At the BMEEA, we know that buying a boat is more than just the purchase itself. There are many things to consider and usually these are learnt on the fly which can be frustrating and costly.

We will be running a series on "10 things I wish I'd known before I bought my first boat" and round 1 is 10 things Derek Gilbert, BMEEA Chairman, wishes he'd known before he bought his first boat - Enjoy!

6 - I wish I had started off with a smaller boat

I wish I had started off with a smaller boat that I could actually sail on my own, building up experience of handling the boat, using the equipment onboard correctly and learning how to adapt to the ever changing sea conditions and how the boat behaves as conditions change.

The effort needed to handle a larger boat increases almost exponentially with boat length, the sails are heavier, the ropes thicker and under a lot more strain, the number of fenders have to increase, the mooring ropes are thicker, heavier and longer and the boat handling changes massively too as the hull is heavier, has more inertia so doesn’t stop, turn or reverse as easily.

When things go wrong, everything is harder to reef, to turn, to stop or to correct - in short everything is bigger, heavier and mistakes are much more expensive! Sailing courses would have helped avoid these mistakes and de-risk my hobby.

-----------------

At the BMEEA, we are experts in all aspects of the boat owning experience, so please do get in touch with your nearest BMEEA member for assistance!