I presently sail a P-19 & enjoy it very much .The Boat is a power
house & lots of fun when I have crew ,BUT, there are too many days
when I want to sail but can't
because I can't get crew . I know if I sail solo & capsize I will not
be able to
solo right the boat! I am looking for a cat that I can solo
sail ,right it solo when I capsize & be able to sail with crew when
they are available .
I need a cat that has one sail for solo(plus a spinnaker) & 2 sails ,
spinnaker for the days I have crew .
Anyone have a recommendation for the perfect cat for my needs ?? I
weigh 180lbs & my crew will be about the same weight. Please advise .
thanks ,Bill

Well you can get an fx-1 that fits that bill. Single handed boat you can ad the self tacking jib, and its spin rigged. Other than that a f-16 would fit the requirements. Or get a righting bag or pole and a f-18 with the furling jib when you want to single hand.

As rich says; an FX one would be an option, but an F16 offers more flexability. Where are you based?; there might be some local F16's.

Bill,
I've owned a few 19s and have to agree with you they are a blast to sail! But if a spinnaker is what you now prefer, try an F18 with a righting pole for single handed sailing. There are a lot of boats out there that simply cannot carry your 2-up crew weight without over stressing the hulls. At 360 crew weight plus, the F18 will really scoot and the 2 of you will smile all day !!! This is just my opinion from what you describe. There are a lot of pics from the recent NAF18 event.

Happy Holidays,
Bob

Simon said the F16 is more flexability but I disagree. The Fx1 can use just a main, or add a jib, and add with spin. Plus you can add the wing seats, very flexable boat. Still the F16 is a good option. Talk with Rick White as he sails a Wave with spin. A boat I am having a lot of fun with is the Hobie Bravo as its fast in light air and just down right fun to sail and race (but does not have a jib and spin option). Anyways just my 2 cent perspective.

F16 is my choice, obviously. Your 1-up weight of 180 is near optimum, but 360 2-up is near the max.

I used to single hand my TheMightyHobie18 magnum in winds up to 10-12. Have you considered putting wings on the P19?

If you like the boat then why don't have a smaller main made or find one to cut down. Less roach. Buy a righting pole and sail happily ever after???

or buy a righting bag?

What Bob, no F17 suggestion?

A boat that can handle two people, or singlehand. Can be rigged as a uni, sloop, plus a spinnaker. You've pretty much got the FXone, Nacra F17, and F16 for options.

Also if you go with the f-18 there is a small main already available for single handing days. Just tell them you want a light weight crew cut main.
And the furling jib can be found for most f-18's used as most serious racers have gonr to the battened jib.

There is?

no

small jib and kite for light crews

I have always thought it would be nice to have all mainsails reefable and all jibs furlable, so you can reduce sail area and lower center of effort as necessary for the conditions -- especially when you are "cruising" or singlehanding.

And it doesn't seem like it would cost that much to have grommet reef points put in on mains.

But I have a question: If you have the sail reefed way down and you STILL capsize, would it be harder to right the boat with less sail area for the wind to help you right it?

Sorry I was thinking kite and said main.
Wow these are good pain killers.

It would still be easier to right Mary.

when the boat is on its side the equation is simple. your weight trying to right the boat vs the weight of the rig. Reducing the size of the sail probably does not make that much difference when dry, but a wet sail weighs a lot more. even if its just surface tension.

the further away from the balance point you go the more leverage you have. A taller rig will weigh more than a shorter one even if they are the same weigh on dry land.

I have thought about a storm rig many times and the one thing that stops me is that if you need a small sail to be able to go out then its too windy and should not be on the water anyway.

Dazz,
I see the logic in your arguement against sailing when it's blowing hard enough to need a smaller sail(s). But I wanna go sailing at every possible opportunity, as we suffer here from a lot of high pressure/lite air in the summer. And I like the challenge of mastering a boat in 20+ knts of wind. And I like the the idea of a main with a shorter luff(and foot), with a 2 or 3' tether from the masthead hook to the head. My concern is that the new, lower head will want to pull out of the luff groove when the main is sheeted in hard. Seems like I need a strop of some sort wrapping around the mast, through the headboard, cinched tight, to resist the aftward forces acting on the headboard, that are normally handled by the hook at the masthead.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd really like to try an A cat main on my HT, but it's an expensive carbon mast, don't want any surprises. Foolish to try?

Dave

Hey Dave

It would be very unlikely for the sail to pull out of the mast. bear in mind the majority of the load comes from the downhaul that is pulling vertically.

the main challenge in the setup with be getting the ring unhooked! without the sail headboard twisting the mast wont do anything.

I have read about guys with this setup and they run two halyards, one to the top of the ring and another to the lower side. the idea is to use the second halyard to flick the hook out.

Does not need to be much, a 2mm line should be heaps.

HTH

Not entirely correct. The new wing masts on the Infusion had some problems with this from what I heard. I guess it liked to pull out of the track near the apex of the bend (pre bend). Also when I had my 21SE, I had to put an alluminum track at the top to keep the boltrope from pulling out as well as Calvert installing a 3" long fiberglass rod at the top of the boltrope to keep it in the track while raising the sail. That being said, with some of the pre-bend we run on our rigs, the boltrope can be in danger of pulling if the main is reefed down far enough in the curv of the mast and downhaul is applied. I would assume you are (or would be) using some type of "pig tail ring" to hook up top and can say from first hand experience that it actually unhooks easier than the regular main.

Thanks guys, both the current main, and the A main I'm contemplating using, have the hard plastic tubing for a bolt rope. Does this affect anything? If the luff were to pull out of the track, is there any chance of damaging the mast/ luff groove?
Lee, I can envision the head wanting to pull out if it has descended much into the mast curve. The A sail is 2' shorter in the luff, do I expect to use a 2' tether to the masthead, so I don't think it'll be very far into the curve. I was sort of expecting to just tip the boat over to rig this set up. So connecting the tether, and releasing it would be no problem. And it would then be easy to secure the headboard to the mast with a short piece of vectran.
And the foot of the A main is close to a foot shorter thna the Bim main. Either I continue to sheet from the now substanially forward clew loop, or secure the clew to the boom with an outhaul, and sheet from the aft end of the boom, for a more vertical mainsheet pull. The lightweight aluminum tube(boom) likely wouldn't handle that load. I'm probably in need of a stouter boom for this high wind rig. Or maybe the aftward pull of the mainsheet attached to the clew isn't such a big deal, as I'll be looking for a flat sail for these conditions, and the outhaul forces and reduced mast rotation that this arrangement would produce, might be acceptable.
More opinions? Thanks!

Dave