I'm new to sailing and wanting to get into cat racing. My parents were HUGE into the scene in the 80's and tell me I need to seriously consider what the most active classes are in the area in order to pick one that's right for me. Can anyone offer any advice on class selection in the Texas/Oklahoma region? I know the Hobie 16 is always an active class - but what about open classes or Nacras? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm new to sailing as well and I live in Plano. My best recommendation is that you contact the local Hobie Fleet. They sail at Lake Lewisville. The people in the fleet have been extremely helpful to me and I'm sure they know plenty about all of the the racing around here. Not just Hobie but other classes as well.

Here's the link to the website. http://www.hobiefleet23.com/

Pick one of the officers and send them an email. Lil Baker has been great at responding to my questions.

Best wishes.

Michael

Thanks for the advice. I had already planned on getting togethor with Fleet 23. Hobie Division 14 looks like really the only game in town. What kind of boat did you end up going with?

TxMattD,

I ended up selecting an H16. However my deciding factor was different than yours. At 43 I seem to be a little older than the typical cat beginner. Therefore I have family and budgets to consider. I needed something that I could have fun sailing with my almost 7 year old son, plus have the ability to carry 4 people on it. At the same time it needed to be quick to rig and derig, as I will have time limits at the lake, and it had to fit within my budget.

From my family perspective if I had the budget I would have purchased a Hobie Getaway. If I was experienced and had lots of time available at the lake for rig and derig I would have considered an H18. H14's and H17's were out because they don't carry enough people. Although Prindle's and Nacra's may have been an option, their general lack of availability made them less interesting to me.

I would love to get good enough to race it at some point. However I know that my schedule will not let me make a big commitment to racing.

I found a nice H16 and I bought it. I know from research that there seems to be a strong market in Dallas for H16's as the good ones on craiglist are sold very fast. Therefore I am confident that if I had to resell it for some reason in the future (hope not!) that I could do so quickly.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll gladly share what I have learing in my research the last 8 months!

I am new to the Dallas area and will be sailing Lake Lewisville. I would be interested in getting together with a few people to share ideas and maybe race. However, I am still getting used to the boat and don't have my setup right yet.

Rich

2001 Nacra 5.5 Uni #918

I was out with the fleet 23 crowd this weekend (just rejoined after a 10 year absence). There were at least 5 H18s, 8 H16s, 1 Getaway, 1 Wave, and I think there was a Nacra 5.2 out on Sunday. While I am not much for racing, there are a significant number of fleet members who actively race. I don't know the latest numbers, but at one time, there were A, B, and C fleets for H16 and I think that the H18s had A fleet and a combined B & C fleet. Anyway, come on out to Hobie Point at Lake Lewisville (Justin exit off I-35E).

Jason