Boats adviced so far : Hobie 18, G-cat 5.7, supercat 17, Inter 17 R, Nacra 5.5 and Taipan 4.9

And if we wait long enough than somebody will suggest a Tornado as a well suited option.

None of these suggestion, with the exception of the Taipan and I-17, have a PN rating for singlehanded sailing. You give as a reason to get rid of your Prindle 19 because " ... I take a beating on the numbers". I don't think the situation will be much different with the named alternatives.

The I-17 for that matter doesn't have a PN rating for doublehanded use.

But here comes the funny part : I would personnally not buy a Taipan if I were to sail it only for 3 years. I would think that to be a bad investment, despite the fact that all Taipans that came on the US secondhand market were sold within the month. A this time I don't see any of them being offered for sale in the near future so new will be the way for a Taipan or other F16 boat. Therefor I would personally just get an older boat and save some on the costs and use that for a new daysailer like a Farrier tri. That is my take on the things. I think the nacra 5.5 come closest to this.

However I do think that the new singlehanders are underestimated by :"coming off a 19 ft. boat will probably be a shock". Some require a different approach to catsailing sailing but all are just as fast as the P19 and most are more refined in their controls and behaviour. The shock my be the other way around as in :"Why didn't I do this earlier".

If a new boat is in the budget than I would advice to look at the modern singlehanders; either the F16's or the FX-one and I-17 with a jib kit. If you want something new to learn than go for the low drag boats (lightweights F16's and A-cats) these do require a slightly different approach to sailing. You get the most speed out of these not by brute force but by refinement and subtle control. These boats talk to you and react inmensely to the proper tuning. It is a new extention to sailing in my opinion and one that has more potential for speed gains. An A-cat is the king in this but not really suited to be sailed by two persons. Also a sloop boat should not be underestimated in relation to a uni-rig. It take to much time to fully go into this but the speed difference between a sloop and uni-rig is much much less than the difference caused by being lightweight.

I wish you good luck in your search for a new boat.

Wouter