[Rhodes22-list] Advice on boat purchase

[FCrawford0707 at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/10/2006 12:27:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
kathylong at comcast.net writes:

This is  my first post to the Rhodes22 list so I hope I am sending this email 
to the  correct address. 
I sailed and raced for about 10 years 'when I was young'  spring, summer and 
fall every week on the Navesink River in NJ - blue jays and  later lightnings. 
 Now I am a middle-aged, wife and mother and I would  like to get back into 
sailing.  My husband (a non-sailor) and I have  taken the first step by joining 
the Raritan Yacht Club.  We now have to  figure out what type of boat to 
purchase.  The members of RYC day sail,  race and cruise.  (There was no 'crusing' 
at Monmouth that I  remember.)   
If we race it would be mostly for fun.  We  have an active crusing program at 
RYC with neighboring clubs.  
We  looked at the J24, but we think it would not be a good cruiser - or not 
as  good as the Rhodes.  
Any feedback on the Rhodes for fun racing, day  sailing and cruising (weekend 
trips)?  The most people we would have on  the boat would be four.  More 
typically just 2.
Any one on this list  from NJ?

thank you,
Kathy Long 



Kathy - We reside in Pa, but have a condo in Avalon, NJ, where we keep our  
R22, Sunday Morning.  We mostly daysail  (for which the Rhodes is  ideal - 
large enough to go out in the ocean, but with shallow enough draft to  sail the 
thin back-bay waters.  We have had three cruising trips - longest  of which was 
11 days (in two separate legs) from Edenton to Avalon.  The  Rhodes does well 
for at least weekending - I had no trouble with our 8 day leg  on the trip 
from Edenton to Avalon.  If you are thinking of weekender (or  longer ) cruising, 
you will need to have the pop-top enclosure.  We have a  bimini, as well, and 
deploy it pretty often, even when daysailing.  I would  recommend the 
vertically battened IMF mainsail and the 150 genoa - there are as  many opinions 
about the optimum genoa size as there are members on this list,  but to me the 170 
is unwieldy and often so deeply reefed that it loses its shape  (we had a 170 
for the first 10 years that we owned Sunday morning and had the  new 150 and 
battened main put on when she was in Edenton for a refit).  We  picked the 
Rhodes after short-listing it with a Compac 23, Precision 23 and  Seaward 23 - 
have not regretted the decision.  Fair winds
    Frone Crawford
    s/v Sunday Morning