Its usually stray cats that follow me home... but congrats on your new cat... :)
I am not sure why everyone doesn't carry a righting bag either... except the cost and as you said storage... but they are not very big... and can save your day... :)
They offer shroud extenders on all sizes of SuperCats.... my friends 17 has them. Agreed on the "captive ball". if you dont have that type of ball.. you MUST secure your mast to the beam with a line (or similar) or it can fall off during righting (with the shrouds loosened).