How hard is a Skiff

go for it.  sailing a fast boat has a lot of things that make it easier - a slow bicycle race is difficult.  however the crashes tend to be more frequent and bigger in a skiff.  if you have the enthusiasm and the time then you can go straight for a skiff or a skiff style boat, particularly if you already understand the rudiments of what you are trying to do.  hope it works out for you.

Lighter people can get out on the wire sooner and then get their weight forward. Sinking the stern is fairly easy on a Vortex and with all the shrouds and lowers and non-adjustable tiller, it's awkward for taller and heavier people to get suitably far forward while inboard.

The mainsail is also very easy to depower and the top of the mast is tapered so it's quite whippy anyway. You can tighten the lowers to get max power but it's still a lighter person's boat. Don't know about 12 stone being the max. Hector's nearer 10 stone.

I sailed Lasers for 15years and never got bored. I did get fit, learnt masses about tactics, boat speed, boat handling and big fleets, made lifelong freinds and generally had a great time. I did do other things in amongst and eventually took on another challenge that demanded all my spare sailing time. Even now I occasionally think about doing another Laser event - World masters In Australia in February sounds good!

Turnturtles comment together with Simsy's sum it up perfectly for me.

EDIT Worth mentioning that both Sten and Ian Trotter were on the same Northern Laser circuit as me -  seems it was a pretty good foundation for their Skiff sailing 'careers'.