Monday, May 10, 2010
San Juan 24 sailboat FOR SALE
San Juan 24 sailboat completely refurbished for sale
Well, after getting the San Juan 24 “Freedom Song,” Hull #849 completely refurbished and launched in September and sailing it a few times, we’ve decided it’s just not the boat for us. The little Starwind 19 we sailed previously and still have sitting on a trailer, as slow and frustrating as it can be in light winds, spoiled us in a lot of ways. Mainly, as I’ve said many times, the Starwind’s cockpit is one of the most comfortable I’ve ever sailed in. The San Juan cockpit, with it’s straight-up walls and pinched IOR stern - isn’t. The Starwind’s cockpit is actually larger and more workable.
The Starwind’s also very forgiving and we’ve always felt totally in control in it, and we’ve had it in some pretty rough weather for a 19’ boat. The San Juan moves incredibly well in light wind but gets to be a wild ride in around 18-20 mph wind - would have been a FUN boat in our 20’s and 30’s, but we’re a little past that now. Just a little too physically demanding to enjoy it at our age. So the San Juan 24 is FOR SALE. I’ve replaced my San Juan page with an ad and posted ads at SailingTexas.com and Craigslist Houston. Surprisingly, I’ve already gotten a couple of inquiries in only one day.
So we’ll clean up and fix the hurricane damage to the Starwind, maybe get new sails and enjoy sailing it while taking our time looking for another bigger boat. One I’m really interested in is the Santana 525 - although it’s a racy “sport boat” like the San Juan, the cockpit is larger and it looks like it has some of the characteristics that make the Starwind comfortable, just bigger. In fact one comment I’ve read online is that the cockpit is, yes, comfortable. I think I’ve also come to the conclusion I like a fractional headsail, which the Santana has, better than the SJ’s masthead rig. The masthead genoa is just that much too big and powerful, for us, anyway. Like I said, great if you’re younger. I’ve found exactly one Santana 525 for sale right now. Won’t tell you where in case the San Juan sells quickly, so we can snag it.
Things we’ll miss about the San Juan? One, the cabin interior came out very nice with fresh paint, the woodwork refreshed, all new lighting and cushions, and the table and standing headroom (for Deb, almost for me) are nice. Two, it really does MOVE in almost no wind, which tends to be most of the summer on Lake Livingston. But all in all, we’re frankly not enjoying sailing it in much of a blow, and this spring’s weather has been anything but light. That doesn’t mean that you won’t love it, especially if you’re younger and more sprightly than us. Buy our boat! (Please).