you would be competitive in any cat , the day of lardy bouy supremacy (if it ever existed ) is over , with modern sails /rigs , multipurchase downhauls etc , the "lightweights" can depower upwind and keep up with the lardy butts and then fly away offwind , enjoy your choosing the worlds your oyster

get yourself an infusion (f18) , Tornado , Spitfire , F16 , 5.9sx , get youself down to grafham in october ,to see the variety on offer , a well attended event with a high quality fleet , and plenty lugs to chew !

am jealous

Yes, get down to Grafham and have a look.

Also your dad can watch the Rugby world cup on the TV in the bar as we have a late bar too

Sailing cats is more to do with skill than lard.

I would think at 19 stone you would be fine. 

Hi sailor 420, I suggest you have a try on the Nacra 500s, great little boat, perfect for your weight and experience, very quick for its size to.

Give me a call, 07900443538   Grant Piggott

Yeah ive seen tests etc of this boat and it seems really good! What PY do they sail off? Also can this boat be sailed by juniors. Is it in the same league as the new dart 16?

Thanks

I think the Nacra 500. Having looked at one the othere weekend. Was impressed by the kit list.

Its a lot of boat for the money...my opinion but much better value than some of its competitors.

The best option is the Nacra 500, with or with spi. A super boat.

have a trial sail in a Spitfire and any other you fancy, contact the class associations to arrange.

Thats what we did !

Speak to Nacra UK , Mr Piggott for a test sail on the Nacra 500.

However, make sure you test all the boats you like.

ive sailed an SL, good boat,

needs controls sorting to make it better.

pitchpoled several times

I prefer a cat with boards like Spitfire, climbs upwind much better.

Yeah is the SL16 a youth boat? Out of the Spitfire 500 and SL16 which would be the hardest to pitchpole. Also whats the lowest i could go with crew weight?

Thanks again!

Sailor_420,

Don't get too obsessed with Pitchpoling, yes, it happens, treat it like a right of passage !

If you are really looking for a non-pitchpoling platform, toy need a long boat or a boat with T foils.  Bet even these will go eventually !

There may be the odd Stealth F16 floating around, or maybe an old Stealth R (which would be cheaper as it is not a fully optimised F16).  Both come with T's as standard.  

Hey Scooby you love your T-Foils!!!!!

Sailor_420 Sccoby is right pitchpoling is one of those things you do...... Seen spitfires pitchpole like the best of them, just go to youtube!!!!

I do indeed, they are the Dogs bits !

he's right , sailed with t foils for 2 1/2 full seasons in ALL winds , theys the "cats Nadgers " not even a near pitchpole . as Scooby says though it aint garaunteed , only garauntees in life are  taxes and ending up toes up !

but like folks say pitchpoling dont happen that often , nothing like the frequency of mono capsizing , just usually puts an end to your competitive  race in a cat , because of time to get back up relative to the speed your oppos are travelling at .

If as you say the cats you saw were sailing in force 8 to 9 gusts !!!!!! I'm suprised they were even attached to the water long enough to pitch pole F8 - 9 would see most boats being blown across the water like tumbleweed , I wouldn't worry about performance in these conditions , you will rarely if ever get caught in them

Don't let pitchpoling put you off , modern skiffs go "down the mine " a lot more frequently than modern cats and its all part of the game

Oh good. Which cat would be the best for a youth team aswel. Because occasionally i sail with someone whos about 60 kgs making us 110 all up. (almost every junior at my club sails on the laser or oppy circuit so no time for 420s etc). Also would a cat be good as a starter to 2 wire sailing?

Thanks.

Spitfire is longer and will be harder to pitch than the SL, havnt tried the 500 but the hulls look like they have a lot of volume which helps.

dont worry about going down the mine, when you are used to your boat you may then start going out in winds where it could happen, but by then it wont worry you

more important is where and who you sail against and cost / resale etc.

as your skill improves you can manage with less weight, there are some very light Tornado crews!

you will love the dark side

well the SL is the next youth cat and therefore better for youth events I guess.

You will not find a better intro to twin wiring than a cat, they do not punish mistakes as much as a skiff and even the unfit of us look good

Are you sure??  The spitfire is 16ft long, and by the name so is the SL16.  There may be a difference in length but it will be negligible.
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SL16 has the same platform as the SL15.5 and is 4.8m long and 2.32m wide, Spitfire is 5 m long and 2.52 wide.

Agreed not much, but it feels like more! think the bows of the Spitfire are fuller too.

Mind you if you read other threads one has to ask why the interest in cats?

Simple they are the best fun you can have legally on the water!!!

Assuming that there is a youth and then an olympic cat, Can't think of a better boat than the Nacra 500 with kite. I Know Nacra and Old man will agree but I really can't think of a boat where you get as much bang for your bucks. It would put any young helm in a good position to learn for the future.

I agree the Spitfire is a good boat but for a youth I would think the 500 or SL16 must be the way fwd.

Who knows we maybe all in the future patting ourselves on the back when we have a gold medal from this thread

 Sorry,  I think  that we have pushed this one as far as we can, I suggest that we all go to Graham on 20/21 st Oct  with our toys and then go for a play on Nacra 500 with or WITH spi.after racing. Olympian Hugh Styles will be there to help, God, he's quick.       Just try  

ONLY  if you're hard enough !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very old man!!

Actually, it might be a bad move. You get used to the speed quickly enough on all boats. But there are significant differences in the way a planing dinghy (not going to use the sk... word) behaves on the water compared to a cat. You hook on and off differently(standing-up/sitting down) and the balance and trim are different too(cats have better balance, monos better trim- imho) On a cat, the mainsheet is your vang, and the traveller is your mainsheet (I'm generalising a bit but it's basically true) and that's a bit of a mind-melter as well when you begin on cats.

However, plenty of people sail both and it's always a good idea to try all different aspects of sailing.

If you do have a view to using cats as a stepping stone to 49ers, make sure you get a cat with dagger boards (ie not a D18 or SL16). To sail a 49er well you will need an appreciation of how the foils function at speed.

t foils are not compulsory on the stealth , you can fit others .

just that once you've sailed with them you will miss them if you don't, boat without should still be pretty good at keeping its nose up with high volume bows and flat bottom to provide lift.

Hi,

the potential issue with T-foils is when you get tangled amongst the moorings... even though I have learnt to steer clear of yachts and suchlike, there are still times when a submerged line will grab you. Without T-foils, rudder kicks up (mostly!),... with T-foils, no chance. Don't get me wrong, if there weren't quite so many of them off our beach, I would love to use T-foils!

I would have no problem recommending a F16 without T-foils for use on our estuary, Spitfire or otherwise. We have 2 Spitfires at Dee SC, so it might make sense to go for one of those. No matter really, we race on handicap against the F18s etc anyway.

Just come and have a go!

Simon