Published in "Yachting Monthly" June 2000

It is eight years since my wife and I sold our boat when we moved to the UK from California. But we resolved to put this right and we have just become the proud owners of a 1979 Seacracker 33, a Van de Stadt design well known on the Continent as the Trintella II. She is very similar to the Contessa 32 - the main differences being more headroom and a a slightly shallower draught. Importanty, she has loads more interior room

I'm an experienced yachtsman but, being American, my lack of familiarity with British craft was a big hindrance. Throughout 1999 I read the yachting press, contacted brokers and tried to reconcile my desire for a 40ft world-class cruiser with the reality of supporting a family and a mortgage.

The preliminary budget was set at between £25,000 and £35,000, with the expectation that an additional £5,000 - £10,000 may be needed for maintenance and fitting out. But how would I choose the right boat?

One of the first tasks was to draw up a list of priorities based on the sailing we planned to do. Thus a chart table was rated very important while a shower was merely a luxury. I was anxious to avoid buying a major rebuild job; the last time we spent more hours repairing, sanding and repainting than sailing. That 1971 boat had required a new engine, propeller, heads, cooker, plumbing, batteries, electronics and so on. To top it all she leaked like a sieve from the hundreds of holes in the deck where the last owners had fitted countless tracks. This time our boat simply had to be in sail-away condition.

I began with the broker network, a sad tale of unreturned phone calls, three month waits for lists of available boats, and finding offices closed even when we called ahead. Ancasta was the most reliable firm but others were not earning their commissions.

In time, the internet became my weapon. I started searching for boats reviewed in Yachting Monthly and Practical Boat Owner, or for boats which appeared interesting in private classified advertisements.

Over the months, the same names kept cropping up: Contessa 32, She 31, Elizabethan 33, Nicholson 33 etc - and then I found the Scuttlebutt forum on the ybw.com website. From this I gathered some of the most opinionated advice imaginable.

Asking the guys on Scuttlebutt "which boat?" prompted many owners to relate their experiences, both good and bad. And did I learn a thing or two! I was way off in my expectations of berthing costs, for example, which was one reason why my 38ft-40ft boat became 33ft.

There were also sailing conditions to take into consideration. In California I was used to insignificant tidal streams, few off-lying rocks or sands and, to be fair, idyllic sailing conditions. Anything longer than 36ft was going to become more of a management and navigation problem. What finally settled the issue was the cost of maintaining a larger boat, so the final plan was for a yacht of 31ft-36ft within a budget of £25,000 plus upgrades.

The Scuttlebutt forum introduced me to some real characters. The consensus was that the ideal boas for character, budget and price were the Nicholson 33 and the Contessa 32. Within hours of posting my message, an e-mail arrived offering a Contessa in Belgium at £22,000. I went, armed with my cheque book, but sadly too much work was required.

The very next day I spotted a small picture in the ybw.com classifieds of Seacracker 33 Sergeant Pepper - registered in Liverpool, naturally. We struck a deal at £28,500 and the survey was flawless. The vendors showed me their trophy cabinet: there must have been 30 cups in all, so she had a fine club race record, too.

My expectations when I started on this journey were for a 40ft cutter berthed in Portsmouth. I now have a 33ft sloop berthed in Penarth. I've become an avid follower of Scuttlebutt and have made my first internet purchase from ybw-marine-store.com - a Garmin handheld GPS for £109, as well as various charts.

Using the internet, I found an outstanding boat within my budget, a superb insurance broker and a pleasant and relatively cheap marina in which to keep her. Most important, though, are the friends I've made through this process, a couple of whom are going to help me take my first foray into the Bristol Channel.

Humperdinck Jackman is an avid sailor living in Bracknell, Berkshire. He used to sail his Ericsson 39 single handed off southern California and hopes to cruise extensively in his Seacracker

Since I purchased Sergeant Pepper I have seen Seacracker's on the market for prices ranges from £16,000 to £39,000, dependant on condition. In the Spring of 2002 there are three on the market at £26,000, £28,000 and £32,000.

Owners don't report any unusual cases of osmosis, and in all of my research I have not heard of any structural defects. The biggest areas to investigate, therefore, must be the engines (which are varied) and the remaining big ticket items such as: age of rigging, quality of deck hardware, spares for the winches, and the condition of the sails.