# Sarah from Vancouver



## serah (Jan 26, 2009)

Hiya!

I'm Sarah - I'm 27 and live in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. I grew up sailing BCs coastal waters. My family bought our first keelboat when I was 4 - a Fraser 42 hull and deck. My dad did all the rest of the work on her. I learnt to sail on a Galleon 9 row boat/sailing dinghy mashup, and then through Sea Cadets onto dinghy racing in Albacores, Pirates and various other boats kicking around. We did a lot of cruising as a kid, every other weekend, plus a couple of multi-week trips in the summer. A few years ago, I joined a local sail club (the Vikings) based out of Jericho Sailing Club where I got into racing Tasers, and also played around with Hobies, a Nacra 18, Lasers and their 37' keelboat. Around that same time, I raced on a Catalina 34' in the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club Thursday night races as an alternate crew member.

My boyfriend and I are currently in the market for a racer/cruiser in the low 20-some foot range. I love to race, as does he, but weekend and weeklong trips have to be manageable. Buying a boat is new to me, though he's had a few small day sailers and power boats. He's a marine mechanic, and I'm generally pretty competent adding/repairing things on a boat. We're hoping to keep costs to under $10,000.

The dream (he insists that I call it a goal  ) is to buy a 35' to 40' in the next five years, and then take off for a multi-year circumnavigation in the next five. 

Anyway, just saying hello and introducing myself. If anyone has suggestions, tips or advice please feel free to pass them on!


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## dhornsey (Oct 25, 2007)

Hey Sarah,

My girlfriend and I live aboard here in Vancouver. Had a great sail when the sun came out last weekend.

This is neither a small racer or a large cruiser, but I saw it on craigslist and thought it looked interesting:

28' Ocean Cruising Sailboat

Have a good one.


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## erps (Aug 2, 2006)

No suggestions Sarah but I will be picking your brain later about your Fraser and liveaboard experience. Welcome to sailnet. You have a couple of neighbors up your way, Faster comes to mind at the moment, but Vancouver BC seems well represented.


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## JohnRPollard (Mar 26, 2007)

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to Sailnet! 

Sounds like you have a lot of diverse sailing experience. We get many questions here about smaller dinghies and daysailers -- stick around and I'm sure you could be a big help to some folks.

As to the boat you are looking for, it might be a good idea to start another thread in the "Buying a Boat" forum and ask for input there. But one model that comes to mind is the Beneteau First 235. There are some threads around here on Sailnet that discuss this boat, as well as several similar designs, so it would be worth your while to do a search of the archives.

Again, welcome!


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Welcome, Sarah, we are getting ever more representation on this site from Vancouverites and other BC areas... good to see.

Your goals should be readily achievable though the market in Vancouver is generally short on quality well priced boats. Many of us have resorted to shopping in WA state - better selection and easy delivery across the line.

In the mid 20 foot range in our area you may find Catalinas, Columbia 26s, C&C 25, Ranger 26, Ericson 25 etc...they are all reasonable boats for our area. A rare but sweet sailing boat is the Viking 28, a C&C design with limited headroom but good habits, and for many of us the 24' Shark was a good starter boat, though tiny by today's standards.


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

Sarah - welcome! That's one sweet goal you've got there! I'm sure you'll make it happen. And there are lots of good salts around here that will help.

Fair winds!


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

There should be soon a Ranger 26 for sale in seattle, setup for racing, made it in the 48N top 25. Not sure of the price, as the owner as puchased a now farr30 or old model name a mumm30! 

Otherwise, lots of mid to upper 20' boats that are fun to sail. cruise and race.

Marty


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## serah (Jan 26, 2009)

I've been keeping half an eye on the Yachtworld listing. As we're just putting out the feelers now it'll be a while before we decide on anything. No sense rushing this. Still a few questions to answer first, namely where would we moor her? Would trailerable be better? (but that means upgrading his truck, too, sigh) We went down to the Seattle show last weekend (in the snow!) and chatted with a few of the brokers. (side note - seems like most dealers really downgraded the number of boats they brought this year.)

An old Ericson 23 in dry dock caught our eye, but we're trying to decide if buying cross-border would be worth it. I'll post a new thread about that, unless there's one where this issue has already been addressed. 

One of the few stipulations is that the boy is 6'4", and though he's accepted that he will never be able to stand on anything below 40 some odd foot, he does need to have a long bunk. Hence the appeal of the Ericson, with a bunk at 6'5.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

welcome aboard, Serah


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## serah (Jan 26, 2009)

*Moorage?*

One last quip - does anyone in Vancouver know much about finding moorage around here? I live in the West End, he's up in the North Shore, which is where we're hoping to keep her (once we find her  ) though will consider anything from Jericho through False Creek to the mouth of Indian Arm. I'm not keen on keeping her out in Richmond or out that way. He currently has a dry-land spot with his old beast of a powerboat on a trailer on the North Shore, which could also accommodate a sailboat of the sort we're looking at. I'm partial to keeping her in the water, as that means quick departure, and the idea of regularly mounting a 20 some odd foot sailboat onto a trailer frankly scares the crap out of me 

Is it hard to find a spot over there? I assume costs are pretty standard, as we won't be looking at anything fancy


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Sarah

Bringing a boat across the line is simple enough... surprisingly the biggest hassle with bringing a trailerable boat over the border is not the boat but the trailer itself. Licencing and inspections seem the hold up there...

Otherwise, it's simply a matter of making contact on arrival, providing some info and in most cases it's all over the phone... they give you 3 days to report and pay taxes (and duty if applicable.)

As far as moorage goes, in the mid 20 foot range your odds are much better than in the 30+ range... Mosquito Creek in N Van usually has some space, but even other marinas will often be able to squeeze in a smallish boat like that. Also, some boat sales now come up with transferable moorage which is another good way to get into a slip.(but be sure to check that that really is part of the marina's policy...)


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## dhornsey (Oct 25, 2007)

its traditionally been really tough to find moorage around here, but lately it seems to be easing up. Mosquito Creek Marina in North Van has recently done an expansion, they might have something available. Lynwood Marina is also in North Van, worth a check. If you're planning on purchasing something within a year, its a good idea to call around and add yourself to all the waiting lists now. Coal Harbour, Burrard Civic & Heather Civic in False Creek etc.

Beyond that, given how hard it is to sell a boat these days there are a lot more listed for sale with transferable moorage. If you're lucky enough to find something local maybe it will include a slip.


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## chall03 (Oct 14, 2002)

Welcome aboard, Sarah. Best of luck with it all, please keep us posted on how it all goes.


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## sassafrass (Jun 27, 2006)

quick hello from WA. we also have a house on SSI, so we cross the boarder a lot and have friends on both sides of the border. agree with the post on the cross border issues. boat is easy. trailers are harder.

if you are interested in a project boat give me a pm.

tom


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