Beneteau First 18SE

[First]

Planning to buy an 18SE as my first keel sailboat for solo sailing. I'll trailer it to the coastal waters of the East Coast and sail the heck out of it in all kinds of conditions. I'll pretty much treat it as a dinghy, no outboard or over night plans. Step the mast and ramp down to the water. I have some Sunfish experience from my younger days, so I'll retrain myself on the 18SE and improve my skills in time. Bad idea? Has anyone had experience with 18SE? Any thoughts?

 

[VeloceSailing]

Planning to buy an 18SE as my first keel sailboat for solo sailing. I'll trailer it to the coastal waters of the East Coast and sail the heck out of it in all kinds of conditions. I'll pretty much treat it as a dinghy, no outboard or over night plans. Step the mast and ramp down to the water. I have some Sunfish experience from my younger days, so I'll retrain myself on the 18SE and improve my skills in time. Bad idea? Has anyone had experience with 18SE? Any thoughts?

@Blur had one for a season. Perhaps he can give you some tips

 

[guerdon]

Remember to keep the fun in Fundamential.

 

[mikkom]

I have 18 and do sail solo (and with crew). What are your main concerns? It is really easy boat to handle. And you probably know that people race in Silver rudder solo with 18 and one 18 did R2AK solo.

Raising mast needs additional person or a support aft of boat (~2m height). Ramp launching might also need additional hands depending on location, but ramps I have used went ok even solo, though with crane it is much easier.

As for sailing, I have bought additional smaller jib for stonger winds (16 knots or more). For soloing you need to fix tiller at times (spinnaker up and down), but there are various ways of doing this.

 

[Blur]

I had the 18 for a season and really loved the boat. Eeasy to rig (even solo), launch, and sail. We raced it as well as did some adventures in the archipelago.

The only thing to think about, it's a light boat with a lots of sail area, so it might be hard to get out of the harbor in 20 knots of wind

 

[Skippertri]

I started the dream contemplating about Weta tri. Then I thought about beachcats, and now, this. Despite being completely different sailboats, all three seem to be good platforms as a first sailboat to learn and excel.

 

[M26]

Well IIRC the core concept of the 18 was to bring the mini650 characteristics to the broad masses.
So the boat was made with YOU in mind