# Seattle area newbies



## PTsailing (Apr 17, 2008)

Hi,
My husband and I are actively looking for our first sailboat, I've been lurking on the site for a while and thought I'd say hello. At the moment we're looking at 2 Newport 28's, one is a 1979 and the other is a 1981. 
It's a little bit intimidating since we are so new to sailing and have never really owned a boat. We've decided to start with an inexpensive older boat to get our feet wet, we're interested in daysailing and weekends in the San Juans. We plan to keep our new boat in the Port Townsend area. We figured 28-30ft would be a good size for overnighting since there's only the two of us.
Any Newport 28 owners out there who can give us some advice on buying? Anyone have a similiar boat for sale in the Seattle-Puget sound area, or know of a nice boat for sale? We're fairly handy but we aren't looking for a fixer. We want to sail right away and then use the winter to upgrade or whatever.
Thanks!


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Hi, welcome to Sailnet. PT is a great place to keep a boat, good local sailing and only a short hop up to the San Juans. Good luck on your search for a boat.

John


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

PT,
Welcome to Sailnet and best of luck with your search.


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## djodenda (Mar 4, 2006)

Welcome to Sailnet!

While Pt. Townsend is real nice, I wonder if you would be better off keeping your boat local, which would allow you to sail during the week. (You're in Ballard, right?)

Shilshole has some slips available, I think, and that might work well for you. I also think it's relatively easy to get a space on the freshwater side of the locks.

Lots of local Sailnetters looking for crew...


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## PTsailing (Apr 17, 2008)

We consider PT to be local, Seattle is just where we have to live during the week.  We own a house in PT, we rent in Seattle.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Welcome,

i know one fellow in Everett that has a newport 28. And raced against a fellow that stores his boat just inside the locks from the sound, he races out of the sloop tavern yachtclub. 

both seem to like there rigs.

Just another local, there are three that post with boats in Edmonds.

marty


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## CharlieCobra (May 23, 2006)

Welcome aboard. PT's a nice little town. I'm looking to sail into Point Hudson next weekend so I can shop around for Oh Joy some.


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## SeattleSail (May 15, 2008)

*Welcome from a newbie*

Hi, I'm also new to Sailnet and just bought a boat. It's a Windrose 18 that's moored in the southern end of Lake WA. Just wanted to say hello. Replies are good. When you have 10, you can private message someone. PT is great, as you already know...lots of wonderful sailing resources up there. 
Best,
Carol


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

SeattleSail said:


> Hi, I'm also new to Sailnet and just bought a boat. It's a Windrose 18 that's moored in the southern end of Lake WA. Just wanted to say hello. Replies are good. When you have 10, you can private message someone. PT is great, as you already know...lots of wonderful sailing resources up there.
> Best,
> Carol


Welcome to Sailnet Carol.


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

Hi
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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)




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## PTsailing (Apr 17, 2008)

Welcome Carol!
We ended up buying a San Juan 28, it's moored at the Port Hadlock Marina and we've been out in her a couple of times already. She's a solid little boat with an inboard diesel. We're pleasantly surprised at how quickly the boat responds, it's a lot of fun to sail. We've even settled on a new name "Troublemaker", the name the boat came with was kind of creepy. It was named after a malevolent cannibalistic spirit or a culture-bound disorder which involves an intense craving for human flesh. Gave us the creeps, so it had to be changed. It may be considered bad luck to change a boat's name, but how much good luck can come from naming a boat after something that feasts on human flesh?


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## Tribe95 (Jun 2, 2008)

PT,

Just wondering how you decided on that size boat for your first and whether you find it to be too small, too big, just right. etc?

I am a_ loooooong _way from buying anything. Just starting to research different boats, their intended uses, strengths, weaknesses, etc. But I am in a similar situation: just my wife and I (and a small, spoiled dog) and want to use the boat for the same types of activities. I'm wondering how much boat might be too much to "handle" for a first boat. I've driven power boats up to 35 feet, but I realize there's a lot more going on with a sailboat. Input from anyone else welcomed, as well (and sorry if I'm digressing too much from the "introduce yourself" purpose of this forum)

BTW - RE; the flesh-eating monniker - maybe the previous owner of your boat was a former Uraguayan rugby player  .

Thanks!

Ron


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## artbyjody (Jan 4, 2008)

Tribe95 said:


> I'm wondering how much boat might be too much to "handle" for a first boat. I've driven power boats up to 35 feet, but I realize there's a lot more going on with a sailboat.
> 
> Ron


If you have handled a 35 footer then a 35 foot sailboat will be no problem as you are already aware of the cost versus size for moorage, and docking it is slightly different but nothing you can not manage. As for being sailing, there is no big learning curve over a smaller sailboat versus a 35 footer... Just my opinion having jumped from a 27 to a 38 footer myself. My challenge was docking not the actual handling it while in open water...


