I am thinking about making the jump to an A-cat and could use some advice. I am located in the northeast US, 6' tall, 180 lbs and would probably fall into the masters category. I have sailed and raced H-14s, H-18s, NACRA 6.0s and F-18s, as well as Lasers and windsurfers. Due to lack of crew for both sailing and racing on my F-18, I am thinking about going to a single person boat. I don't want to drop the coin for a new boat at this point, but would like some input on type of boat, what to look for, am I nuts, etc.
A Laser and an A cat are quite compatible, and you will find the A Cat a very fun, easy to set-up, launch, and sail single handed.
Any of the older Boyer's, Marstrom's, or other non wave piercers are a good start, but it seems the new technology on wave piercing may have an adavantage.
You just cant go wrong with this class. Good people, fun regatta's, and a great boat.
Dave Mosley
Former
N20,F18,Laser,G Cat,SC 20,N 5.2...now a die hard A catter
You would love the sailing qualities of any A cat given your past rides. Finding a boat eg Flyer 2002 and newer will not hold you back from competing in the class for at least three years. Your crew weight is spot on for the class.
Major Racing Schedule in the North East is
Rock Hall, MD, June
Newport, RI Regatta, July
Bristol, RI Regatta August
Lake Hopactong, NJ Sept
West River MD Sept
Roten Point, CN Sept
American YC , Rye New York Oct.
fleet Racing on Sundays at Lake Hopactong in New Jersey and Bristol on Tuesday nights, Several open class races on the chesapeake as well in July and August.
Tony Arends is a great resource for finding a boat and can point you to some one in your area to try out a boat.
Where in the Northeast are you from?
I suspect you've seen this already, but just in case you need a bit of inspiration.....
I'm in CT
I had not seen that video yet. That is probably the best sailing video I have seen. The balance between the music and video is superb. Thanks Herbie53
Bill Vining is a CT A-Cat sailor and on this site. He may be able to show you his A-cat. Then you have the Bristol fleet which races every Tuesday night. Lars is one of the contacts and promotors of the fleet. I can give you his contact info. There may be some A's floating around the fleet that are for sail. Also check out the boats for sail on usaca.info
I think I met Bill last summer at an event in RI. Nice guy and cool boat. There is a guy in town who has one that races in our Wednedsday night series (Jonathan Farrar). I always get blown away up wind and try and catch him downwind with the spinnaker on my F-18. It would be fun to have two A-cats out there.
Bristol is a little too far for me to go for a Tuesday night series, although a guest appearance could possibly be arranged every once in a while.
If you get up to NH over the summer I can get you out on my A-Cat.