hi there... looking to get into cat sailing... L.A. area, coastal sailing, barley ever lake sailing... which cat is best for mainly single hand sailing, but once in a while take a friend a long ? my wheight is 145lbs...

thanks

Taipan 4.9 was specifically designed to sail solo as a cat rig or sloop with crew.

I agree with Eric. I weigh the same as you do and I sail the Taipan 4.9 uni rigged most of the time. If the winds are light and I want a workout, I throw the spinnaker up. If it gets too windy, I find crew and put the jib on. The boat is very versatile. The boat is light too (about 230 lbs rigged) so it is easy to setup by yourself. If you sail by yourself, though, you will need to bring a water bag with you so if you capsize, you can right the boat by yourself. The boat is easy to right if there are two.

Jennifer Lindsay
Taipan 4.9 #262

Lots of boats are great for single handing. Of course unirigs like the H17 and A-class boats are superb, but I used to sail a TheMightyHobie18 and now sail my Tornado nearly all the time by myself. I sail out of Ventura, CA. Did a 45 mile race around Anacapa singlehanded last saturday...3 hrs & 17 min. flat! Could have done better with a crew as the winds were up and I was working to keep her down in the gusts...but it was great fun!

If sailing with one person, how would it handle a 210lb skipper?

Heya Filmgrip! How about furnishing some more information that would make it easier for us to give you a detailed answer? What price range? Exactly were in L.A. will you be primarily sailing?

There is a big (wind) difference between sailing in Marina Del Rey and sailing at (Hurrican Gulch) San Pedro!

I am a solo sailor in MDR.

GARY

Have you looked at the Cheshire catamaran? It's from the makers of the Isotope

Cheshire is not for "coastal" sailing.

Hey Mike

I have a problem living in South Africa that we have a very limited choice in boats and I am not a big Hobie 16 fan. I would love to get hold a Hobie FX one but they are way to expensive to import. With that in mind, I was interested in you using a Tornado single handedly. Do you use a square top sail (New Rig)? Do you sail your Tornado with just the Main? Jib? Spinaker? How do you find it for trailoring?

Cheers,
Michael

Gary... knowing that the H17sport is close to 10K, i expect to spend close to 15K with trailer, support equipment, lessons etc...

sailing area would be depending on local support and new found friends to sail with... i live in pasadena and would plan to store the boat "off water", so any area in L.A. would be considered for me to be a sailing site...

i know san pedro quite well since i do windsurf there on and off... and it does really get windy there

what do you solo sail ? i am really starting to like the H17... and hobiecat just seems to have a great following and support (stores etc...)

If you're going to spend 15k, go ahead and skip over the 17 and go right for the FX-1

I still use the older sail (Pinhead), but that's just because I have not found a good set of used Square tops yet. No spinnaker (yet!). The new rig with the self tacking jib will only make singlehanding easier. I've always found the Tornado is quite easy to depower to a point where it can be handled in 15-20 knots of wind by a single person. Of course, this is not something I'd recommend for a novice, but it is manageable. I sail with both main & jib until the winds gets too much. I then usually drop the main and stow it under the tramp footstraps and sail under jib alone. She handles very nicely and can still hit 10+ knots in a good wind with just the jib. Of course tacking becomes quite difficult, but you can always gybe it very easily and take the long way around to the other windward tack.
I keep my boat in a drysail area with mast up so I can take her out whenever I want. Raising the mast, even with a helper is always a an effort. So much so that it would quickly become a good excuse not to go for a sail.

Flmgrip,

I am sorry that you did not know about the get-together that we had in Oxnard this past weekend. I was there, so was "Tornado."

If you think that a $10K purchase is going to lead to an additional $5K in extras, then you must be trying to "bait" somebody here.

If you want to sail some cats in this area to learn about what is right for you, then just say so. There are many catamaran enthusiasts who would be happy to introduce you to this sport and to some of the boats that are available (used) in this area.

If you are buying a brand new boat, then I would agree with Eric, Jennifer, and others that the Taipan seems liek a nice boat. But with the manufacturer of the Nacra F18, and the Inter 17 sitting right here in your back yard, it seems silly to go elsewhere.

I drive a Mystere 6.0 and at times I feel a little silly for doing so when the manufacturer of the Inter 20 is just down the street (freeway) from me.

GARY

>>>If you are buying a brand new boat, then I would agree with Eric, Jennifer, and others that the Taipan seems liek a nice boat. But with the manufacturer of the Nacra F18, and the Inter 17 sitting right here in your back yard, it seems silly to go elsewhere.



I was/am in a similar situation as Hobie Gary; when I decided to go for a Foreign design (F16 based on the Taipan platform) I could practically walk to the European Importer of an american build productline and who doubles as the biggest cat dealor in Europe. The dealor of the French branch of a world famous brandname was only a 15 minute drive away. Both provide a big support base with all parts in stock and both wanted to sell their newly designed singlehanders alot.

