The Plan to Find a Boat that Fits

/ Ben Starling

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Part 4 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising:

Captain Cat: Thursday night and life was good. I was just putting the last touches onto the final draft of my three-storey dream yacht. The Can Opener was gently fanning me with palm fronds and feeding me smoked oysters straight from the tin, when –

Can Opener: Those weren’t palm fronds. They were bed sheets. And I was fluffing them out across the bed before tucking them in.

Captain Cat: I did find those palm fronds rather claustrophobic as you hospital-cornered and ferociously tucked their edges under the mattress around me at lightning speed…

Can Opener: Listen carefully. There will be no three-storey yacht. We will follow a simple, systematic method to research great designs that have stood the test of time and…


… Our Method is as follows:
  1. Consider/research one design per week.
  2. Compare it versus the Yacht Design Criteria we wrote for the boat of our dreams.
  3. Does it fit? What are the pluses and minuses?
  4. After narrowing down to 10 or so favourite designs, we go see examples in person.
  5. Review top 10 and continue looking until we find The One…


Where to find potential dream yacht designs?

  • Internet:
    • Sail magazine reviews: Yachting, Cruising World
    • Yacht designers’ sites 
    •  Comparison sites? Forums?
  • Talk to club members about their boats and experiences
  • Volunteer to crew on different designs


Where to visit examples of these yacht designs?

  • Boat shows
  • Volunteer to crew on these designs as possible
  • Contact boat agents for viewings of yachts for sale


Captain Cat: Sounds very organised. But just a few more oysters under the palm fronds and I could have created exactly what I want and saved us both a lot of effort –

Can Opener: No. No palm fronds. And there were no oysters involved!

Captain Cat: Of course there were. It was a Thursday. I distinctly remember my tin of Crown Prince Best Smoked at my elbow.

Can Opener: Hm. It was a Thursday…



–transcribed by the Can Opener

N.B. Part 5 of Captain Cat’s Invincible Plan to Get Cruising is: The Plan to Get a Boat.

 

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