Best first boat guide: sail and power under 40ft
Before starting the search for your dream boat, think carefully about the type of sailing you want to do.
This will make the process of selecting and buying much easier.
While single-handed ocean crossing might be the ultimate fantasy for some, many will simply want to enjoy fine weather cruising along the coast with their family on board.

Buying the right boat is key to ensuring everyone stays happy.
Trying to learn the basics of sailing in a big, heavy displacement, ocean-going yacht will actually make the process much harder, and more expensive.

So it’s probably better to gain that initial experience in a smaller, cheaper boat that can take the odd ding without worry and not cost a small fortune to run, moor and maintain.

Trailer boating

Trailer boating can be a comparatively inexpensive way to gain experience at minimum cost.
Often the biggest expense for boat owners is the mooring charges, so if you can simply hitch the boat up to your car and take it home with you you’ll have more money left to spend on vital equipment and maintenance.

Inshore and coastal cruising

Those who opt to sail during daylight hours and berth in a marina in the evening to use the shoreside facilities won’t need a sophisticated galley or a large heads with shower, just comfortable berths.
Others looking to coastal cruise further afield might prefer to look for a more substantial boat that can handle a wider variety of weather and sea conditions, and enable them to anchor ‘off grid’ in comfort.
Just be careful not to over-specify your requirements.

Some prospective boat owners mistakenly feel they need an ocean-going yacht just to cope with the occasional spot of stormy weather, but with careful planning you’re unlikely to get caught out in really bad conditions when coastal cruising, particularly if you’ve planned plenty of ‘fall-back’ refuges.

Offshore and ocean sailing

For one reason or another, some folk suddenly decide, out of the blue, to embark on a life-changing expedition and go straight out to buy a bluewater cruising yacht before they really know what they need, or even want.
It might be tempting but it’s usually better to get used to sailing in a smaller coastal boat first, as it’ll give you a better idea about what boat and equipment you’ll really need for long-term cruising.

20-25ft LOA Sailing yachts

The Red Fox is a lightweight trailer-sailer that’s great fun to sail.
Originally composite, it later changed to the all-GRP RF200E in which the freeboard was raised by 3in/75mm to increase headroom and she was given a moulded inner headlining.
The RF200 is quick and close-winded, thanks to her leeboards.
Despite the need to swap them each tack, they enable her to take the ground flat and ease launch and retrieval from/to a trailer.

She has better accommodation than most 20ft boats, including an enclosed heads in some models, and the stretched RF200 Vision (23ft 5in LOA) boasted a full 6ft 1in/1.85m headroom.
A similar 20ft micro-cruiser is Swallow Boats’ Bay Cruiser 20.
Though ketch-, rather than sloop-rigged, her water ballast, deep outboard well and ample sail area make the BC20 a sprightly performer as well as a cosy weekend cruiser.
The Parker 235 is one of my favourite trailerable cruisers and is ideal for learning to sail on.
Sporting a lifting, ballasted keel with cockpit-led control lines, she is easy to tow, rig and launch while being fast, stiff and stable under sail.

A 21ft version was made but it lacked the separate heads and galley of the 235.

The Polish-built Viko S21 is straightforward to tow and launch, plus her modern fractional rig and single-line reefing make her easy to sail single-handed, although her large cockpit enables the whole family to be on deck both underway and at anchor.
The sailing performance exceeds that of most 21ft trailer-sailers, thanks to modern, shallow underwater sections and her wide beam not only increases her waterline, but also provides increased form stability.

Viko offers a pivoting centreboard or a deep lifting keel with ballast bulb, both with a swing-up transom-mounted rudder.
Below she boasts 5ft 5in/1.65m headroom, a large aft double berth, a roomy vee-berth forward, a dedicated heads, compact galley and drop-leaf saloon table.
Westerly’s Pageant 23 was first launched in 1970 as a sturdy coastal/offshore cruising boat.
With an impressive 49% ballast ratio, twin keels, and spade rudder, she soon earned the reputation of being predictable and safe in almost all conditions.

Boasting 6ft headroom below, she has a separate forecabin and heads, and can sleep five with the dinette table lowered, making her an ideal compact family cruiser.
Another compact offshore cruiser, this time from the renowned Hurley stable, is the steadfast Hurley 22.
A genuine offshore cruiser that many have safely sailed around the world, she has a deep fin or bilge keels, with inboard or outboard (in a well) engine, the former preferable for offshore passage making.
Despite her size, her motion is that of a much larger boat.

She’s pretty basic inside, although she has a vee berth (with toilet under), small galley and long, straight saloon sea berths.

20-25ft LOA Motorboats

British Hunter’s Landau 20 Cruiser is an outboard-powered, semi-displacement, inshore/coastal launch with a protective pilothouse and external helm station.
She came with a full cockpit tent that kept the helm dry and provided an additional sheltered living area at anchor.
Below she has two long, straight berths in the saloon, a rudimentary galley with sink and single ring cooker, and a private heads in the forepeak.
Usually powered by a 50hp outboard, her wake is minimal at cruising speeds thanks to her clever twin tunnel hull design and at higher speeds she offers a stable ride with superb handling at sea or on inland waterways.

26-30ft LOA Sailing yachts

Westerly’s ubiquitous 26ft Centaur has been the choice of many newcomers to sailing since its launch in 1969.
Ruggedly built from solid GRP, the Centaur offers sedate, yet stable coastal cruising to couples or small families and, being quite forgiving, is a great introduction to cruiser sailing.
All had 3ft/0.9m bilge keels and a conservative Bermudan sloop rig.
Although there were many different interior layouts over the years, all offered 6ft+ headroom, private heads, a roomy saloon and comfortable berths for 4/5 adults.