Seeking Assistance

Can you help me understand how it works?

From my understanding if you have a planing hull wave drag is diminished and you have less skin friction on the hull.

As far as the Jib goes, never did I say that it was "necessary" for steering. I said that it aided steering from what I've read. I know that it is not the sole purpose of the jib.

 

Build a simple, free, proven design like Summer Breeze and go out and get wet! after a season or two then you might be able to make an informed decision about what you want as a next step in the process. Besides...the building is most of the fun anyways You can also try out various rigs and find out which suits your tastes better.

Steve

 

The purchase and study of a few books could help with your decision making process a fair bit.

What you really need is sea time. Nothing short of actual experience will really help. Reading about how a boat works will offer the principles, fundamentals and understanding of basic systems operation, but without actually doing it, you'll be much like a welder that's read all they can about welding, but have never actually pulled a bead of molten metal. The novice welder may be quite informed about how things work, but his first passes with the equipment will produce some pretty lousy welds. Just like sailing, you have to "feel" what's going on.

Find a ride, get some sea time and begin the process of establishing your preferences for rig type, hull type, etc. Time aboard is the real teacher.

 

Might I suggest you go to Nags Head,North Carolina and rent a sailboat on the bay.You will have a great time at the beach,and the bay is very forgiving.
They used to have small catamarans or sunfish. Both of these can be sailed and you can learn alot about how things work.
Then if you want to learn about building a boat for yourself,I would definitely check into the Wooden Boat Schools.

 

In your situation (of wants and knowledge) I would advise just going out and buying a decent little used sailing dinghy. Watch your local craigslist or ebay or whatever, grab something at a good price in good condition that you can re-sell without having to restore or pour money into it, and use it to learn to sail and learn what sort of boat you really want. Probably not best to go straight to a 'performance' dinghy, just something that is good and easy to learn on (it will still be fun, but will be more forgiving).
Keep it while you build your knowledge and skills, and then while you build the one you really want- in the meantime you could be sailing within the next few weeks up until you launch your new hand built boat. Then sell it, even at a reasonable loss, probably still only leaving you out of pocket less than the cost of hiring a boat for a couple of days.
Way too many options of boat acquisition for the purposes of sailing seem to involve extended periods of foreplay. I speak from experience here. Just get a boat and get out there. if you really like it you will soon figure out what you really want your first investment of time and money to go into- without more knowledge and experience it would just be guesswork and unlikely to lead to the happiest result.

Also, I don't doubt that the cheapest option would be to just buy a bargain of a used boat in good condition- especially in the economy at the moment.
You could no doubt get a good little 10-12 foot ply dinghy ready to sail for a few hundred bucks- this may include many little extras such as lifejackets, oars, and who knows whatelse. Plywood, epoxy, timber, sails, rigging, blocks, lines, etc, etc.. all add up in costs very quickly when building from scratch (though much of it can of course be sourced and scrounged second hand for cheaper).

I always liked this guys write up of how much you can get out of a small sailing dinghy,
http://www.btinternet.com/~sail/mirror.htm

P.S. As suggested, going down to your local area where clubs and such sail and getting a free ride would be a great start. More than likely you will soon find a bargain for sale through someone there as well.

P.P.S. I am not against you or anyone else building your own boat in any way.

 

https://www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=435

I too am an aspiring first time boat builder who probably becomes overly ambitious at times. I have been researching techniques and plans for over 12 years and need to just bite the bullet so to speak and jump in. I read once in Wooden Boat magazine that the first step is to spend 8 hours on a Saturday and get your first boat in the water. I think keeping it simple in shape and complexity is good advice for first timers like ourselves. Glen-l sells plans, kits and all of the necessary supplies. I know that sailing classes are offered right here in Guntersville, AL for very reasonable rates so I am sure that you can find a reasonable school in Delaware. Good luck to you my friend. I hope to see pictures of your first launch soon and hopefully I will be able to share with you pics of my first launch within a year as well. Don't get distracted by the 49' reliant on Glen-L's site. Man that is nice.