John Neal on Boat Choices, Outfitting, Insurance, and Experience

This is a topic that every sailor eventually faces, and that's choosing the right boat, navigating insurance, understanding the market and important outfitting considerations. Our guest today is John Neal. John is widely respected in the sailing community for his decades of passage making experience and for his consulting work, helping sailors select seaworthy boats for offshore voyaging. We first connected with John years ago when we made the transition from sailing separately on two small boats, to joining forces on one larger boat and eventually a shared last name. John's guidance played a huge role in the boat buying process, helping us kind of weigh our values and our experiences against what the different models could offer.

Preconceived ideas of what you might think would be the ideal blue water boat will change. Naval architecture develops and continues to improve. Boats that were recommended 45 years ago can often be "doggy boats" with minimal interior volume, tankage, tender, and not necessarily a comfortable ocean passage making boat. Designs do change and fortunately, in some instances, improve.

John Neal:  Mahina Offshore Services

Music: Stands For Nothing