"Sensible cruising - The Thoreau approach" by Don Casey and Lew Hackler. A must read before embarking on any sailing venture.. It goes into the economics of cruising yacht ownership early on. In fact i wish i had read this book before starting to attempt to build a large yacht, life would have turned out very differently now, allot more sailing would have been done and some of the dreamed of places may have been visited.
At any one time we only have x-amount of finances and earning capacity, so at that time which could be now, the finances are weighed up and a much smaller boat than what was dreamed of can be bought so that the dream can become reality. The cruising goals can be downsized at first, how about a coastal cruise to some offshore Islands near home instead of the Tahitian Islands? That mind-shift shaves decades off the dream to reality time for most of us. (Later you can get the bluewater cruiser). Allot of other practical things about yacht set-up and management are also covered. Thoreau discovered the magic of the wilds in a small canoe, this mindset works wonders. I applied the philosophy and bought a Fatty knees 8 sailing dinghy cheaply and found many "walden ponds" are right there under our noses. An even cheaper first craft could be an old kayak. Casey and Hackler talk about "micro-cruisers", keeled craft in the 24 -28 foot range but this can be downsized to trailer-sailers/yachts in the 16-22 foot length range, light enough to be tow-able behind a medium-large car. There is also another category of "beach cruiser" - a light displacement open dinghy for sail camping in the 13-16 foot length range tow-able behind a small car
A cruising guide book is invaluable where-ever you are based. For this part of the world a popular guide is "Cruising the coral coast" by Alan Lucas. This is an authoritative cruising guide to the Queensland coast which first came out in 1968 has been reprinted many time since and can be found on the book shelves of many boating supply stores in Queensland. I used the book on-board Pablo in 1989. More info here. Lucas also authors "Cruising the NSW Coast" which was on Pablos bookshelf for the voyage along that open stretch of water in the Tasman Sea. The guides are available from boatbooks or most boat chandlers in Australia. Updates for both guides on Alan Lucas's book website - (Look for the wylo2 which features in logo top left ;-)