Where is this leading to ? Well, my platform is now approaching completion (platform is sitting on the beach) and it contains alot of parts from Australia and the it has fittings from all over he world. Example ; My pintles come from Italy (Vidana) and my blocks from the USA (Harken). My "tapered" mainsail sheet is made by a German company.

Not to long ago I discoverd the sad sad truth that my 2 carbon rudderboards / 2 carbon rudder stocks, 2 carbon tiller arms and 1 Kevlar-carbon crossbar and 1 carbon / kevlar joystick put together ARE

-1- CHEAPER than two Prindle 16 rudderboards and their alu stocks. (That is without the joystick and alu crossbar and alu tillers)
-2- LIGHTER than only one Prindle 16 rudder and stock. Ergo the setup weights less than 40 % than that of the P16.
-3- Feels a whole lot stronger, but then again the Prindle stocks are not to be considered a benchmark for break resistance.

The same applied to the daggerboards and mast. To give you an example. We measured the Taipan mast when fully fitted and it was 15,5 kg's, Its direct competition came in at 20 kg's. Even the carbon option of one alternative singlehander was still heavier than the alu Taipan mast. Cost ? I paid 880 Euro's (= 900 USD) for the mast section including taxes, import and shipping from Australia. With the fittings I will have paid some 1750 Euro's. A new mast for one of the others comes in around 2500 Euro's.


I admit that I didn;t know these details when I decided to go for a foreign boat over the ones offered by the nearby dealors; I choose it for different reasons, mainly the way I plan to use it. But had I know then what I know now than I would most definately not even have gone throught the efforts of test sailing all designs to see which one fitted me best. Why would I not save a good buck on a boat that even then is still fitted out much better (carbon-kevlar !) than the others ?

I also admit the prices for the rudder setup of the Prindle are remarkable dear overhere. Which brings me to my second point. Okay the dealors are near to me and I can drive there on every day I want and get replacement parts immediately. But I will pay significantly for this luxury. Or I can order a replacement part at the various contacts and Fedex it to me within a few days and save again some significant amount of money on the purchase. That is if the part ever breaks and can not be replaced by a part source locally (part like blocks, pullies, line, tubing for booms and spi poles etc). With my ruddersetup I can even order a spare system right now and still only equal the cost of only one setyp of the competition. Talking about immediate available replacement.

So I agree with HobieGary that a dealor which is near to you is a good argument for that particular product. It definately is, but on the other hand, both cost and quality are two other very convincing considerations of at least the same magnitude and now I've seen the parts in real life I can tell you that for me both of these heavily outweight the fact that I'm only an extremely short distance away from both alternative product dealors.

Rudder slop; I don't even know what that is anymore.

Wouter

It sounds like you have the money to spend on a new boat. For others who don't want to spend that kind of money on a boat, I love my Nacra 5.5SL for single-handing or with two and would recommend it if you can find a used one.

I wrote my opinions as a buyers guide on the Nacra 5.5SL and posted them at nacramania.com

when i have some more time i will take you (or others)definiatly up on the offer of taking a test ride...

i apologize about my qoute on $5k extra... sure did not mean to bait anyone... i should have included that would include a trailer, trailer hitch, lifewests, trapeze gear, rightening system, mama bob etc... and last some more sailing lessons... i hope that clears that up

sorry for the bad spelling, but i am a tad in a hurry

Lucky for us, there are lots of great boats available right now, both new and used.

Ultimately, a test sail is the best way to find what is going to meet your needs. Before I bought my boat, I sailed several different cats. It took some doing, though. Since we live out here in the land of Hobies and Nacras, they were easy to find a ride on. Some of the other makes weren't as easy--I ended up finding a way to check out the Taipan while I was on a business trip in Florida.

If you'd like to check out and sail the Taipan 4.9 (uni, sloop, with spin--whatever configuration), let me know. I'll send you a personal message with my contact information.

Flmgrip, I think that I have seen more support for the T4.7 being the best solo/duo boat than I have seen for any other cat. You've got at least two people here on this thread who sail them and say so; then there's the Forum's owner Rick White who sails the same thing as I understand it.

Eric, If your offer extends to the rest of us, I'd love to take you up on your offer. Please also accept my invitation to come to MDR for an outing on the Mystere sometime.

GARY

Absolutely, I'd be happy sail with anyone interested. I'm in Fresno. I sail the lakes around here (Huntington or Millerton) or on the coast (eg Avila Beach, now of shark attack fame) or in the SF Bay area, where I grew up. I haven't sailed much in So. Cal. yet. I've been to MDR but not sailed there--I'll let you know if I'm headed that way.

Rgds,

thanks guys for all the good info and invites as soon as my schedule clears up i will touch base and hopefully get in touch...

gary you as a "local" :
do you know of any sailing schools ? is this any good ? : http://www.recreation.ucla.edu/OAHome/Sailing/Sailingintro.htm

where and how do you store your boat (and costs involved...)

thanks again

dietmar