Thinking of moving to Cats

Hello Steve H,

I commend the posts to your thread especially those from Tornado 435, J Alani and Sprint Bob. I am an active Sprint 15 sailor at Thorpe Bay where we also have other cats ranging from a couple of Tornados to the Sprints. At the moment, we discern the Dart 16s and 18s to be in decline. We have Spitfires and a Shadow, but they are too expensive as starting boats. If you are new to cat sailing, you wouldn't be over-awed by a Sprint.

I am 12+ stones, and feel underweight. And I don't think big hairy blokes are disadvantaged. I know plenty who regularly thrash me!

You mention your eight year old son. Just you wait and see how he takes to it! In no time, he will want to grab the tiller from you and go trapezing around the estuary.

Whilst I am keen to promote Sprinting at Thorpe Bay, I have to say that Leigh SC are good friends of ours. I am as eager to promote the Sprints at Leigh or Marconi on the Blackwater. You will be made welcome wherever you decide to go. And we all see each other at TT events.

There is currently a Sprint 15 for sale at Leigh SC, by Rick Bakewell, who is also a friend. I recommend you take a look the the Sprint 15 website for details. Its my favourite site!

Soggy Doggie.

..................a very small following.

My error in editing the message before sending it. I wondered what had happened to you John, since our exchange on the Sprint 15 chat page in September. How was it at Datchet?

Hi Steve,

The Sprint 15 (ex Dart 15) is ideally suited to single handed sailing and sailing 2 up with a junior (8-15). It can be fun sailed with 2 full adults but is not competitive if raced with 2 full adults (so if this is going to be a big problem go with the Dart 18).  It is light to handle on shore and can be sailed with or without a crew on the same PY (just add the jib). It is easily righted from a capsize single handed (not true of the Dart 16 or the Dart 18 - which also needs use of the trapeze for both single handed sailing or 2 up sailing). In it's standard format the Sprint 15 is sailed without the trapeze but in the Sport mode it can be sailed with trapeze & jib and it forms a stable platform to learn trapezing.

The class the UKs second biggest catamaran class is very active and friendly. It is a good idea to look at the web sites to gauge the activity levels and friendliness of the various classes. Some of them are

www.sprint15.com

www.dart18.com

www.dart16.com

www.catamaran.co.uk   has many more links

There are big fleets of Sprint 15s at Thorpe Bay Sailing Club & Marconi Sailing Club which are near you - so if you are interested go along one Sunday and have a chat with them.

The class also sets up for demonstration rides for anone who is interested.

Best of luck

Bob (Sprint 15 events secretary)

PS the Catapult is in the death throws and is no longer available new. It is only a single handed boat with one sail and

You'll have to search pretty hard to find those 'brains' (according to my wife, that is!) but sure, mine's an IPA!!

You can SAIL any catamaran without a trapeze. But to get the best out of the design you do need a trap, if the boat was designed to use one (or two). Cats without traps as normal are: Catapult (it wouldn't be my choice), Hobie Wave, Hobie 14, Dart 15, Topcat 15, Prindle 15. The last 4 can all have traps fitted (and most of them have). IMO the Dart/Sprint 15 is the pick of the bunch.

You should also consider the Hobie Twixxy and Dragoon designs. Both have the potential to be sailed solo with main only, main and jib, or main, jib and spin. Both have single and twin trap options. So you start off with the basics and build as your ability/confidence improves (which should only take half a dozen or so outings). There would be nothing worse than buying an underpowered boat and then outgrowing it in a few weeks.

Steve at 15 stone you'd be very disappointed with all of the smaller cats. Weight is a real cat-killer, so you need to factor this in when deciding on a preferred design. All of these 14-15ft designs are aimed at the 60-110Kg range all up. So as soon as you put two people on one, youre' close to maxxing out on the boat and need to be aware of that. The boat will still sail quite well in a good breeze, but could go faster with less weight and still be easily handled.

I'd certainly consider a Dart 18 or a 16 as alternatives. Also pretty much any of the older design cats up to 18ft. You won't initially find the lack of a trapeze to be a problem. You just back-off a bit! Later you can start trapping and getting the best from the boat.

If you're prepared to do a bit of ongoing maintenance, you should also consider much older boats like the Condor, Hurricane 4.9, (same boat), Hydra, Mystere etc.