I need some sailing advice and I live so far from the Ocean there is no body with any sailing experience in a 1000 km radius (or thereabouts but whose counting?)
We have discovered a lake of about 3000 hectares that we want to learn to sail on, when I say we, my partner and I total 160kg and are both reasonably fit and pretty strong.
The lake is reasonably calm most of the time. We don't want to pay too much as the lake will go dry in time, but we do have plans to move to the coast in a couple of years and would like to see if sailing suits our style.
At times it will be a bit awkward to get the boat close to the water.
What size boat do we need? Is a cat the way to go or should we start on a single hull?
Can you recommend any internet sites or books for us to learn the basics?
Thanks
dustysail 
I would go with one of the surf type catamarans, they don't have centreboards so will sail in quite shallow water whereas all monohulls have a centreboard and that's going to be an issue as the lake dries up. The boat I would go for would possibly be either Mari 4.3 or a Windrush 14, both are Australian made and plenty of parts or spares available.
Next thing I would head over to www.catsailor.net and ask your questions again, they are much more focused on small cats and can generally point you to where there are bargains to be had.
By all means though you are welcome to stay here and ask away to your hearts content and people will give advice.
LooseChange is on the money with the beach cats that have asymetical hulls with no centre boards. Rudders will kick out in shallow water which will load them up and make steering hard.
A 16ft boat would be more appropriate for two people.
I really like the corsair 16 dingys, you can even get three humans on them.
Early model Prindle 16. Buy one off eBay. Download all the Prindle sailing guides and go for it. Make sure you have beach wheels and work out how to raise the mast[very heavy]. Delightful boat to sail.
