Hello everyone,
My first boat! Have looked at several, a Holland 25 and a Cole Contessa 25, among others, which seem promising.Haven't found too much info on either, so hopefully there will be some feedback here! Basically, which one would be "better" to learn on for a single person. I will eventually move up to something a bit bigger if all goes to plan, but if not the learner boat will be easier to sell!
Thanks in advance
Silas
Hi Silas and welcome aboard.
Re your question.
Basically, which one would be "better" to learn on for a single person
I hope you don't think that with the right boat and a few youtubes you can do better than crewing with someone who has already made most of the mistakes.
Traditionally seamen (seapersons nowadays) served a type of apprenticeship.
That is still the case today.
The process is
1. Find someone to crew regularly with.
2. Learn as much as you can about sailing. boat handling and that particular boat.
3. Do the same thing again with another skipper and boat.
4. Then with a bit of experience under your belt you can decide between a Holland or a Cole. (Without referring to the internet)
5. Buy a suitable boat and sail in all conditions with a crew., Rain, no wind, strong wind, Learn to sail with no engine
6. Then start venturing out alone.
Solo sailing is the most demanding for various reasons,
I am giving this advice to save you money , time and woes further down the track.
Don't give up on what you want to do, just do it properly
All the best
gary
Select to expand quotesailorsilas said..
Hello everyone,
My first boat! Have looked at several, a Holland 25 and a Cole Contessa 25, among others, which seem promising.Haven't found too much info on either, so hopefully there will be some feedback here! Basically, which one would be "better" to learn on for a single person. I will eventually move up to something a bit bigger if all goes to plan, but if not the learner boat will be easier to sell!
Thanks in advance
Silas
There is actually a lot of info on both boats on this forum. Google will help here. There are forum members that have owned Holland 25's or Contessa 25s. I have not sailed or owned either but my previous yacht was a MW26 which was a 1/4 tonner and very similar to the Holland 25 which is a production boat based on the Holland 1/4 tonner. These were early IOR 1/4 tonners that were headsail powered. These are OK for singlehanded sailing with a headsail furler but a pain if you have to spend time at the bow doing headsail changes solo. Peter Coles's Contessa I think measures as a 1/4 tonner but was designed more as a club racer/cruiser. Of the two for ease of sailing I would select the Contessa.
If I was looking for a small yacht to sail solo then I would select one that was mainsail powered with reefing lines to the cockpit. I would suggest a fibreglass folkboat and preferably the M26 version.
No yacht, especially non production ones are going to be easy to sell!
Select to expand quotegarymalmgren said..
Hi Silas and welcome aboard.
Re your question.
Basically, which one would be "better" to learn on for a single person
I hope you don't think that with the right boat and a few youtubes you can do better than crewing with someone who has already made most of the mistakes.
Traditionally seamen (seapersons nowadays) served a type of apprenticeship.
That is still the case today.
The process is
1. Find someone to crew regularly with.
2. Learn as much as you can about sailing. boat handling and that particular boat.
3. Do the same thing again with another skipper and boat.
4. Then with a bit of experience under your belt you can decide between a Holland or a Cole. (Without referring to the internet)
5. Buy a suitable boat and sail in all conditions with a crew., Rain, no wind, strong wind, Learn to sail with no engine
6. Then start venturing out alone.
Solo sailing is the most demanding for various reasons,
I am giving this advice to save you money , time and woes further down the track.
Don't give up on what you want to do, just do it properly
All the best
gary
+1
Although it is convenient to browse the boat ads and articles on line, the best information you'll get is from talking to folks about their boats (preferably, whilst underway). I got my current boat as a private deal by talking to people at the yacht club. It is smaller than what I was aiming at, well below the upper end of the budget I might have had to have negotiated with the Admiral, and it could not be a better fit for my needs, including single-handed sailing. My previous boat was a trailer-sailer, which was old, small and cramped, but taught me a heck of a lot about owning and sailing boats.
There are three reasons why every boat you'll see on the internet is fantastic buy ...
1 The current owner truly loves it, which means its not for sale
2 The current owner secretly hates it, but needs to sell it
3 Its a new boat and the producers have sponsored the article in a glossy magazine
I'm not saying that everything you read is untrue, but there are reasons why the authors would focus on the boat's good points.
Hiya Silas,
where are you located? You might be able to go sailing with a Seabreezer in your neck of the woods. cheers,
SB
Thanks for the responses and advice everyone. Well, yes I have looked at YouTube, but I do intend to take a course in learning to sail, and join the local yacht club.
i have also spent considerable time searching these boats on the net but failed to work out which would be better suited to my needs.
So getting back to my query, perhaps to put it another way, which boat would be more user friendly for a learner?
Silas
Looks like you have a sound plan. IMHO the Contessa is a more balanced design and will be easier to sail single handed but the H25 will have a bit more headroom and interior volume. The best single handers I have owned have been Santana 22 and Farr 727 - particularly the latter with fractional rig advantages.
Select to expand quotesailorsilas said..
Thanks for the responses and advice everyone. Well, yes I have looked at YouTube, but I do intend to take a course in learning to sail, and join the local yacht club.
i have also spent considerable time searching these boats on the net but failed to work out which would be better suited to my needs.
So getting back to my query, perhaps to put it another way, which boat would be more user friendly for a learner?
Silas
Folkboat. Tophat.
Select to expand quoteRamona said..sailorsilas said..
Thanks for the responses and advice everyone. Well, yes I have looked at YouTube, but I do intend to take a course in learning to sail, and join the local yacht club.
i have also spent considerable time searching these boats on the net but failed to work out which would be better suited to my needs.
So getting back to my query, perhaps to put it another way, which boat would be more user friendly for a learner?
Silas
Folkboat. Tophat.
plus 1......good advice
Select to expand quoteSandS said..Ramona said..sailorsilas said..
Thanks for the responses and advice everyone. Well, yes I have looked at YouTube, but I do intend to take a course in learning to sail, and join the local yacht club.
i have also spent considerable time searching these boats on the net but failed to work out which would be better suited to my needs.
So getting back to my query, perhaps to put it another way, which boat would be more user friendly for a learner?
Silas
Folkboat. Tophat.
plus 1......good advice
Thanks r13. Romona and Shaggy, also thanks, but it's between a Contessa and Holland specifically. Silas
