Stewart,

For Cleveland sailors, I think the closest Nacra dealer is The Cathouse near Saginaw, Michigan. He has a nice selection of F18s from a demonstrator Infusion to some of the early Nacra F18s. He had a recent Inter 18 but I think it sold. Mark Biggers is the dealer and it is always worth it to chat with him before you make your decision. Just don't call him before 10 AM! His website, with all the used boats listed, is cathouse1 dot com. I'm not sure who you go to for Hobies and I think Capricorns are supported by the importer (no dealers) in Florida (Jill Nickerson at Fun in the Sun). I hope this helps.

I know that you don't plan on racing until you get used to the boat, but the people you meet at regattas will be delighted to help you get up to speed with sailing these modern catamarans. I recommend you go to the first regatta possible once you get the boat and learn all you can. Go ahead and join in the racing. You will know better after the regatta what you need to focus on. Great people in this sport, so I think you have chosen well.

If racing is the ultimate goal, then it will be important to decide where you are going to race. The Hobie sailors from Michigan seem to travel to New York state and participate in the "Hobie only" racing that exists in that area. If you plan to go to New York to race, then I think you will want the Tiger, even if it is more costly (they are imported from France). The Catamaran Racing Association of Michigan has about 9 regattas a season, and the Nacra dealer attends most of those regattas. An outcome is that almost all of the CRAM members are sailing Nacras, even though CRAM welcomes all catamarans, regardless of who made it. CRAM has members that live near Columbus and attend all the CRAM regattas. CRAM's website is websitemagic dot com/cram. There are others on this forum that can tell you where to find out what the Hobie Fleet in New York is up to (Pat Bisesi, Matt Bounds, Tigerboy 1).