There are a number of Nacra 5.5 cats for sale at very reasonable prices around here. Lots of them younger than the 5.2s I have come across. Do any of you have experience righting one solo? Is a big righting bag enough? Should I add a pole and mast float...
My gut tells me the boat would be a bit cumbersome on land, but it seems like a nice compromise between tunable and well-behaved.

Any thoughts?

Thomm225,
thanks for the tip. I like to compare boats found on the 'net so I can get at least some idea of what to expect for any given price.

Pepin,
do you feel up to a nice one way channel crossing ;-) Just over to Flushing. Only a couple of busy shipping lanes to cross...

Erice,
I intend to capsize intentionally a number of times under safe conditions to get the hang of it before going way out.
Were you saying that the Nacra 5.2 is really too dangerous for a sailor who is inexperienced with beach cats? Or did you mean the Shadow?