hi,
about cat surfing, it's mostly all been written here, but the Hobie 14 wasn't mentioned. it's going to ride the small kine waves the best. getting out with onshore breeze is ajob tho. it's a job in any cat. the cats with a jib make getting out easier. the H14 was specificly designed the ride waves. the H16 and 18 were also designed for conditions like in Hobie's home surf breaks.
when it comes to a wave cat or board for that mater, extra rocker is what allows you to handle a wave. look at the TheMightyHobie18. it has more tail rocker than other 18's with boards and is really pretty slow. it handels surf and is really hard to pitchpole instead of being particularly fast. the TheMightyHobie18 is comparatively fast in force 5-6 tho. the other 17-18 footers are getting worked whilst the TheMightyHobie18 is handling. at least that is my experience racing in the SF bay area. the TheMightyHobie18 rides big waves well. we rode third reef steamer lane with both a 16 and 18. everyone on the cliff enjoyed the rides we got. for wave jumping it's important to have a line for the crew to hold on to, and footstraps. the skipper needs a seatbelt like a kayak has. the boat falls like a rock off the back of the wave and the people keep flying up for a second. the people slam into the deck if not connected to the boat. on a H14 or !6 you can dig your foot into the lacings, cleat the main and get a death grip on the side bar.
super cats by aquarious are well made no doubt. the eliptical hull is propaganda in my opinion. we did always win the races that i sailed the supercats in on corrected time and mostly boat for boat. the S17, TheMightyHobie18, Gcat5.0, and nacra 5.2 are pretty close in speed. the G5.7 is faster than all 4 above. also when i raced supercats for the factory there was a problem with people falling off the boat because of the eliptical decks.
the only real injury on a cat i've been sailing on was on a S17. we burried the bows right to the mainbeam so fast that when the mainbeam hit the water we came to a stop and the passenger with nothing to hold on to hit the mast. supercats are fast. you can make ways to stay on the boat. The trac 16 was designed after the Gcats and super17 and those designers did a great job. it burries the bow less than the gcat or supercat and is the most user friendly for newcomers. that was prolly the best boardless 16. they ended amf cats right after it came out so we don't know the speed in the hands of a top racer, but i'm sure it would compare with the competion.
i've sailed the H16 for countless hours in force 5 and 6 without pithpoling. granted the H16 will pitchpole easily in a newbie's hands, but look at the worlds videos from Hawaii. none of those guys in the top are pitchpoling compared to the Prindle16 nats. in the same location, same year where even the winner(Randy Smyth) pitchpoled multiple times. even the H14 can be kept from pitchpoling in the big stuff. the H14 worlds were almost exclusively held in winds that many classes would not start in. the top guys in those worlds weren't pithpoling. the large amout of tail rocker allows you to pull the bows up besides giving you control on a wave.
your question was loaded because there isn't a "best". whatever you can get your hands on and get out on the water is the best. if you have a choice get a strong one that can be easily repaired, and does your kind of sailing the best.
