Well, every hull shape has it's merits and downfalls. You do have to ultimately ask yourself; how long do I want to keep the boat? It was very easy to fall into the trap of "sexiness" when I was out there looking for a boat. And, I do remember a conversation with my wife back in 2001 when I briefly had an A that my next boat would indeed be a Marstrom. Well guess what? “The” boat magically appeared and I now sail a Marstrom M5; designed with lots of top sailor inputs for a faster hull shape and the smaller sailor in mind. Like someone already stated, the build quality is second to none. After sailing the M5 for a year and a half and going thru another mast maker and a few sails, I’m now more convinced of how Marstrom is ahead of the others when building the “package”. We hear a lot about the platform doesn’t matter and it’s all about the sail/mast combo. In my time sailing the boat and putting the Marstrom mast back on the boat one month prior to the 2010 NAs, there’s more to how everything works together than I originally thought.

I remember my first regatta back in Aug 2009 in Gulfport, MS. There were a lot of kids sailing and one evening they were milling about the A cats. One youngster asked me what the other cats were; they looked funny and weird. They all knew what mine was!

I am thoroughly enjoying the boat now as I learn to sail with the curved boards and develop a sail(s) that works for my body weight. You can debate for eternity the hull shape profiles. At a recent regatta along the Gulf coast, I felt like I was pitching a lot in the chop and asked a volunteer on the course if indeed my boat was doing that. He said mine was not pitching as much as the “other” ones and I ended up winning the regatta. So really, it comes down to hull profile doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is your comfort level on your purchase and taking the time to understand what you have. And, I really enjoy the halyard!!

So there you have it from a Marstrom M5 owner in the USA.