Sailing: Purchasing Boats

By: Jason Petrina




Sailing has been a growing hobby within the past few years. Sailing competitions and boat shows has caused this growth in the sailing world. If you have sailed on a family or friends boat and have fell in love with sailing, how do you know if you should buy your own sail boat? It’s very common to have an urge to buy your first sailboat when the first chance passes you buy. But this is a mistake; you should never rush a purchase, especially something as expensive as a sailboat. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype, but it may cost you thousands of dollars. Be sure of what you want, I would highly recommend a new sailor to really think about sailing and if you really do need a boat.

A new sailor is easily excited at the thought of purchasing their own sail boat. I know myself that it is really hard to push down the urges of the thought of my own sail boat. Before comparing different sailboats, you should first look in yourself and really think about your needs. You should think about your needs and exactly if they can be satisfied by a sailboat.

The first thing to do for a beginner sailor is to try out different styles and types of sailing. A beginner sailor may have just sailed a few times and have not yet been exposed to different types of sailing. Day sailing is very relaxed and it does not require an experienced sailor to sail and manage the boat. If you have only been exposed to day sailing you should try out other types. Cruising is much faster paced and requires more management. You may want to look into different magazines as an insight to how experienced sailors manage their boats. Racing is probably the most difficult type of sailing, and requires a lot of experience. If possible try to be apart of a crew to really feel what it is like. I recommend trying different types of sailing because it is a good way to determine what aspects of sailing the beginner likes or dislikes.

It is very difficult to determine if a new sailor should purchase a boat. A good way to test if a new sailor can manage a boat is to do a self test. The new sailor should test out sailing abilities as well as his physical health and strength. Testing out sailing abilities will show how capable the sailor is managing a boat on their own. It’s a good way to see if the sailor is ready and experienced enough for a new sailboat. Testing your physical strength and endurance is a good indicator of the boat will best suit the sailor. Reason being sailboats greatly vary in degrees of control. By understanding your own abilities choosing a sailboat will be a much easier process.

Determine how the sailboat will be used. The biggest thing to determine is if the sailboat will be used overnight. In this case basement cabins are available; however, they can usually only house 2 to 5 people. If the sailboat is going to be used for entertainment purposes then buy accordingly. Keep in mind that a lot of sailboats are not used routinely because of high maintenance costs. The climate that the sailboat will be used in will help choose the better suited sailboat for you. Thinking about how and where the sailboat will be used, will make the purchasing process a breeze.




Jason Petrina is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit - www.articleclick.com