Looking for single hander

[joe the chicken]

Hey Guys,

Looking at moving to the dark side (so I'm told from skiffs to cats), so I am interested in any suggestions for single handed cats, just trying to avoid the hassles of finding reliable crew each week. I weigh just over 100kg and would be racing on Lake Macquarie. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[korwich]

If you are going to race on Lake Maq I would suggest either a windrush super sloop, maricat cat rigged or super sloop, or a paper tiger. Depends a bit on how much you want to spend, and how serious you are going to get. These 3 classes are raced in numbers on lake Maq, but they do race Arrows at speers point with a reasonable fleet though t I don't know how 100kgs would go on one of them. The others are raced with a fair fleet at Mannering Park.

Phil

[tonyquoll]

Good move! Flying the hull on a cat is such fun. Agree with Phil; race what is popular there and as a Paper Tiger sailor, of course I say they're the best. On the other hand a bigger cat with bigger sail might suit your weight better and provide even faster speed thrills, thinking Taipan. It'd be worth dropping by the club on race day and seeing of you can get a test sail.

[bad dog]

Hey Joe,

Don't be chicken of checking out the A Class - a bit more cash than a PT et al, but then you are looking at a current development fleet rather than a 30+ y.o. one design (don't get me wrong PT sailors - it was my first cat and I loved it). Lie they said - depends how much you want to spend. An A-cat of up to 5 years will cost up to $20k, 5-10 yrs less than $10k pending condition. I just bought a 10 y.o. Boyer Mk4 from tassie for $3k landed in NSW. Needed a bit of work but no big deal. Look at the class classifieds: http://www.a-cat.org.au/classifieds4sale.html

[Coremeister 2]

You could also try one of the Nacra Classes that are single handers

14sq - Not many about anymore but still a quick 14ft boat, cheap to buy if you find one, at 100kg you may be a bit heavy for it.

16sq- Plenty about in every state, depending on budget can find a suitable boat, they stay competative for along time (mine is 20yrs old this year and is the current National Champ). Can be setup to cater for almost any weight from 50kg to 120kg (Scott was National Champ in 2008 at over 100kg). Good re-sale value as there are always people looking for 2nd hand boats.

18sq - Very scarse these days (you occasional spot one on e-bay), they have'nt been made fora good number of years so the ones that show up usually need a fair bit of work, awsome to sail at 18ft long x 10ft wide they are very powerfull, on the down side you have to either dismantle them or tow them on a tilt trailer due to the width, on the plus side if you find one most of the parts will match the current Nacras so will be easy to fixup.

430- Newest Nacra Class that can be sailed single handed - you have the option of Cat Rigged, Sloop Rigged and can be sailed with a kite if you want. On the down side as they have only been out since earlier this year you will not find a secondhand one yet.

4.5- Plenty of new and used boats about, very strong classes in North Qld and Nortern NSW, can be sailed one up or with a small crew, good re-sale value as people are always looking for good second hand boats.

I17 - Not many about but they do have a few in North QLD, versitle boat that can be sailed one up or two up without a lot of modifications.

These Nacras are built in Brisbane so parts and service are readily available and the guys at Bris Cat Centre are always happy to talk about their range of boats.

This is in no way ment to be putting down the suggestions already on this thread, there are many options open to you depending on your specific needs and budget, as well as the Nacras mentioned you also have, Taipan, A Class, Arrow, Paper Tiger, Mari Cat, Windrush, Hobie, Alpha Omega (appologies if I left anyone out).

[tonyquoll]

Arguing against the idea that any type of cat would be good; those plastic moulded boats are not racing boats! I feel sorry for people trying to steer one of those centreboard-less, heavy things around a course. Might as well make raft out of wheelie bins and hold up an umbrella for a sail.

Maybe consider the yardsticks as a guide: http://www.yachte.com.au/resources/yardstick-cat.asp

Smaller number = faster boat. If it's not on the list; don't put it on your list! That ought to eliminate the resort craft.

Nacra 14 square is not 14' long; it has a 14 meter square sail area. Dad has one and loves it, but it's taken a few years of hassling at every regatta we go to, to have it included in the smaller cats division. The reality is that it races well with 14' cats, but the yardstick of 84.5 puts it in the big cats division with A-class, Taipans, Nacra 5.8 etc who leave it far behind. For regatta organiser's; it's great when you have an "under 15 foot" division, rather than splitting on yardstick.

[korwich]

As I said before, look for a boat that is sailed in a reasonable fleet where you plan to sail (lake maq). The people to call would be Darcy at Mannnering park 02 4359 1729 or Mick at Tanilba Bay 0419999785. They will know where to get good boat at a decent price. All the other boats mentioned although good boats are not sailed in any numbers around Lake Maq, therefore if you are having problems with anything, the pool of knowledge to recify the problem is going to be rather small in this area. Yes you can turn to the internet, but there is nothing to beat getting a good sailer who knows your class to go for a run with you and can bang "this is the problem", and here is how you fix it.

Phil

[darcy1945]

Joe, there are a couple of very good boats for sale by Mannering Park club members at the moment, Windy S/S bulkhead race ready, Mari cat rig race ready on reg trlr, our fleet is mixed 4m to 5.8m with the 4.3 fleet being probably one of the most competitive in Aus, our single handers are 14/16, Windy, Mari, P/Tiger, Nacra 4.3 and Mosquito, I sail a $1500 cat rig Mari at 100 kg and never to far behind the $10-$12k foamies, call 43591729