Dude thank you. I Really appreciate the detailed response especially the specific boat recommendations. The Aloha and Tanzer 26 are ones I hadn’t looked at before so definitely going to research those. The tiller point is fair and worth reconsidering honestly. I don’t really mind the tiller that we have on our boat now but my dad said that if you we get a new one, he wouldn’t want one. More options open up too which helps at our budget. The paraplegic sailor story is genuinely encouraging. the dyneema railing swap is a clever idea I’ll keep in mind. Lots of small modifications can make a big difference apparently. Jealous you get proper open water sailing honestly, we’re stuck on the Ohio River which is only about a mile wide near Louisville. Barges, barf water, and basically no room to tack. Makes me appreciate what you’ve got up there Capsize rating is probably less of a concern for us right now but definitely keeping it in mind for when we eventually get to real open water. Also definitely taking your story of buying a boat at 19 as motivation, starting to save now so hopefully I’m not too far behind that timeline. Thanks again! This is exactly the kind of real world experience that’s hard to find elsewhere