You're the number 2 poster. Trimarans have changed you, remember the days when you lived life, dated psycho bitches... ah the good days.
Hey, I'm still in counseling for that (and maybe sailing, too) <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" /> We all need a little psycho.
I do miss dangling off a trapeze line every once in a while when I'm out cruising in 15 kts and flat water. But then I remember I can't hold a beer on the trap line since I've got about 6 little teensy lines ripping the flesh off my hands...
Not that I hold a beer on the tri. I can SET IT DOWN and it rarely tips over.
If I could commit to a 6 week
Abs of Steel
regimen and pull-ups using wire fishing leader wrapped around my hands then I'd consider it. I'm still 175# which is probably too heavy for those things... I still have a few scars I can't quite recall how/when they happened. But as you say, chicks dig scars.
I would consider an A-cat, but my crew is absolutely the worst ever, and until they come up with a bomb-proof mast I think I'd be spending craploads of money to littler the course with carbon pieces (not very environmentally friendly).
So, I'll zip around a little bit slower on my tri... and yell at Timbo. He's an awesome boat whore. Although that craft-beer snobbery has to stop. It's Blatz light or nothing, my friend.
Hey, call me when you need a whiner. I'm good at that <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />
Jay,
Not sure where you got your conception of A cat masts being fragile. They are not, certainly not any worse than any other beachcat mast. I'd argue better-you don't have a spinnaker trying to pull your stick out of the boat and its a pretty high strength carbon section. Plus if you break it they can be glued back together and have pretty comparable bend characteristics to an un-repaired stick. Most break when you find the bottom or manage to slam into them. I say all this as learning to sail the foiling A-cat is one of the best things you can do if you've been there, done that.
I won't argue with the tri, nice and fast with some amenities, plus a lot more lounge area for the babes.
I got the concept of A-cat masts being fragile based solely on anecdotal evidence from sailors I knew that had those boats. And I'm sure it was comparing to my (relatively) heavy carbon N20 mast. That thing, while far from bulletproof, was very forgiving of my amateur abilities... It tolerated the occasional loose mainsheet spin flying (looking at some pictures, I still cringe at the mast bend)
I was only partially aware of the ability to fix those A-cat masts (Herenden had one I was considering to buy), and didn't know if the technique was proven reliable.
It's all relative anyway. A
fragile
mast may mean something far different to me than you. As I had a tendency to dig for clams quite often I would suspect more mast damage in my case than someone like you who actually figured out which end was supposed to point toward the sky <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />
And yes, with the slightly larger boats comes more opportunity to be social on a boat. You can move around while sailing (not strapped on a wire in one spot) and you can bring those less experienced on board to help them gain skills without a lot of swimming.
But you do have to give up the thrill of a really light, fast boat ripping around the course. I think my top speed has only been in the low 20's on a beam reach in about 25 TWS. I think I'd have to reef beyond that which would probably reduce the top speed potential (and it gets pretty wavy). The last W/L regatta in 15kts TWS had the F-24 upwind at 11 and downwind at 17 in small swell.
15-18 kts through the water seems to be the sweet spot for the F-24: powered, feels like it's planing, but not so powered as to feel the rig is overloaded. The newer (Dash/Sprint) seem comfortable 18-20kt but have to reef a little sooner. The F-31 is a ballistic missile it seems, with very little to limit the top end speed.
I think the Corsair Pulse and the F-22 both have tremendous potential as pocket rockets with their light weight and big sailplans.
The M-23 (or whatever it was called) looked awesome, but may need some adjustments in rig and sailing technique to master it's potential. And a little more involved in setup/breakdown.