That looks like a great boat to start with. I wanted to suggest another beginner boat;
The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints.
Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat".
I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.
Puddle Duck is sort of a scaled up, plywood version of an Optimist.
Optimist is a fantastic youth one design sailboat. It is good for two 7 year old children or one teenager up to about 140 lbs.
Puddle duck has significantly more form stability, as a result you can fit one Fat Dad + their kid + a dog comfortably in the boat.
The other biggest difference (besides total passenger weight) is that with mostly 90 degree angles, it can be built with a hand saw and some nails in a weekend. Optimist requires considerably more woodworking (or preferably, fiberglass) skills.
The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints.
Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat".
http://pdracer.com/
I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.