Well...if there's not a racing fleet close to you, you may want to get something a little more -family oriented- until as you said, you get your feet wet, then see how often the wife and kids (or friends, or what ever) actually go out with you, then decide later if you want to get into racing, and need to spend the big bucks (relative to a used Prindle) to get a racing cat.

How close are you to Lake Norman? You might find some sailors there....might not be cat sailors, maybe Flying Scotts, but hey, it's a good familiy platform with room for a cooler and a spinnaker!