first-time cat

Hi all.  My girlfriend has been sailing for nearly a year and is urging me to buy a cat for us.  I'm a windsurfer by choice although I do sail as well and love cat sailing on holiday.  We've only ever used Dart 16s before but they were enough to get her hooked .  Having looked around on the 'net I think that the Hobie Twixxy ticks a lot of our boxes, being small enough for Mandy to handle on her own, tough enough to be "beach-proof" and reasonably priced. 

Does anyone here own one?  What do you think of it?  And does anyone else have any alternative suggestions? 

Any comments appreciated.  Cheers. 

J.

Jaycb

Hi you don’t say where you have sailed the cat before or where you will be intending to sail one from more importantly?

The boats sailed at clubs are usually sailed for a reason such as the launching difficulties or the seas/tides encountered. Not usually worth trying to reinvent the wheel, sail the same as most people sail at your home club, that way you will get loads of free help and advice (sometimes too much!)

I would say that it is worth buying something that you are able to grow into, cats like windsurfer are about speed not worth getting something that only goes slow!

Dart 18 are good beginner boats and have a big active Association, easy to rig and sail, many are sailed with or by children.

Hurricane 59’s can be picked up cheep they are bigger but better sailing boats, especially on the sea and in tides, they also have a good active Association and lots are sailed very competitively male/female. They also have an option to fit a spinnaker as your skills improve for even more adrenalin.

It is important to get a boat with a good active Association as then when you progress you have the option to travel to racing events or national championships that are organised by the Associations along with good social events sometimes also Associations organise training events at little or no cost.

Worth going on these Association websites most have boats for sail and what is offered in the coming season, links are all on the Y&Y cat classes page.

Hope you find the boat/Association to suit you, then I doubt you will want to windsurf alone as much.

Thanks for advice guys.  I guess Dave's point is one of the most important - my girlfriend will need to be able to right it on her own, but at the same time we'll probably want to sail together sometimes.  We're not going to be racing, just recreational sailing really.  It sounds like you're all saying the Twixxy is too small/slow so maybe I'll try to get a second-hand Dart 16 or 18.  I saw a Hurricane 4.9 for sail recently - are they any good? 

Port End - we've sailed in Turkey previously and as for sailing in this country, would like to join a club on the south coast (so lots of pebbles/shingle and steep shelves at high tide) although I've not ruled out the idea of trailer sailing and keeping the boat in a lock-up garage.   

I was going to mention the Sprint15 but I knew Bob would pop up sooner or later!

The Sprint 15 is an excellent little boat and if you check their website you'll see a map of the south coat with active S15 fleets. I seem to recall there being S15s at Hayling Island which would perhaps suit you both but no such luck! Try the Open Dinghy club, close to Worthing.

Otherwise infallible, I would take issue with Bob on the manouevring of a D16 around a the boat park. It is light enough for all but the very smallest.

(Actually any cat is easy if the trolley is in the right place as it balances itself. Only problem is going over bumps and uphill. Kepp the tyre well pumped)