What/why do you sail the cat you have. Why does that particular model appeal to you?

I have two boats

Hobie 14, it was cheap and is a blast to sail in heavy wind.

Nacra 5.2, My baby right now, she makes a great single hand boat with the ability to take a few people out on it. Also it is fast and pretty competetive for how old it is.

I am planning an upgrade in the next few years to another single hand boat that can carry two. The FX-1 looks cool but I also like the Inter 17, and alot of the F-16's.

Formula 18 Class - big two-up co-ed spinnaker class, many manufacturers and lofts, open to a reasonable amount of innovation, rig it any way you want.

AHPC Capricorn F18 - best build quality I have ever seen, very modern design, demonstrated factory and dealer support.

Wharram Tiki 21: coastal cruiser with offshore
capability. http://www.wharram.com/

Blade F16: ease of operation by 1 person, performance, 1 or 2 racing capability.

Hobie 16

Best fleet size, best mix of people(regattas aren't sausage fests) and some of the best race management I have experienced.

F18 really cool except for the sausage factor.

And another lil boat in pic! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

What gree said about the 14 - cheap fun. It's also a pretty competitive class at the nationals.

What Tommy said about the 16 - co-ed or parent/kid, toughest competition other than the Tornado, big fleets.

F-18 is a hoot, but you've got to have a regular or experienced crew to do well. You go upwind just so you can go offwind.

H-17 is a blast in anything over 10 kts. Good competition, reasonably sized fleets (depending on where you are in the country). Goes downwind just so you can go upwind again. Nothing like trapping off the wings.

Started on a Prindle 16, later added a Prindle 18. Still had the Prindle 16 when I sold the Prindle 18. Then I decided to upgrade and got the first F16 in existance. I had to sell my P16 to pay for the F16, for some reason that never sat right with me although in hintsight it was the best thing to do. Currently Prindle 16's are dying overhere (no spare parts) and the resale prices are ludicrously low. And I'm loving my new boat to bits although the owners of the new models do attract my jalousy !

Attraction of the boats. The P16 was simple and quick to rig and could still be sailed well singlehandedly as well as doublehandedly, including righting it. If I'm ever in the market for such a boat again then I think I will go for the Nacra 500.

The F16 is all of the above but significantly more performant and it has the spinnaker of course. I'm addicted to spinnaker sailing. But the next most important point for me is that I can directly race the F18's and F20's in my club races. With the Prindle 16 you are always in the back of the fleet and even if you have an excellent start you'll be breathing bad air within 5 minutes of the start. It is alot nicer to play alongside all the others.

Wouter

Nacra 20. My total crew weights range from 355 - 450. Local growing fleet with close racing in distance races, open water buoys races, short course buoys races (3 laps in 22 minutes = 4-5 races in an afternoon) and mixed fleet racing in the evening. This past weekend I had 7 kids (5yrs old to 9) on board and towing 2 behind in an three person inflatable.

Love the Blade, but its a little small for CURRENT needs.

Its the Hobie 18 for me. Started on a 16, didn't like the feel. Went to the 18, solid in waves. Decided to go bigger, got a Fox. Found out the Fox was not beach friendly and went back to the 18. I now sail a 18 magnum with SX mast and Tiger sails, I consider it a beach friendly F18.

Wave! Great competitors and lots of big regattas and great fleet racing.
This summer for our series racing at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, we got in 71 races, with every competitor taking an ace. We have 3 world champs and this past year's National and NA champ. Pretty tough competition.
This past winter we got in 60 series races at the Upper Keys Sailing Club in Key Largo.
Again great competition.
This year's event were and will be:
Jan - Tradewinds Midwinter, Key Largo, FL
Aug - North Americans, Put-in-Bay, OH
Aug - East Coast Championships, Sandy Hook, NJ
Oct - Atlantic Coast Championships, Duck, NC
Oct - South Coast Championships, Melbourne, FL
Dec - National Championships, Key Largo, FL
Jan - Tradewinds Midwinters, Key Largo

I also have an F16, but rarely sail it anymore.
While the Wave is not the fastest cat on the market, speed is all relative to your competition.
Rick

Racing - Hobie 20, The biggest racing fleet in our area and top notch competition.
She'll roll along even in light air, very fast up and downwind <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Pleasure - actually more of feeding the need for speed on non race days. Cheap weapon of choice - Hobie 16

life's a reach...


then you gybe

I first tried a cat when I was 16 or 17 in the south of France, riding crew with a member of my club who needed someone with him to go out on a windy day. I was a capable dinghy (420, 470, X4) sailor, but the speed of the H16 bluffed me. It took me another 10 years to finally decide to buy my own boat, and got a $700 Hobie 16. I've always been a recreational dinghy/cat sailor, I never took part in any race, I just had fun screaming on the wire... I sailed my 16 mostly alone on a reservoir, but I got in touch with some other sailors in the SF bay area and done a lot of outing in the bay and in Santa Cruz with crews (Wow! Surf!).