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## PTsailing (Apr 17, 2008)

Hi Ron,
We wanted something that had a comfortable berth for two, but was small enough that it wouldn't cost us a fortune to fix or outfit. The larger the boat the more expensive it is for slip fees and to replace sails, etc. So we decided 28-30ft would be perfect. We looked at a lot of different makes and models of sailboats before we found our boat. The Vberth is large enough for two and the cabin is quite roomy, the boat is easy to handle and I have no doubt that either one of us could sail her single handed if we had to. 
Anyway who says bigger is better?


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## Tribe95 (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks for the info! That exapands the range of boats I can look at quite considerably.

rk


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Ron,

There is quite a few folks from here in the greater Seattle/puget sound region with boats. If your wanting a ride to try a certain size out etc, I am sure you could do so. 

I have a small 30' Jeanneau, djonda has a Catalina 30, what I would call a large 30' boat. Jody a rare 38' Berberis, more of a racer cruiser style. The San juan 28 PT got, is what I would call a large 28, not much smaller in demensions than my Jeanneau. 

Some thing to think about, up to 30', some will and will not have showers. Some like mine only has a head, but a full kitchen use with no hot water. A shower is something my wife wishes we had. The Catilina's have showers down to there 28' size. 

A lot of options for interiors. Then you need to look at underbody's and sail area. My boat is faster than a Cat 30, but I also have what some would say is less inside stuff, ie no shower. 

Enjoy your time here. 

marty


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## djodenda (Mar 4, 2006)

What Marty says is true. And yes, ask us and you're sure to get a ride.

Maybe we'll pass Marty in his "faster" boat!

(Just don't call Marty's boat a Beneteau... It's a Jeanneau)

David


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Actually David, 

I do not know "WHAT" kind of boat I have......Jeanneau what kind of boat I have?...........

I got many folks to bite that one at the ECYC weekend at Port Madison! LOL It was great! They ask me what my boat was, ask that question back........oh the looks on folk's faces! LOLOLOL Then the ones that got bit, helped biting later asking ones too.

Altho my boat does look a bit like the late 70's to early 80's First 28 and 30's benateau's. 

Then again, considering I have 22 yr old sails, vs your new sails, even tho I have a faster PHRF rated boat, I have some issues with slower boats. Altho I did pretty good last night, finished 2nd in the slow boats, and 5th overall out of a dozen or so including the faster division. best finish ever! May even handicap above some faster ones! 

Marty


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## djodenda (Mar 4, 2006)

I'm looking forward to chasing you around the course next Wednesday... Worked 16 hours yesterday, which made that kind of difficult.

I'll have my cruising schedule set up in a couple of days. Don't forget to ask to borrow my inflatable if you need it.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Will do on the inflatable, altho most cruising plans have been put off. Need to go into skinny spending mode. Gotta hope the housing market turns back to normal at least sooner than later, or boat will have to go! Along with keeping Sheryl in business! not in BK court!

But any way.......Hope to see you out their next week. We had a few highs of 15-20 boats last summer on some of the wed nights. Do you have a race course guide? ie what courses the number are, where the marks are etc? I think I have an extra on my boat. Marianne/Skal across from you can probably get you one, the fleet cptn "Gay" on further down your dock on Excentric. Along with 3-4 other folks on yours and C dock. I tried doing my first race with out a guide, what a joke, but there were other issues for us not finishing, that is a good story over a beer!LOL


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## artbyjody (Jan 4, 2008)

Yep, what marty says is basically a good surmise. You really need to tabulate what kind of cruising you want. Myself I went with the 38 Barberis as I was tired of not having amenities on my Catalina 27, and I had the old boat so decked out adding the amenities -she rode about 2 inches above spec'd waterline. Beyond the increase in fees (which I never really got hit with because I rented a 38 foot slip for my 27 footer), the major challenge is in the docking and handling the high freeboard during such. So, my new one is a balance of performance and comfort while cruising...

But there sure are a plethora of options out there... you'll know it when you see it. I don't do all the races as of yet - but do participate in the Thursday Night races at Elliott Bay. More than welcome to hitch a ride...


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## PTsailing (Apr 17, 2008)

We keep our boat out at the Port Hadlock Marina, we'd be happy to show her off to anyone thinking of buying a similiar boat. We're there every weekend. Marty is right about the shower though, none in our boat, but for our price range we didn't see many boats with showers and those that did were in poor shape (because they were in our price range.  ) So we'll be making due with a camp shower for now.


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## Tribe95 (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks again, all, for the great info and the hospitality!

Being a typical grubby guy (!), I my initial thought would be that I could probably live without the shower, but the smarter half of me (my wife) would likely rectify that bad decision very quickly.


Ron


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## djodenda (Mar 4, 2006)

We've cruised the San Juans for two years now. We find that it's best for everybody to tie up to a dock every other day. We shower then, and don't use the shower on the boat much.

Generally, we, and the previous owner, use a Sun Shower sitting on the deck and dropped through a hatch into the head compartment.

Our boat has hot water, but only after being plugged into the dock or running the engine for a while.

It's nice to have, though.

But not a huge deal, I think. It's hard to work up a sweat when it's 60 degrees and raining!


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