All too often it’s easy to think of today’s mainstream production cruisers as being designed for mass appeal and built to a strict (or sometimes restrictive) budget. While such commercial necessities might lead to compromises that some purists don’t approve of, they result in boats that typically provide the space, the style and (in most conditions) the pace that people find acceptable, at a price they can afford.
If you pay more you will generally get more – perhaps greater structural reassurance, better performance and handcrafted joinery. But even critical and highly experienced sailors will sometimes decide that they can’t justify spending the money for the sort of sailing they’re going to be doing, so they decide to live with the compromises when buying a new boat.
Alternatively, of course, you can buy second-hand. This way you undoubtedly get more for your money in many respects, and you might be able to buy a boat of a quality that would be unaffordable new. On the other hand, you will get not only an older boat but also an older design. It will probably have less interior space, with hardware and a rig that will make you work harder. It’s a question of swings and roundabouts. I spend my life hopping between new boats and those built in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, and am always thinking about what has been gained and lost as design and construction have evolved.
Esta historia es de la edición May 2023 de Yachting Monthly UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 2023 de Yachting Monthly UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
How to rig preventers and boom brakes
Rigging a preventer or using a boom brake is just good seamanship when sailing downwind, but doing so badly is asking for trouble, says Rachael Sprot
Don't let Thames sewage kill off this lovely boat
Samuel Pepys mentions oysters in his diaries 68 times, but that was when they were as common as winkles along the banks of the Thames and when they were a source of cheap protein for the masses.
I finally found the magic of the sea
I won’t be in theatres with a notebook as much as usual this month – time for some wider, wetter horizons – but may be musing, as I often do, on how rare it is for theatre to express a convincing reality about the oceans and the trade or pursuit of seafaring.
TECHNICAL GOLDEN OLDIES
Ken Endean looks back on the boats he has owned over 50 years and explains why the hull lines of older yachts continue to offer first-class handling
HOW IT WORKS MARKING
Many cruising yacht skippers mark very little on board their boats.
TECHNICAL INSTALLING A NEW ENGINE
When a mysterious loss of coolant jeopardised his sailing, Andy Du Port knew the time had tome to replace his yacht’s:veteran Volvo Penta
NEW GEAR
Dennis O’Neill rounds up the latest marine innovations, including developments in women’s sailing jackets
MARIE TABARLY HONOURING HER FATHER
Marie Tabarly took line honours in the Ocean Globe Race, surpassing her father’s record while racing aboard his famous 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI
HEATHER THOMAS SMASHING RECORDS
In leading her all-female crew to victory in the OGR, Heather Thomas has broken records and taken women's sailing into the stratosphere
MAIDEN MAKES HISTORY AGAIN
Being the first all-female crew to win a round-the-world race is seismic in itself, but the diverse nationalities of the crew are just as significant for the future of sailing