All, I’m looking at getting into cat sailing. I’m 5’6” and about 195lbs. I grew up sailing monos in high school and raced in my college days. I currently live in Northern Virginia and will be looking at sailing on the Potomac River. I’m looking for a boat that can be single handed relatively easily, and would be expecting on taking a crew every once in a while. While I would like to get into racing, I think finding a local fleet is complicated by the fact that I move about every four years, so it is looking like I will be handicap racing for some time. I’ve narrowed down my selection to a H16, or NACRA 500. I was possibly thinking on single handing a F16, however, I figured that would be a bad idea without initially getting familiar with multi-hull sailing. I just wanted some input from folks. Any thoughts?
Prindle16 better than hobie 16 both less expensive than nacra 500
Hobie 16. Fun and easy solo if you're around 175-220 lbs, tons of spare parts everywhere ( not to mention it's still in production ) It's light weight, fast and there's more Hobie 16 sailors out there than all other brands of 16' catamarans combined. Class legal and open class friendly if you get into racing.
Edited by fxloop on May 08, 2014 - 07:37 AM.
For racing purposes, the Hobie 16 is your best choice.
macbeans,
i've never sailed on a river. just curious.....if you capsize or pitchpole on a river, and it takes 10-15 min. to right the cat, where would you end up down river? 😕
j
I have a Prindle 18 that I solo but I weight in at about 240. I sail out of a Marina near Annapolis if you would want to go out on the Prindle and try it out. If so just drop me a line and we can make arrangements. If you want to go anytime in May you would need a wetsuit. You will love sailing a cat over a monohull.
macbeans wrote: I’m looking for a boat that can be single handed relatively easily, and would be expecting on taking a crew every once in a while.
Prindle 16
Nacra 5.2, 5.0 (and others in the 16 foot-ish range)
Hobie 16
It really boils down to what is available close to you.
One caveat- if you think you will sail down the river into the ocean, avoid the H16. Not enough flotation in the hulls so lots of pitichpoling (capsize) in the waves. They are still making them, but it is a 50 year old design. Some of the west coast races do not allow cats under 18 feet due to events involving the H16. I know this sounds confusing because the H16 was designed in California, but better design is why Prindles and NACRAs exist.