I don’t know anything about Sol Cats but every other 18 i know (Hobie, Prindle, Mystere, Nacra, etc) are very powerful race boats and not a great choice to start with. They can get out of control very fast if a weather change pops up.

I would recommend starting light / smaller boat and less sail area (even then, you should try and hook up with experienced guys) and look into righting bags for WHEN you capsize if you plan to sail solo.

Lastly... as long as you don’t beat the boat up... most beach cats i have seen / owned keep their resale value very well and after a few years, you should be able to recoup most of your original investment and upgrade if/when you want a more powerful boat