I'm looking for opinions on a boardless cat. The water is shallow here as well as some rocks and coral heads to watch out for. I want to be able to single hand it and right it myself. It will probably have a crew of two most of the time. Occasionally the whole family might want to go out, but probably not often. Since it needs to be carried down the beach with a little embankment I want to keep the weight down.

Could the Nacra 500 and P16 handle an occasional crew weight of 500lbs+? It's been a while but I've owned a P18 (escape model not the 18-2) and a Tornado. The P18 is light and will handle the heavy crew no problem. The Nacra 500 is close in weight but I'm not sure if it can handle the occasional heavy crew. I no nothing about the P16 but heard it might have trouble with the weight.

The winds here are usually pretty strong and gusty, another reason I'm looking for a smaller boat. Again, most of the time there will be a crew of two, but I want to be able to right it myself. Not sure if I remember right, but I used to right the P18 myself, though it took a bit of finesse.

I also heard that the Nacra 500 is harder to tack. Is that actually a problem or just a little tougher, something to get used to? All comments are appreciated.

EZ