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by Kimberly Brown (Author)
Sailboat Guying Guide For Cruisers. What's the scoop?! We want you to get the right boat for the right value so that you can make your sailboat and sailing dream come true. And we're hoping that during the course of your sailboat buying journey, that we can help to entertain, educate, inspire and eventually connect with you at a beautiful tropical anchorage. Note: if your plans are to sail to the Arctic we'll have to skip the idea of physically meeting. We don't do cold...This is who we are...If you haven't bumped into us before - My family consists of my husband Simon (British), my daughter, Sienna (age 9 at the time of writing) and me - I'm Kim (American). In 2013 my family and I sold all our possessions, purchased our sailboat Britican (British and American put together) and headed out to sea. The rat race wasn't working for us so we decided to find another way to live.We've been sailing around the world ever since. So far we've sailed over 30,000 miles and that includes circumnavigating the Mediterranean, crossing the Atlantic Ocean (took 18 days), enjoying our way up the Caribbean Islands, taking a break from sailing (but not the boat) in Charleston, South Carolina and we've most recently sailed back down the Caribbean island chain all the way to Trinidad and Tobago. And 'no' we did not have loads of sailing experience before we left land.So let me tell you why I wrote this guide for you...The sailing community is full of great people. The people who work in the sailing industry (boat brokers, sailing service professionals, marina managers, etc.), however, are often disingenuous, corrupt people. New and old sailors are getting ripped off all the time. And the place where they get ripped off the most is when they purchase a boat. So, a big issue that new sailboat owners have to contend with is paying way too much for a boat and/or getting a boat that isn't in the condition as advertised or expected. The next biggest issue is information overload. There's so much information nowadays that it's hard to figure out what you need to know and when you need to know it. That goes for buying a sailboat and transitioning into the cruising lifestyle. Buying a sailboat is NOT like buying a car or a house. In both those cases, the consumer is far more protected. And changing lifestyles from land to sea is not something that most people have done before. There's a massive learning curve on both accounts!That being stated, this guide will outline ten steps to buying a boat for the purposes of cruising long term (6 months +). This guide will help you to clarify your thought process, avoid making mistakes and it will certainly help to save you money. Ultimately it will you'll provide you with a clearer perspective about some of the issues involved with buying a boat and transitioning to a life on the sea.10 Steps To Buying A SailboatStep 1: Understand Your Big PictureStep 2: Prioritizing Your Requirements For The Right BoatStep 3: Understand Boat Ownership Costs Step 4: Study Different Sailboats & Cruisers (from home)Step 5: Go Sailing & Gain Experience Step 6: Find Potential Boats To BuyStep 7: Create A Strategy On Boats To Buy & View ThemStep 8: Sea Trial & SurveyStep 9: Negotiating The Terms Of SaleStep 10: Buy The Boat
