I for one am glad to see it (the resurgance in big cats) finally! Have you seen what a big new mono costs these days? You can get a big cat, three times faster, easier to sail with half the crew (you don't need rail meat) that will go into shallow water for about the same money. I think as we see more big cats out on the water, the leaners will get tired of being passed (seen the Gunboat video?) and eventually go "keel free".

Also, chicks dig cats! My wife hated my leaner, loves the wide, non-leaning platform of a cat. My kids love the tramps and you can let them trap out off the extra halyards!

On the R33 thing...it does look narrow to me, I thought the correct ratio for a racing cat was 50%, that is, beam should be about 50% of length. Since you have to "demount" the beams to trailer it, couldn't it have been built with 17' beams too? You know the narrower it is the quicker you must be on the mainsheet/traveler and some mono sailors will jump on it, be slow do dump and flip it.

I just read the new Sailing World article about the R33, Multihull Boat of the Year, (congratulations) and when they test drove it they said, "Nobody but the R33 guy touches the mainsheet..." Well, at least someone on board was smart, but if it was 17' wide (why isn't it?), wouldn't that be a bit more stable?

And as for thos ORMA Tri's that are upside down...they are racing them, short handed, in extreme conditions. Look at all the keel problems the fastest mono's are having.