I came back to Europe so sold the H16 and stopped sailing for a while. Last year the bug started to bite again so I looked around, found a sailing club on a reservoir not to far from my home, with a neglected 20yo Nacra 5.2 sitting on the lot. I bought it cheap, and won the summer wednesday evening club championship series with it (Mostly because the other cats neglected to show up regularly. Of the 19 cats which participated only 7 ran enough races to qualify, and as I was the only one with no DNC I won <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. I'm slow upwind, really slow downwind, can't get the thing back up when I capsize it, panic when there is too much wind, but hey, I have fun...

I'd like to get something a little more recent, a F16 would suit me fine, but I sail on the cheap, so anything expensive is a big nono. The Nacra will do for now, until I could find a F16 in my price range (and now Wayne is going to tell me that I can have his Stealth for not too much money and he will give me another ride, and then tell me I should get it...)

For me is is a Formula 18 for the absolute fun factor and the competition.

I would like to address Tom's and Matt's comments though. As far as [color:"green"]"Sausage Fests"[/color] that is the only way to keep from having a "follow the leader" race. Lot's of choices at every rounding. And for the competition on a 16 being the [color:"blue"]"toughest competition other than the Tornado"[/color]. Most Tornado sailors race Formula 18's on a regular basis worldwide. On the West Coast the best competition will be on the 16 when most of the Formula 18 sailors are practicing for the 16 Worlds in Fiji.

Later,
Dan

By "Sausage Fests" I think he means an all male group.

In the Northwest F18/Tiger group we've got a great mix so far. Wifes, daughters, sons, and even Peter Nelson.

If that is what he meant (I was wondering), it's certainly not true in CRAW either. Almost all of our F18s are mixed.

I bought a Hobie 16 because that is what everyone else had.
I think the boat and the manufacturer we prefer has a lot to do with what's going on in your area. We all want to protect our sailing way of life.
The F18's are causing a healthy cross over between groups that once would not get together.
I do feel that the depth of talent is still deeper in the H16 fleets than any other. The F18's are catching up fast.
I had the opportunity to sail a tiger in some wind over Labor day and it was a blast.
It was a bit wavey and I couldn't get it to stay in a groove downwind very long. When it did happen the boat just takes off and I got the perma-grin going.
I also buried the thing up to the cross bar and it popped back up. Also very cool.

I race with my daughter on the 16 and in 2004 when she was 9 years old and weighed 65lbs we made the cut at the Nationals in Syracuse. The cheer she recieved and the smile on her face when they announced her name at the cut party will always be my best sailing memory.

The H16 seems to offer more of those type of opportunities than do the big hi-tech boats.

Dart 18.

It's light (290lbs fully rigged), I can get it off the trailer and set up in 20 minutes by myself, the rudder design is a thing of beauty, no boards to mess with (skeg design), and most importantly - no boom, which means I can tie a larger cooler to the mast.

Oh, and the boat absolutely loves heavy air.

The reason I started this thread was that I sold my H16 over the weekend and I'm having a bit of sellers remorse. It got a decent price for it but just can't get rid of the nagging feeling that I shouldn't have sold it. I might have been trying to see if what others saw in their boats is what I saw in my 16. When I sold my H14 last month there was no remorse. I hated that boat. Only fun in really big wind, and then it is really hard to keep it upright.

Now I'm on a Hobie FX-one. Its just a super cool boat. The things that drew me to it were that it is a single hand boat, but can still take out two people easily. It has a spinnaker, which is just a mix of fun and fear, and wings. I love wings. No more T-bagging, you stay alot drier than you would standing on a hull, and when you're twig skinny like I am, (6'2"/155lbs) leverage is a good thing.

WOW! You could almost stand in for a mast! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Fast Is Fun! F18 Long Beach Ca.