Barnacle Bill Magazine January 2016 | Page 106

Transport is an important criteria

6/ Deployment. This is one of the most important factors and why there are so many half finished projects and boats sitting in garages rotting. Deployment essentially means how quickly and easily you can get the boat from your house/storage into the water and you and the crew in it. If you plan to sail for 2 hours at a time after work then if it takes half an hour to rig and half an hour to de rig it means you have an hour on the water. The broad rule is the lighter a boat and the less complex the means of propulsion, the quicker you can get on the water. More sails means more time to rig. There are literally hundreds of thousands of sailors in the world who wish they had spent more time on the water sailing and less time sitting in a marina or on the shore, painting, fixing, polishing, repairing. Very often what you think you want isn’t actually what you need. There is no point in buying a boat that takes 2 or more crew to launch if you are planning on grabbing an hour here or there in the evenings. By the same token, if there are 5 of you in the family, all wanting to sail. Don’t get a boat for 2, get one for 5 or get two smaller ones. Think laterally, we’re seeing increasing numbers of families consider large open canoes rather than boats, some of these can be rigged as sailing canoes. They don't need a trailer or a slipway to launch either. So think carefully about how you will use your boat.

Next Month in Part 2 of The Alternative Guide to Sailing, we'll be looking at:

- Build or Buy

- 2nd hand boats

- Types to consider

- 6 of the best sailing boats you can build new, quickly for not a lot of money

Photo: Selway Fisher

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