Stuart, you have the right idea, find some cat racers near you and pick their brains, and since the season is about over up there, you have some time to do some research. The bad part is you won't be able to get a test drive until spring, but you should take a test drive before buying anything. There are a couple considerations you need to think about . 1. Do you intend to race? 2. How much money do you want to spend?

The answers to these questions will lead you in different directions. A clean, used Hobie 18 (or Nacra 5.5 sloop) would be a great place to start ($2-4,000) because the learning curve is steep and you will make mistakes but they are more fogiving than a new spinnaker boat, they will also be much cheaper than a brand new racing F18 ($15,000+) or even a used racing F18 ($10,000+) and for about $1,000 you can add a spinnaker to the Hobie 18 or Nacra 5.5. Click on the "Classifieds" section above.

You will want a spinnaker boat eventually, if you stick with it but at first you just want to get a feel for sailing cats without the hassels (and expense) of setting up the spinnaker.

Sailing cats is a whole lot more exciting than mono's but some people don't like all that excitement and spray...