‘Buying a boat taught me a hell of a lot'

From car-crash viewings to wasted journeys of hundreds of miles, Wayne Palmer shares the steep learning curve of buying his first boat

- Wayne Palmer

I have just taken the plunge and purchased a boat. Everyone said ‘Don’t do it’ but I'm six months in and loving every minute, despite the coronavirus restrictions scuppering any sailing plans. The purchasing process has taught me a hell of a lot about the industry and the sailing community.

After three years of a boat club membership scheme I got fed up of fat, slow cruisers and at peak weekends they were unavailable anyway. I’d still recommend such a scheme for day sailing and the odd overnight but I’d got to the stage where I wanted more.

I’m a racer at heart: inshore, a couple of Fastnets, the Round Britain and Ireland Race (RBI), with some easy long-distance cruising with my partner in between. All my racing was as crew so I wanted to try being the skipper and to learn more.

The first thing I discovered was that there isn’t a boat in existence that ticks every box – at least within my £60,000 budget. I spent weeks looking for something that could do everything and the first reality check was the need to compromise. I looked at 40ft boats around £100,000 thinking I could get a deal at the end of the season. It didn’t work.

It took me a while to understand. Someone selling a boat is not like somebody selling a car or a house; the motivation is not the same. Some owners are happy to leave the boat on the hard at a high price and wait it out because they are not desperate to sell. They don’t need to haggle.