After a year or so with the p19, my usual crew has been busy(marriage and new job) and the other one is still asleep at 1pm on saturdays and sundays. The last few times the female friend has come along and taken a liking to it. The only problem is that together we weigh like 240lbs.
Another problem is that after sailing the p19 with its (large) sail plan, i'm not sure if smaller cats i can afford will be as fun in 8-15knot winds.
Any suggestions? Anyone in my same situation? Is there any hope or are we doomed?
Consider trading for an 18-2.
At 240 you are only 40 lbs under racing crew weight.
You already know how to sail one with the 4 way jib and centerboards...
-- Sheet In!
Bob
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Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA --
At 240 total pounds any beachcat more powerful than a Wave is going to be very exciting. You'd need to carry weight to race a Hobie 16! Don't compare anything to the Prindle 19 because you weren't sailing the P19 with 240 total.
Most all the beachcats are "overpowered" for their size, just need to look at the weight they are designed to carry. For instance there are a few boats you would still be too heavy, like the Hobie 17 and the A-Class cats which are designed to be single handed, but any beachcat that is meant for two-up is going to be a handful at your total weight.
If you can get to an F16 that would be an awesome boat for you you two, mainly because the weight of the boat itself is around 240 pounds rather than the 320-420 pound range of most cats, sot he two of you could move it easily by yourself.
Any of the 16 footeres would be manageable with a 240lb crew. Get a cheap hobie 16 and go to town! Be aware that you may not have enough weight to right it though.
Keep the 19 and learn to sail on the main only. Don't even hoist the jib, a furled jib is just slow. Get a smaller main if needed. Are you double trapping? all the time?
There are plenty of good solutions to your issue of ballast besides changing boats. At 180 lbs, I solo a SuperCat-19, jib and main (260 sq ft of SA), main only when it gets to blowin'.
Harnessed power is the goal, ie control. Learn how to depower, when to depower and how to shorten sail, by changing sails or sail plan you can reduce the power on any beach cat.
The P-19 is a great ride, keep her and learn to sail her.
A P-16 rig on your P-19 would cost $1000 delivered & you'd still have the P-19 rig (or sell it). Would be fast controlable boat & I have one (rig). Pete
damon is on the right track, an f16 would be awesome, but the only one i could probably afford would be an older taipan 4.9(if i could find one). Pushing a p19 ~100 yards down the beach on cat trax isn't exactly easy.
i have sailed the p19 once with out a jib and that was a bouncy ride, the bows were way up in the air
f18ht, f16, and n5.0/500 were a few boats that interested me, in no particular order. Boat weight and putting the mast up/down are the two things that make/break it for me. Righting is an issue too, but as long as the boat is light enough... it should be doable.
I would say that boat weight and mast raising can be dealt with. I handle both my 5.2 and 5.7 pretty easily by myself on cat trax. This year i got a mast stepper 3 gin pole setup (the one fir rotated masts) and it has taken the fear out of raising and lowering the mast for me. Took me an hour to put it together the first time. Now it is about a 10 minute job. Less time than it takes me to coerce someone to help raise the mast. And no back pain.