This Is Why 35 Feet Is the Perfect Solo Ocean Boat

The one size of boat that lets a single sailor cross oceans without help, and how to judge one before you spend a penny: https://everydaysailing.gumroad.com/l... Seventeen sailors are about to leave France to sail alone and non-stop around the world, and every single boat in that fleet is between 32 and 36 feet. Not because they could not afford bigger. Because the organisers wrote the size into the rules after watching what actually breaks a solo sailor. This video is about why that window exists, why 35 feet sits in the middle of it, and what it means for anyone choosing a boat to sail alone. ⛵ Inside this video: why displacement and sail area very nearly double when you add 14 feet of length, using published figures from two boats out of the same builder's catalogue. What a 258 square foot mainsail lets one person do at three in the morning that a 580 square foot mainsail does not. Why haul-outs, bottom paint, yard labour and Mediterranean berth brackets do not scale smoothly with length, and where the price steps actually fall. The floor under the window: carrying capacity, motion, tankage and the minimum displacement rule that sets it. 🧭 We also go through the speed argument honestly. Longer waterline genuinely means faster passages, and a week saved on an Atlantic crossing is a whole weather system you did not have to sit through. But a solo sailor cannot drive a boat the way a crewed boat is driven, and the sleep schedule sets a cap that length does not change. ⚓ And the part nobody discusses: self-steering. A mechanical windvane draws no power at all and steers a seven tonne boat indefinitely. Push displacement past twelve or fifteen tonnes and you are back on an electric autopilot, a power budget and a chain of components that can fail. Two of the five dismastings in the 2018 Golden Globe Race traced back to windvane repairs, which tells you where the real pressure point is on a boat like this. The full inspection, survey and buying process for a bluewater cruiser is in the Bluewater Buyer's Manual — 296 pages: https://everydaysailing.gumroad.com/l... ⛵ Boats in this video: Rustler 36 Vancouver 34 Cape George 36 Hallberg-Rassy 36 Beneteau Oceanis 35.1 Beneteau Oceanis 46.1 🔍 Topics: best solo sailing boat, best size sailboat for solo sailing, 35 foot bluewater sailboat, solo ocean crossing boat, best small bluewater sailboat, single handed sailing yacht, Golden Globe Race 2026 boats, windvane self steering, cheapest bluewater sailboat to run, buying a bluewater sailboat, sailboat size for one person, best sailboat to sail around the world alone. #SoloSailing #BluewaterSailing #Sailboats ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⭐ JOIN THE CHANNEL (member perks)    / @everydaysailing   Subscribe for more videos! 🌊 ALL MY LINKS https://linktr.ee/everydaysailing ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Copyright Disclaimer This video may include copyrighted material used under the "fair use" principle for educational and informational purposes. Such use aims to provide commentary, analysis, or added value in compliance with Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been used improperly, please contact me directly before pursuing any formal action. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated. Safety Disclaimer These videos reflect my personal experience. They do not replace professional training. Always sail in compliance with safety rules and maritime regulations. This video is for educational and entertainment purposes only. All data presented is based on publicly available brokerage listings and market reports. This is not financial advice. Always conduct your own due diligence and hire a certified marine surveyor before purchasing any vessel. Market conditions vary by region and change over time.