"Why anyone would recommend a newbie spend time figuring out how to buy their way out of risk versus investing in themselves is beyond me"
Peter, why is investing in your skill set and developing experience only applicable in a smaller vessel? Why learn to operate and maintain a smaller boat that is not your ultimate goal when it is almost certainly going to be substantively different that the boat you really want, not only the boat, but the mission. It makes no sense, even if that's the way you did it. If you can afford it, as Nike says, "Go For It". Otherwise you are spending money and time needlessly. You don't think the "confidence that comes between your ears" is something you can develop on your own boat in a concentrated manner, irrespective of size or money spent. Frankly it sounds to me that you have an axe to gring when it comes to wealthy people spending money on boats and not meeting your expectations. It's their money, let them spend it. I'm betting that PointDoc is a smart guy who can cut right to the chase and concentrate on the goal while not arguing for his own limitations. He doesn't have to spend two years making a decision. Timid people might, and people who are dreaming and don't have the resources. But successful, motivated people do not.
In my life I have jumped in with both feet and prevailed where others have said it can't be done, numerous times. So have countless people. It's the journey indeed, but if you don't challenge yourself, if you are not pushing your limits a bit, if you aren't reaching for the ring or chasing a goal, you are missing the best part of the ride...
Bruce
To each his own.
First, I could have softened my tone. For that I truly apologize. I have no ax to grind with rich folks, though I can't imagine many retired school teachers asking how to chose between a Nordhavn/Krogan/Flemming. I just tire of the constant drumbeat emphasizes boat versus seamanship skills. When seamanship skills are mentioned, it's often done in a condescending manner. "Take power squadron classes" or "Charter for a week" something similar.
As makobuilder and OldDan (who went from N46 to AT34) mentioned in previous posts, these are not "just do it" boats. Even with brokerage boats, the purchase cycle is usually years, not months. Does it have to be that way? No, but it almost always is. There are a million small decisions to be made, often with hours of research. Buying used leapfrogs some of this, but the search itself becomes near-global and some level of refit is still needed. And at the end, a couple years have passed, the owner is well read, but still not very experienced. While buying a used boat leap frogs much of that, it gets bogged down in two ways. Finding the right boat in the resale market which is often a near global search.
In my mind, here’s the rub about focusing on the boat: at its core, the theory is that if you want to cruise any distance at all, buy a tank you will be okay. There was a recent thread that suggested a GB42 was not suited to cruise from PNW to Florida. That is categorically not true! It may not be the perfect boat, and you will be more constrained by weather, but you are constrained in any boat so its all relative.
There is a not-so-fine line between jumping in with both feet and eloping. I once asked a business acquaintance – an attorney no less, how he met his wife. “I met her on a blind date, we moved in together 3-days later, one month later we were married. That was 19-years ago.” What are the odds of that story having a happy ending? There is no amount of research and due diligence that makes that a good template for life - I doubt anyone with kids would be pleased with their child saying "I met Mr/Mrs Right tonight! We're moving in Sunday! We're gonna Just Do It!"
Look, these are amazing boats. And they all have many incredibly informed and knowledgeable owners who have thousands of offshore miles under their keel and who make incredibly informed choices about equipment. Look no further than Ken Williams' blog or MVDirona's YouTube channel. There is nothing wrong with the boat - they have the boat they want and made deliberate decisions along the way (and, I might add, not their first boat).
To my thinking, better advice to someone who wants to Just Do It and jump into a 7-figure boat is to be realistic about the long road ahead of them. There are often multiple ways to mitigate risk - seamanship skills often trump a poultice of cash. If you want to jump-the-line, do it in parallel, not series - build your skills
and build the perfect boat simultaneously, not in series. Occasionally, you hear of folks getting an interim boat (say, the GB42 mentioned above) and cruising her as best they can given life's limitations. When the time comes, they sell the GB quickly at a small loss and move on. Chances are any financial loss will be offset by making more informed outfitting decisions garnered from experience - do we really need side decks on both sides? Does a center-console dinghy make sense for our use? By far, the biggest risk is that by the time your dreamboat is ready, you realize it's not your dreamboat because you've spent 2 years with Plan B and you've learned a lot. But that risk exists regardless. It's just more prominent in this scenario. And there is some ability to alter course on Dreamboat as you learn on Plan B.
That sounds a lot more like Just Do It to my ears. But i totally agree - to each their own.
