I'm looking to upgrade to something faster than a Prindle Escape 18 and have seen A-Cats and 18SQ's. I'm kind of thrown off by the 11ft beams and the jibless design. Can anyone tell me what these boats were designed for and where they sail best?

I sail 50% solo off the beach and 50% with crew. Are there any issues I should consider with these boats?

Thanks,

Rob

18sq is a very very powerful boat. the beams make it much harder to travel with (legally must have a tilt trailer). They are designed for 1 sailer but many take crew.

A-cats are solo 100%. they are unbelievably light, shouldnt be sailed above 15knots of air (or they can fly off the water) and have very expensive parts (carbon fiber poles, etc) they are racing machines and not for leisure sailing at all...

you can certainly upgrade from your escape without going to either of those 2 cats... say a more modern 18 design... or a g-cat (they can handle well and sail fast, no boards). Even a P18, p19, p18-2 would be a little performance upgrade.. how bouat a nacra 5.2 or 5.8?

The Nacra 5.5 Uni is an 18SQ with an 8'6" beam and less sail. It is supposed to be a scaled down version of the 18SQ, but it can still be a lot of boat when the wind gets up. I would expect the 18SQ to be similar to the 5.5, but the 18SQ is faster, so it is probably a little harder to depower. The 5.5 can be equiped with a jib for those occasions when you carry crew, the 18SQ cannot.

A boat with an 11 foot beam will require some technique to right when you are on your own. I believe that it also has two beams that run from the front beam to the aft beam and were specifically designed to cause pain.

Since the 18SQ uses the same hulls as the 5.5, you will have no trouble with additional people on board. The uni rig setup takes some getting used to, but works very well. The 18SQ has a reputation for pointing ability.

A-Cats are pretty, very fast, expensive and built for one.

If you have the budget for an A-cat, you have a huge selection of good boats to choose from.

not sure if this thread is still alive or not....I have an 18sq thats up for sale. loved the boat and is incredibly stable and fast. dont expect to fly any hulls if you sail 2-up tho, even if you have enough wind dont do it. most of the sq's were super light and at 11 ft wide two small size guys have the leverage of 2 300 lbers at 8ft and is very hard on the boat/rigging. rpiper is right tho, they point awesome. can beat a tornado on point. you definitly won't be beat too often with the sq.

Jonah

nacra 18sq
tornado