Your First Sailboat: How to Find and Sail the Right Boat for You »

Daniel Spurr is the editor-at-large of Professional Boatbuilder magazine and the author of seven sailing books. He has been senior editor of Cruising World magazine and for twelve years was the editor of Practical Sailor, the consumer report of the sailing world, for whom he has edited a book-length collection of sailboat reviews. He has owned and upgraded eight sailboats.

The Comprehensive Sailing Start-Up Resource

• Can a keelboat tip over?
• Can I take a centerboard boat onto open water?
• How can I determine what boat I want?
• Once I do, what’s a fair price to pay for it?
• Should I buy it new or used?
• How can I tell the difference between a used boat and one that’s used up?
• Now that I have it, how can I start sailing quickly and safely?

Your First Sailboat is the first book to answer all your questions about selecting, buying, maintaining, and using your first boat. This user-friendly guide covers issues that other books ignore, including how to choose between a trailer sailer, daysailer, raceboat, cruiser, or multihull; what hull material is best for your first boat; whether to buy new or used; where to shop; how to judge quality and condition; where to keep your new boat; and what to do about gear, loans, insurance, and annual maintenance. Special features of this all-in-one handbook include:

• A descriptive buying guide to 75 recommended sailboats of all types and sizes, from daysailers to racers, cruisers, and multihulls
• A decision tree to guide you to your ideal starter boat
• Complete instructions on how to care for and sail your boat as well as how to acquire it

Straightforward and fun, Your First Sailboat gives you just what you need to stop asking questions and start sailing. Everything else is optional. Save time. Save money. This book omits everything you don’t need to know.

Introduction: So You Want to Buy a Sailboat?Part 1. Buying and Equipping Your First Sailboat1. What Kind of Boat Should I Buy?2. First-Time Sailor’s Survival Guide3. How Big Should My First Boat Be and What Should It Be Built Of?4. From Whom Should I Buy?5. New or Used?6. How Do I Know If a Used Boat Is Used Up?7. How Do I Recognize Quality?8. Where Can I Keep My Boat?9. What Will It Cost Me?10. What Equipment Do I Need?Part 2. Handling Your First Sailboat11. How Do I Get My Boat In and Out of the Water?12. How Do I Tie My Boat to the Dock?13. All the Knots You'll Ever Need14. How Do I Attach the Sails?15. How Do I Attach Sheets and Halyards? (And By the Way, What Are They?)16. How Do I Leave the Dock?17. How Do I Raise the Sails?18. How Do I Turn?19. How Do I Stop?20. What If the Boat Heels?21. What If the Boat Flips?22. How Do I Come Back to the Dock?Part 3. Maintaining Your First Sailboat23. How Do I Take Care of This Thing?24. What If I Hit Something?Part 4. Navigation25. How Do I Know Where I Am?26. How Do I Know Where I'm Going?27. How Do I Steer a Course?28. Currents Keep Screwing Me Up29. How Fast Can I Go?30. What If It Gets Dark?31. What If It Gets Foggy?Part 5. Worst-Case Scenarios32. Despite What You Say, What If I Still Get Lost?33. What If the Mast Falls Down?34. What If the Boat Starts to Sink?35. What If the Boat Does Sink?36. What If Someone Gets Hurt or Falls Overboard?37. What If the Engine Won't Start?38. What If the Wind Stops Blowing?39. How Do I Know When It's Time for My Next Boat?The Sailboat GuideResourcesIndexIllustration Credits

Daniel Spurr is the editor-at-large of Professional Boatbuilder magazine and the author of seven sailing books. He has been senior editor of Cruising World magazine and for twelve years was the editor of Practical Sailor, the consumer report of the sailing world, for whom he has edited a book-length collection of sailboat reviews. He has owned and upgraded eight sailboats.