I have two small children and have been looking for a boat with which to teach them how to sail. So, I went up to, Duck, NC for a week, specifically to test sail the Weta. Having now seen several posts regarding the boat on this website, I thought I would give anyone interested my impressions. First, for some background on my perspective, I grew up racing sunfish, 470’s, flying scots, & IOR boats (yes I am old) and only later transferred to Hobie Cats (16s, 18s, & 20s) and a stiletto 27. Consequently I really appreciate the feel of the helm on this boat. Having learned as a kid how to ‘work’ a dingy through chop with the helm, I always missed the fact that that sort of skill afforded me no competitive advantage on a beach cat, where to me it always felt like the best approach was to just point it straight, trim it properly, sit or trap in the right place, and keep it hauling a… Going through chop the Weta has the helm feel of a dingy but power and speed similar to a Hobie 16. Yet it is a much more secure platform, for beginners or anyone not wanting to attach him/herself to a gymnastic apparatus in order to stay upright when the wind exceeds 10 knots. Don’t get me wrong, I learned to trapeze while flying a spinnaker on a 470 so doing so on a beach cat still looks easy to me. But when a boat’s design requires that you trapeze in order to survive, it makes it less suitable for a young family. Next, at 14 ft. and only 240 lbs (the mast only weighs 10), the Weta can be easily rigged (in about 30 minutes), launched, and sailed by one person. Then, for the combination of speed plus comfort and crew capacity, the boat really outshines any other 14 foot boat on the market. No it is probably not as fast as an F16, but then again, the Weta is a one man boat that just happens to be able to accommodate up to 400 lbs. of not-very-movable ballast.

There are in my opinion only two downsides to this boat. The biggest downside is there may never be as large of a one-design class of them as other one man boats like the Hobie Wave or at the other end on the continuum, the A Class cat. Second, it is not cheap. You could by two Waves for the price on one Weta. But then, you could probably buy two Weta’s for the price of one A cat. So, will I buy a Weta? Maybe, it depends partly on how many of you do.