Good evening,

I'm looking to up-grade from my beat up G-Cat 5.0. Most of the time I will be sailing with my wife. Although, occasionally I do sail by myself. I weigh about 250lbs. How large of a cat is too large for a solo-sailor? Would a twenty footer be way too big?

Don't know from experience but I saw a (youtube) video of a big man solo-righting a Nacra 5.5. He was sailing with what may have been his (early teens?) daughter. The wind was light and the boat came up in seconds with no help from her (she was sitting on the lower hull at the forward beam, not leaning out).

There are guys on this forum who sail a Nacra 5.2 solo, that's 17feet. But the lighter ones at least seem to have trouble righting one solo. I own a 5.2 but have yet to test solo righting.

Guess this doesn't help you much, but at least I bumped your post!

[edited for spelling]

I was out sailing yesterday in the Dunedin, FL area. I sail a Dart 20 with a Tornado Main & Jib single handed at 190 pounds, winds above 15 I don't mind crew.
Others sailing here are on G-Cat 5.7, Mystere 5.5 and 6.0, Prindle 18, Dart 18, and then the smaller boats.

I'm 185, and I have righted my 5.5 sailing solo. Not so bad, but I am pretty fit, and it might be a hassle in a big swell, or very windy conditions. That said, I wouldn't sail solo unders those type of conditions.


R

It's actually much easier to right them when it's blowing, all you have to do is sit on the bow, wait for the boat to turn so the wind is blowing under the mast, and it will come right up.

The trouble comes when there is very light air, the boat won't turn and the wind won't help you, then it's a tug of war to get the mast tip up out of the water.

I say go big or go home. If you have the $$$ you can solo anything. Heck, if Ellen MacArthur and Francis Joyon can do it, you can too!

carry a righting bag and you can right a 6.0 (20') solo without much work. We have several people here who solo a 20'er

I sail a 5.2 regularly solo but I always make sure there is someone around that I can blow my wistle to for help... even if it is just a fisherman. I now carry a bag when solo but I haven't tried it out yet, so I sail very conservatively. I weigh around 155 pounds and there is absolutely no way I can soloright my 5.2 without a bag. My top end wind speed is 15 knots without crew. I will try the bag someday when the water gets warmer, hopefully on purpose. I'm a real wuss when it comes to cold water (below 70 degree is cold for me).

How much does the G-Cat 5.0 weigh and how long/heavy is the mast? Do you have any difficulty righting the G-Cat 5.0 solo?

Without much work? Now that is wishful thinking.. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Let me re-phrase that.... I righted my Mystere 5.5 - 2 weeks ago in about 3 minutes with a bag. It was my first time using it and it was not hard to do. I weight about 200 and it was blowing like stink!