Bob touches on a very good point actually.
I often forget about that as overhere we all sail at sailing clubs that range in size from at minimum 10 cats to over 100 cats. So for European sailors there is always some old dog around to help you get started. I remember the first time I had to rig my Prindle 16 way back and even despite the fact it is as simple a boat as the H16 I still got lost. A few well placed hints by the sailor in the parking spot next too me cut my rigging time back by 75 %.
With regard to new modern design I think you will do well to read up on tuning and trimming guides that are available on the net for designs like the Hobie Tiger, F18's in general, I-17R, A-cats and F16's. Sure none of these may be fully applicable when you choose to go for a Nacra 5.5 but you will learn what to look for while sailing a modern rig and how to be the boss of it.
In my own experience you must also not be too intimidated by a new modern rig. These trimming options are there to make depowering and controlling that sail area easier and more comfortable. Sure you'll need to put in some effort to understand what does what, but after this initial bumb you should be more comfortable on a modern rig boat than when sailing an older rig with inferiour controls.
To be really honest I would make the follow seperation in designs.
On one hand you have the truly simple and older designs like the Prindle 16, Hobie 16, Prindle 15, Hobie 14, Dart 18, nacra 5.0 and nacra 500 (there are more but this are the most dominant ones) ; these boat are both easy to rig and easy to control while sailing. In my opnion these are in general excellent boats for first time recreational users WHEN you use them in the right way. The last statement is directed at not sailing a Hobie 14 with two adults or a Hobie 16 singlehanded.
Then as a second group you have the truly modern boats like Nacra I-17R, all Formula 18's, all A-cats, Hobie FX-one and Formula 16's. These boat are a major step in control as well as speed and power. To give you an example from my own experience. First time I sailed my F16 I had lots of power, the hull would fly at an instant and I was sailing at a crawling speed. Something was wrong, that was clear. I was sailing the boat like a Prindle 16, meaning not using the controls that were available to me. Along side came another F16 sailor and all he said was. "Draft of your mainsail is way to full, jank on the downhaul and mainsheet till you think you can go no further". After wiping that sheepish look of my face I did and soon the boat sped along at top speed and was as easy a puppy. No lifting, no shaking of the platform from power and she was a stable as an anvil. from that moment onward I never had a problem with control again. Later I struck myself on the head because I knew this. I had been crewing on F18's in prior years and that was what we did to make the boat go and make it smooth. Point of the story is that you can learn from comment made in relation to other boats and that only knowing a few trick will get you a well behaved boat despite it rig being big and very modern. So if you are willing to make the initial effort to learn these key tricks you will be fine on a modern boat.
The 3rd group is in my opinion the one to be more carefull about. Those are the design between group 1 and 2. These are the designs that are not as simple as those in group one but also not as refined as the truly modern boats of group 2. Boats like the Prindle 18 (spreader !), nacra 5.5, Hobie 18's etc. Here you got nearly the same complexity issues but often with less well balanced sails and controls. There is in my opinion a noticeable risk that on these designs you'll need the same experience as on the modern boats to control the boat but often it is more difficult to make the right control actions as the systems are less refined or the design itself is ambiquious about what it likes. Example : On a friends 18 foot design of the 80's (won't name the type) it was impossible to trim the mast rotation and downhaul unless you came in onto to trampoline and moved up to the mast. You always have the biggest need to make trim adjustments in heavy weather WHEN you just don't want to come in and go towards the mast as a solo sailor. I went out with him a few times and I knew what to do and look for because my prior experience on F18's and F16. On these two latter boats I could adjust all stuff from the luff hull or trapeze and well away from the mast. It allowed me to play around with the controls and see what happened. This was a lot harder to do on the friends older 18 footer so he never did. Often these 3rd group secondhanders are run down a bit more and important systems like down work a lot less optimal than they used to. On 2 to 4 years old group 2 boats these system often are good running order.
I pretty much agree with all opinion given in this thread one way or another. It all comes down to how you are going to use your boat, how much you want out of it at a later time and how willing you are to put a little effort in, in the beginning.
We all have our prejudice, including myself, mostly because we all found what suited our wishes and needs best. Take that into account.
If you are relatively alone in your area, as a cat sailor. Than I would like to point you into the following directions, please read up on all.
-1- Rick Whites book catamaran sailing for the 90's. (Some things are different on modern rigs but it undoubtable a very good starting point and basic framework to hang additional experience on)
-2- Boat specific tuning guides and explanations like (I give examples in the F16 and F18 area only , excusse me for that)
http://www.prosail-asia.com/Sailing%20Tips/Sailing%20Tips.html (I like this introduction it is not too complicated but sets you up for more detailed info at a later time, will also make understanding comments from more experienced sailors easier)
http://asiaboatrag.net/formula/F16tips/intro.htmlhttp://www.taipan.asn.au/Tips%20and%20Tricks/archived_tips_frame.htmAlso look at this video clip :
http://tillard.georges1.free.fr/videos/WM9_256Kbps tunings.wmv
It shows how well the sail shape can be controlled by using the mainsheet and downhaul. This clip comes of the DVD (apparently 5 hours of playing time) that covers these things. This may well proof to be almost as good as having an experienced sailor close by. The DVD is not cheap but I appears it contains a wealth of information and actually shows you what happens when you use the controls of a modern rig.
Why do I tell you all this. Since this summer I'm getting more an more convinced that buying and sailing a truly modern boat may not be such a bad thing for a novice cat sailor. During some promo we did (F16) at my home club we lend a Taipan out to interested parties and in several cases neither of the crew had sailed a modern boat ever before. I never forget how they came back to the beach. Completely overjoyed, and that is the pure truth. One guys owns a very simple boat right now the kind we design think up for novices and he much prefered the Taipan. "Sure", he said; "It is more complicated but if you pull a string it is so clear what it does and wether it likes it that it is easy to control and allows you to learn very quickly what to do." When comparing it to his novice boat design he said ;"At my boat you encounter two situations , it behaves well or it doesn't theit is not that much that you can do to influence that". And you need to be handy with the few control that you do have to get it behave better when faced with a situation the design doesn't like.
So the trade-off may well be that you have to quickly learn to live with more complexity if you want the benefit of much inproved control after you've learned the few basic actions with the controls OR don't hink to much about anythign and get sailing but be stuck with what get is what you got depending on the conditions.
I admit it is not an easy choice.
Wouter
