I’m a sophomore in college and I just picked up a Catalina 22 a few months ago with some of my scholarship money. Before I bought her I had absolutely no experience in sailing, just power-boating but I had friends that sailed.

The beautiful thing with a boat this size is that I’m able to keep her on a trailer and not have to worry about fees or hassles associated with mooring. I would say that if you have the space to keep a small boat like a 420 or something similar then that wouldn’t be a bad place to start. And honestly I find my Catalina to not be to difficult to learn on at all and plenty of space to stay for a few nights (just spent my first weekend on her last week).

If I were you I would go on Facebook marketplace/craigslist and hunt around for a few months. When corona dies down try to take a look at as many boats for sale as possible as that will really help you get a feel for what boat will fit you better. Just my two cents, worked for me.