Mary

Your not wrong, the A would be more of a handfull, but is it because it is lighter, or is it because it has a proportionately more powerfull rig, or because it is narrower, or is it a combination of all three, I suggest that a Marstrom M18, which is a much wider A cat would be easier to sail with your grandchildren whilst still being half the weight. Also if you made a mistake and both boats were on their sides, which would be the most forgiving then, I suspect the heavy hobie wouldn't give you a second chance.

Jerry, I see where your going, the inertia of the heavy boat will carry you through waves when mistakes are made, but in general, the lighter boats need slimmer hulls, lower freeboards, and less resistance to those waves.

The biggest problem that someone learning a new boat in breeze will have is taming the rig, if two boats have the same ratio of healing moment to righting moment they will behave almost identically in gusts, but its just plain easier when you are trying to stay on the side, steer straight and looking where your going to dump the small main and then pull it in again than the bigger one.