It is all a question of how much money one can spend or is willing to spend. However, I've become convinced that the most attractive tree of beach cat designs is something like depicted in the attached picture.

Of course there are "specials" like the Nacra 20 for the Tybee racing along the US eastern coast or the Hobie 16 for really cheap secondhanders or low tech fun filled racing on provided boats or indeed the SL16 as the youth boat. But neither of these has a very large footprint in the beach catamaran scene of tomorrow. At least for Europe the Nacra 500 seems to be speeding ahead and looks to overtake the H16's and SL16's in the various roles despite other plans by ISAF. Of course the H16's racing will always remain till the last "old salt" who grew up on them has died, but to give a counterexample. I think there are less then 10 H16's at my club of about 100 boats, and only 1 appears to be used for sailing. In the last 3 years the new Nacra 500's have eclipsed the H16's at my club and they are actively sailed. The new sail design by Peter Vink is a big improvement and these 500's are great little boats and take a spi upgrade well (unlike the H16's or Dart 18's).

The Nacra 500 (or predessor nacra 5.0) will handle any family use really well and is still viable for solo sailing by an adult. The hullshape is really well designed and handles chop really well. The modern rig is miles and miles ahead of even the newest H16's. And that links it up very well with any upgrade to say the F18's, F16's or the A-cats. If you are going to by a new boat then the Nacra 500 should be on top of your list. I really mean that.

The rest of the plot is pretty self explanatory. Formula 18 is THE class in beach cat sailing at the moment and looksto remain so for many years to come. The A-cat is the undisputed option for singlehanded racing while the F16 combines both into one single and less expensive package and is growing into viable fleets the world over.

The path to Olympic racing (used to be the tornado) is also obvious if you are planning into that direction. The best preparation for that run through the F18 class.

Of course, switching between the three "main" classes F18, F16 and A-cat is seen regulary depending on personal circumstances like local fleets or a change in family make-up. All three seem close enough in comparison to make switching easy.

The pricing/costs associated with these classes also runs from left to right with respect to getting more expensive.

And of course any cat design you can buy cheap and learn the ropes on is a good substitute for getting started on the Nacra 500 or Nacra 5.0

I hope this helps,

Wouter