What's the right term for a cat sailor who is into all the tweaks? Like a motor-head to car aficionados or a geek in the computer world... A tramp monkey? A centerboard-head?
Of course I have something to contribute here.
The fact that a given boat can be fully tweaked out doesn't mean it has to be to forfill your desires/needs.
I actually see the ability to tweak it out to be an advantage rather then a disadvantage. It adds and extended live to the boat and maintains resell value. Typically there are two ways an owner can go after a boat purchase; reselling the boat later on because "It wasn't for him" and "looking for more performance". Buying a trimmed F16 (just the mainsail), will be a good upgrade from an old secondhander that everybody should start out on, and later on it can always be sold on within weeks or be gradually upgraded along with your new desires. Same thing applied to F18's and other tweaked boats except maybe the A's were all the money is in the basic stuff (carbon hulls and mast) and you can't sail one without every part being on the boat.
Anyway, on a global scale the real world of choices is really small when it comes down to beac cats (able to traverse the surf).
Hobie Wave
Hobie 16
Hobie Tiger
Nacra 500
Nacra Infusion/F18
Nacra I-20
Dart 18
A-cat
F18's from other builders
F16's
All the rest are just local classes with a strong fleet in one location and no where else like the F18HT's and the US version of Nacra 17's, or too disorganised to matter Hobie Fox, FX-one. Others again are just tries by builders to put more models on the water without really supporting them to succes : nacra 450, nacra 580, hobie 15, hobie max and almost the entire big builder listings apart from the craft named above. Sadly designs like the Taipan 4.9 aren't sufficiently supported by the manufacturer as well. And of course Formula 20 is dead by now and all that is left is the Nacra 20 class.
My advice would be to concentrate any choice of boats to the above listing; I see no need or desire that is not covered by that listing with the exception of the niche that F12 could fill (introduce and training young sailors 8-16) to cat sailing in the way the optie and laser dinghy do). Yet the F12 is not ready and won't be for a little while to be on the above listing.
Wouter
