Which Skiff....

Yawn.

Matt it is different. 

Yes Cats are easy to sail badly. 

There are a different set of skills.  As cats are more stable in heel, balancing the boat becomes easier (but still critical) and so other areas can have more focus - sail (and fore aft) trim for example, it is possible for the crew to have the mainsail (a la 49er and other skiffs) but the helm will be playing with mast rotation/downhaul and traveller as they are spending less time trying to stay on the boat and so can do other things.

Also going so fast needs more time with your head out of the boat to check whats around you.  I could go on and on and on...  But I wont.

Matt, my reason for suggesting a cat is that Blobby's son is only seven and putting the lad in a skiff at that age with no experience is a bit to much of a jump (IMHO) otherwise I would agree with you entirely!!  

Cats make people lazy in terms of balance (having said that cat sailors in skiffs is possibly the funniest thing you will ever see so maybe they have their uses). 

Originally posted by Harry44981! Yeh iprefer the the chaotic boat on boat in fleets of small singlehanders that are otherwise pretty bland. eg:topper, opppie , laser. In an ideal world you'd have a fast cat and skiff to mess about in as well!

You're spot on, some of the best racing is in the slowest boats - look at the size of Enterprise fleets. I don't think many people sail them 'for the buzz'.

Are you sure about the transition thing? I find lighter wind stuff (when you come in and out on the wire a lot) quite tiring and gives me backache because the Contender has a raised cockpit and you almost lie rather than sit in it. That's one reason Hornets have moved away from crewdecks towards full depth cockpits. It's different for boats you don't spend much time on the deck (like some skiffs I guess) but I would have thought a 420 was easier (if more cramped!). What I'm saying is the rule isn't true for all Skiffs.

My solution would be to buy a Contender each

Bearing in mind geography and the desire to build a fleet I think AUS rules Cherubs have to be a pretty good call for you.

- locally even home buildable or import from AUS/NZ
- no materials/supplier restrictions so you can use what suppliers you like.
- moderate size rig and small light hull keeps the cost down
- no worries about design ownership/royalyies and the like except on the hull shape.

you don't even need to be concerned about not being one design because the AUS rules space is very stable and the boats have hardly changed shape in years. You could always agree to build to a single hull shape for now anyway.