Greetings from Long Beach, CA, where the F18 championships are getting underway.

I am looking for a catamaran that can be sailed comfortably single-handed, but is big enough to sail double-handed or, possibly, with three people aboard in favorable conditions. (If Long Beach is too windy, I can always go to Newport Beach which is almost never too windy.)

I know that cats have an optimal crew weight and varying that weight from 200 to 500 lbs may be a little much. Do you know of any boats that are that flexible? Almost that flexible?

Thanks, Richard

Sounds like you need a Hobie Getaway---which I would never own. Catamarans are for speed & that means keep the weight off! Long Beach is never too windy. Simply let the traveler off a bit or more downhaul & learn to handle it. You're out there looking at boats today sailing at a 59 rating and a Getaway is an 83. Pete

I like my Nacra 5.7. Big enough to sail with 2 crew if you like, no daggerboards or boom to worry about when singlehanding. The only problem singlehanding is that you likely need to carry a righting bag to right it by yourself, no problem at all really. The Nacra 570 is the version currently in production.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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oldie but goodie - I love love love my Prindle 16 - big enough for 4 adults, fast, stable, easy to singlehand and CHEAP to buy (especially in SoCal)

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85 Prindle 16
"If you aint the lead dog the view never changes"
North Carolina
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How are you going to launch in Newport Beach?

I once enlisted a friend to pick up my P16 and carring it over bushes and a grass park between houses down there and launch it from the beach, but it was difficult to safely sail out between moored dinghy boats and private docks... the neighbors sure were unhappy while I raised the mast on the tiny steep beach, but "hand-carried boats" are technically allowed to do this, so I continued.

A P18 or P16 is my recommendation, and it's purely biased. But their inexpensive, and being daggerboard-less it convenient for singlehanding, plus a P16 can be righted by yourself. I have a ton of fun single-handling my P16, and just on Saturday it was 15+ winds outside of MDR, I was controlling the mainsheet while my friend was trapezed out with the tiller, we flew up towards Malibu, then down towards Manhattan beach in what felt like minutes. That was double-handing and probably the most fun you can have on a cat. The ocrean spraying off the bow and chop from waves we skimmed over was hitting me like a fire-hose, and almost enough to push me off the tramploine. I was holding on to a hiking strap and the mainsheet in order not to fall off, my friend was trapped out hooting and hollering everytime we kept the hull up while surfing down swells.

Sidenote, My P16 is on the market for sale (in Redondo Beach). If you ever want to come along with me I take it wherever in Socal, Just let me know I'll be happy to show you what it can do.

You can hold 3 people on it, 1 person on the leeward side, 2 on the windward side, and it's heavy but still stable.

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Redondo Beach, CA
'80 Prindle 16.
(Got it for free!)
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