Selection Process: Why the HR42?

Robin; still attending boat shows -- Sail Expo 2002, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA

We started like many other would-be cruisers -- Boat shows. Although we had done some sailing, understood sailing basics, and had dreams of eventually taking off cruising, our early selection criteria was very naive - "could we live comfortably in such a small space". At our first boat shows, this was our main criterion. In order to determine this, we would approach an attractive and "classic" looking vessel at a boat show, walk aboard, and head immediately below to check out the living space.

Over the subsequent years and in parallel, we began reading. We read sailing magazines (all of them, including Practical Sailor), and many books. These included "how to buy a boat" books, "how to live aboard a boat" books, "ideal cruising boat" books, "best built boat" books, "how to go cruising and how to select a cruising boat" books. From 1992 until 1996, we were truly "armchair sailors".

In 1997, we started to get serious about this endeavor and both progressed through American Sailing Association (ASA) sail training. We progressed from beginners, up through bareboat charter qualifications. With real experience sailing, a few weeks of chartering, and all of the years of reading, we quickly learned that live aboard space, does not a cruising boat make.

Our revised selection criteria boiled down to sea-kindliness, stability, strength in (fiberglass) construction, a rig easily handled by a cruising couple, and speed. We balanced all of these compromises and applied them to the boats available, and emerged with a list of dozens of boats. The VERY helpful resources we used in this selection were the Practical Sailor Boat Buying Guides (Volume 1 & 2) and this database/spreadsheet. Be sure to see the worksheet READ ME FIRST. Although I've not met the author, he has kept this going for several years we found it very useful. Even with limited knowledge of Microsoft Excel, you should still glean some value.

Our next decisions stacked up to new or used, whether we would limit our search to the West Coast only, US only, or beyond. This was more a personal decision based upon our refit skill, time available, level of patience, budget, exchange rates, and the level of comfort we expected while cruising.

In the end, we decided on a new boat and selected the HR42 as the boat that seemed right for us. After several discussions with John Neal of Mahina Expeditions, our broker Jack Heady, and other HR owners -- we decided on the options to select on the purchase of our new Hallberg-Rassy 42. In April of 1999, we test sailed an HR42 on Elliot Bay, picked our final options, and took advantage of the great exchange rate on the Swedish Krona (which is even better now!). After over two years of ownership, we still feel great about our decision. There are many excellent boats out there for all budgets and sailing/cruising objectives.

Reference Library

We have dozens of books that have filled out our on-board reference library. We have found several that have been useful during our preparation, and will update the list of those we find useful while we're out cruising.

Useful during boat selection: Practical Sailor's Sailboat Buying Guides, Volume I & II, How to buy a Sailboat -- Author forgotten because I sold this in our garage sale. Frenec Maté's Worlds Best Sailboats.

Useful during cruise preparation: Beth Leonard's The Voyager's Handbook, Jim Howard's Handbook of Offshore Cruising, Eric Hiscock's Cruising Under Sail, Linda & Steve Dashew's Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia, Mariner's Weather Handbook, and Surviving the Storm. We also thoroughly enjoyed reading the Pardey's and Herb Payson.

Our stock of charts, cruising guides, and Lonely Planet guides will expand based upon upcoming cruising destinations.