys that Audrey is on about doing sail training are the ones that used to hit my boat regularly. Glad they were only 420's, just scratched paint. But the wally that anchored on top of me in his 40 foot stinker and then dragged back into me during a storm and then pissed off into the gloom, well he did a bit more. We had only launched ours a week earlier.

Pissed off.....just a bit

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by cardiacpaul

"Can I get a discount?"
you're looking at laying out 100k for your dream, and you're cranking on me for less than $600.00???
LOL, Sure, I say, which part of the survey do you want me to leave out.

Yes... that one kills me as well. Some of the most wealthy people, when purchasing a large item, can be so very cheap. In my experience lately, I keep getting people wanting to buy my boat who say, "I'll move onto her today, but I'll pay you in a few days." "Why, I ask?" "Because we don't want to pay for a hotel." Granted, I don't have the most expensive boat out there, but when arranging for a $89,900 boat, I'd hate to see your maintenance schedule if you can't spring for a couple hundred dollars of hotel costs.

[cardiacpaul]

Sometimes I'm so poor I can't pay attention, so the "wealth" thing never bothers me. What concerns me to no end is the short-sightedness of it all. I mean really, would you lay out 89k for a house without an inspection?

If you've been on the water so long that you've got webbed feet, designed and built a dozen craft that have sailed the oceans blue, owned and maintained more boats than cars, this doesn't apply. However, the "unbiased" eye, does.

I've owned an '89 Jag XJ-S collection rouge. It tripped my trigger. It was also an absolute nightmare. It wasn't an impulse purchase. I knew about the beasts. But I loved that limey SOB. I maintained it myself. My brother cussed me out to no end when we changed spark plugs on the V-12. (you have to lift the a/c compressor to get the front ones). Point being, I knew it going in. I knew that to have a rear brake job done I was looking at $1000.00. I also knew that I could do it myself for less than 100.00 in parts.
I draw that analogy to say that its the same thing for holes in the water. Some people are shocked & shaken that a mainsail sheet will cost them more than a cup of starbucks and they don't understand why.

[swagman]

Hi Joli,

Seriously, a lot of people flying a 747 learnt to fly in a 747 and today are no less capable as pilots than those who started in a light aeroplane or smaller jet.

The argument that you always need to start small if extended to four wheeled vehicles would mean we'd all need a year or so on go-karts before we can drive a regular car.....so I don't really think one has to start small to end up being good at handling a craft although it is an easier and possibly less costly way to learn.

I started in small boats as it was all I could afford at the time - but the hard facts of life are it is easier today to sail a 50 footer shorthanded as it was to sail a 35 footer twenty years back. If someone can afford one as a newbie - good luck to them.

But just for now could the new guy park his new big boat over the other side of the marina please?

JOHN

[Joli]

Originally Posted by swagman

Hi Joli,

Seriously, a lot of people flying a 747 learnt to fly in a 747

Hello John,

Not being a pilot I don't know about your statement. I do find it hard to believe any airline would teach someone to fly in a 747. Kinda like my original comment, that is a big platform to learn on. The risks and costs are pretty high.

Maybe the pilots in the group could respond to your comment.

How do like the Hanse?

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by swagman

Hi Joli,

Seriously, a lot of people flying a 747 learnt to fly in a 747

JOHN

Actually that doesn't happen. You learn to fly an airliner in a SIMULATOR. And most, if not all pilots start by flying single engined light aircraft.

Then you go and contradict yourself anyway, saying that it's fine for people to start out in a 50 footer if they can afford it, just as long as they stay away from YOUR boat. So I guess it's ok with you if they sink mine?

[44'cruisingcat]

Double post, sorry.