Book yourself onto an RYA cat course, they teach the basics, how to tack properly, righting the boat, etc, etc. Appart from that, try crewing for a few cat sailors at your club to give you a feel for the difference between sailing a mono and a cat. Big difference changing from a monohull to a cat like the Dart is manouverability and closing speeds. The RYA course should provide you with everything you need to get started, and at the very least, picking up the handbook for the course at your local chandelry will give you a rough idea of how to sail cats. Also might be worth looking at the Hurricane 5.9, they are going really cheaply at the moment and although they are another leap up the scale in performance, personally I prefer the handling of them and know quite a few people who started cat sailing on Hurri's and continue to do so.

The D18 clips together (as opposed to bolts) so make sure that clips and springs are all healthy.

It also relies on trampoline tension to stay "rigid" so make sure the tramp is in good nick.

The D18 is very much an "old school" cat that has largely been superceded by more modern designs like the Spitfire. You may find it difficult to compete successfully in a SCHRS fleet. Skinny bows so it nosedives easily but then so does the Hobie16.

That said, I know of no cat that is simpler to rig, dismantle and tow. Also quite cheap because of the migration to more modern designs. Ideal first cat.

No spinnaker ??????

yes they do , admittedly not very popular at the moment .

Works really well when sailing solo , theres one at our club and he has a hoot with it , competitive too, he wouldn't go back to sailing without one .

{infact come to think of it he was 2006 class champion racing at our club - sailing against , Huricane 5.9s , Hurricane 5.9sx (who was 2nd at 5.9 Nats ) Tornado , A class ,Stealth 18sxl, and other darts in their various guises }

even though

Slight problems with steering  when windy

Check out Dart 18 class association website for lots of info , also chat in forum regarding spinnakers

 1.avoiding pitchpole - don't go out when its windy ! only 100% safe method of avoidance

 2.reduce chance of pitchpole - avoid boats with narrow bows and nae bouyancy up front

3. Fly a kite

4 .Get a cat with wings on its rudders and a kite - worked for me last two yrs , but not as reliable as method 1.

Pichpoling is fun - ribtickling

Well sailed Darts can be competitive in SCHRS fleets , especially when windy

Don't particularily want to blow Dart 18s trumpet , but they are an ideal way to get into cat racing if you don't have a lot of money to spend  and good springboard to move onto high performance cats , easy to sell when you're ready to move on . 

I am told that it is best to keep the D18 on two hulls when windy so as to double the amount of buoyancy. D18 helm's favourite word when communicating with crew is "DUMP". I think refering to jib!

The rudders have a tendency to work their way back from the vertical. This will give BIG weather helm so they need regular attention with a screwdriver and spanner.

My first and only cat has been a Hurricane. I think it is a better behaved boat as it gives you a lot more warning before it does something naughty. The power in a D18 can be a bit on-off-on while the Hurricane is a smoother ride. However, it takes me approx twice as long as a Dart to rig and more grunt to launch and sail. I'm a 90 kilo six footer so have grunt to spare but it is not for everyone.

My only concern with a choice of D18 is racing future. I'm not up to date with the British cat scene but, in Ireland, the class is dead. We have 4 or 5 Darts at the club and none have been sailed for over 12 months. All the competitive lightweights in Ireland have now moved to Spitfires.

the dart kite is crap.  we tryed it and didnt like it as the mast isnt set up as a kite boat so it didnt seem supported. 

the dart website has all the stuff that u need to buy a boat.

when we used to sail one we never capsized it in 3 years.  and we were really pushing it. 

they are good boats to sail but i would also consider a spitfire

as I  hinted above its not so good for two handed , you put it so much better ,

solo fella has his on strop from top of mast , but tethered at hounds , seems to support it reasonably well .

if you think spitfire , think of f16 too .

Thanks for all the advice, i race at Rutland SC and the Dart 18 is very popular, up till 2 years ago they had their own fleet. Im 16 and currently race a Radial because i have problems finding regular crew, so if it works well singlehanded that would be a huge bonus for me.

this is a Dart 18 with a kite i belive, dosnt look like you can rig up the kite at the same time as the jib?

you can and if you look carefully you can see the jib sheet in the picture running parallel to the spin sheet

Dart jibs r tiny and set high , can't see it for spin

If you are going to put kite on it consider also a snuffer rather than launching it from the tramp. Quicker and easier. Of course, this ups your budget some so consider carefully what you want to acheive. If you want cheap cat racing then forget the spinnaker and race the other Darts. If you want a spinnaker cat then you may be better with one designed for spinnaker.

The D18 mast should be able to take the load of a kite as long as you keep the mainsheet tension on.