{"id":1314,"date":"1999-11-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1999-11-30T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=1314"},"modified":"2015-10-16T12:15:05","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T17:15:05","slug":"choosing-a-boat-for-novices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/choosing-a-boat-for-novices\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing a Boat for Novices"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"question\">\n<p class=\"Body\"> Steve: I am a novice sailor hoping to buy my first boat this spring. I will be lake sailing for now; however, I am contemplating a relocation to the Gulf Coast of Florida. I have been considering a new Hunter 260, primarily for weekending, and because the size seems manageable. My questions are, what size do you think is appropriate to learn basic sailing skills; and whether you think that I would be better off with an older and longer boat to start out with. I read in some of the FAQs that you recommend mid to late &#8217;60&#8217;s and early &#8217;70&#8217;s CCA and IOR designs. What boats specifically do you recommend? I am sure that I could get much more waterline in an older boat, than I will for what the H260 costs brand new. Any ideas? Thank you. David<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"answer\">\n<p class=\"Body\">Hi David: I&#8217;m not familiar with the Hunter you mentioned, but if you are just starting out, and really want to learn to sail, you will be better off in a smaller centerboard dinghy. You will find this much more responsive, and will know very quickly when you are doing something right&#8211;or wrong. I&#8217;d look for a boat with a local racing fleet. That is really the way to learn about sailing. Once you have the basics down in the centerboarder, then look for a keel boat&#8211;at least this is the approach we would take. Good Luck- Steve<\/p>\n<p class=\"Body\" align=\"center\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve: I am a novice sailor hoping to buy my first boat this spring. I will be lake sailing for <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/setsail.com\/choosing-a-boat-for-novices\/\">&#8230;Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-talk","category-the-right-boat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36408,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions\/36408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}