skipper
who just had the cash to buy big. you never REALLY know someone till you have sailed with them...same rules apply for the boat..atleast in my book.
I disagree with that. There is very little variance from boat to boat from any of the manufacturers. Things like clean and fair bottoms, clean foils, decent sails, proper boat setup, and - most importantly - proper sailing technique are what make them fast - there's no magic from boat to boat that makes one faster than the other.
I used to hear the same thing during the Alter Cup Championship where we have 10 new boats and 20 sailors rotating on the boats. The fleet would generally arrive at a conclusion that a couple of boats were the
faster
boats in the fleet. Once we started using a digital scoring and boat assignment system (to make sure everyone was getting rotated evenly on all the boats), I started putting together statistics on finishes by boat number...there was less than a 1.1% deviation in finish positions by boat - and that was consistent over the three years I was involved with the event.
John,
I have several hundred acres of PRIME Florida swamp land that I would love to sell ya!! Comes complete with a mosquito farm and Boar Hog infestation!!
Are you suggesting you did not immediately do it?
When I sold my last boat, I was approached by a buyer, he wanted me to drive from CT to VA, let him race it in a regatta and then he would decide.
Anyone care to guess my response?
Uhhhh, I'll be right there??? Just wait for me.
With a brand new boat, from a dealer, I wouldn't need a test sail, but any Used boat, yeah, I want to be sure all the pieces are there, see that everything works, and see what the sails look like, in the breeze.
Oh, and there's the fun of actually sailing it!
too many variables for a definitive answer. new vs. used, stated condition, previous experience with cats, etc. etc.
I bought my last one used, sight unseen, from 1500 miles away. Why? because the price was right even if everything needed attention...as I suspected it did and I was well-prepared to fix/replace everything.
That was a pretty atypical sale.
you had many high res images (and inspected them in detail), and the guy delivered it (1500 miles/free). Also you know the boat/brand inside and out and have local resources to repair just about anything.
I bought my last one used, sight unseen, from 1500 miles away. Why? because the price was right even if everything needed attention...as I suspected it did and I was well-prepared to fix/replace everything.