Sure! John and I met up Saturday morning. I did my best to get in the way of his setup routine with the Blade. He has a clever system of cables and blocks that raise the mast when he's on his own. Saddly, with a second guy there to lend a hand I didn't get to see that operation. My biggest concern with buying a cat is going to be setup I think. I live in Newport Beach and it's surprisingly difficult to get a small sailboat in the water here. There is a low bridge between the only launch ramp and the bay. Even my FJ is going to be a close fit, I'm pretty confident a F16 isn't going to make it under. Unless I can find mast up storage here I'm going to have to be patient and crew for others for a while. Not a bad idea in any case, right? I can also trailer the boat up to Long Beach and launch there as we did Saturday but that's a ton of work, especially for one. Props to John and the rest of you for your efforts! It's a lovely boat and an exciting concept. I guess I'll keep mulling things over and trying to figure out how to make the thing work for me.
The day was cold and a little drizzly, breeze looked okay at first then petered out about as soon as we were out on the water. Still, what breeze we had was enough to make the boat exciting for a monohull guy. I can't wait to get out in more wind. John is a great guy and fun to sail with: very patient and tolerant of my clumsiness around a new boat. Hopefully I'll be out and sailing again soon!
-Chris