Part-1: Buying a boat

Whether its your first boat, or your latest boat, the most important decision to make when considering a boat purchase is whether the boat suits your needs. For the purposes of this article, we’ll assume you’re interested in buying a boat to keep in Malahide and to race, as opposed to cruising.

Given the tidal situation in Malahide, realistically you’re looking at a boat below 40ft. Anything bigger and you’re restricted in terms of getting in and out over the sandbar, but also crew availability becomes an issue – once you go over 32 ft and you plan on flying a spinnaker, you’ll need at least 6 crew, and sometimes as many as 8 crew. Below 24ft means you’ll struggle in the heavier weather and occasional seas we see at the back of Lambay in a Northerly breeze.

So now we’ve narrowed your boat size down to 24ft-40ft. If you want to do any offshore racing, my experience suggests a minimum size of 33ft – anything smaller just isn’t comfortable offshore in terms of the ability of the boat to sail in all conditions and more importantly, crew wellbeing. Generally, the crew break before the boat does, especially on longer-distance races. Most crew can manage a windy and wet ISORA race of 50 miles that takes 12 hours, but if you’re doing a Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race that starts into a 20kt southerly with wind against tide, you’re talking about a 48-hour race when the first 12 hours could be quite nasty. So if you’re happy doing mostly inshore racing and the odd coastal race like the Lambay Race or the Rockabill Rally, then 26ft-30ft is probably ideal.

In our next article, we’ll try and assess the annual budget needed to campaign a 28ft-33ft boat that’s mooring in Malahide Marina and is participating in major regattas with the expectation of being towards the top of the fleet.

Editor’s Note: This series is written by David Greene, an experienced skipper from Malahide, Ireland. David has decades of sailing and racing experience, often participating in local yacht club races and regattas around Ireland with his boat, White Pearl (Elan 331). Malahide estuary is located on the east coast of Ireland, characterized by strong tides and a sandbar that restricts the draught of boats.