VERY useful pic sequence in that link, thx! I now have good idea of what was meant about hoisting the boat over onto the trailer. I'd been thinking about a system patterned after the glider on our patio that could be pivoted between up and flat on a set of hangers, but this looks much simpler. I especially like what looks like duct tape holding the brake lights on...

We're not too concerned with racing, at least my wife never has been. We do like to sail fast though, we're just more laid-back about it. I did some racing when was a kid, but none since. Once we pick a ride and start sailing it, that might change for me, and your point about being able to class race is a good one, but I seriously doubt it's something I'd get into since it would be sailing time apart from her.

We've pretty much decided to go with a high-performance boat for the pure fun of sailing, so we're focusing on the F18 and Tornado; the only real issue for us with the latter being trailering that extra beam. Either would likely make us VERY happy sailors, but I'm leaning towards the Tornado for it's ability to handle bigger water...we'll mostly be on Lake Erie and maybe the other Great Lakes, and if the winds up and from across the water, waves can get quite large. We've given much thought to the idea of starting out with an inexpensive learning boat before upgrading, but we know we want something fun ultimately, and figure it makes more sense to just go with what we want and learn that boat from scratch. We can sail as conservatively as we need to to start, and then start tweaking it for performance as we go.

As for our weight, I'm 6'5" and go about 215, she's 5'3" and goes about 105, so I figure we're about 320 or so combined...lbs not kg. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for all the comments, this is proving to be a very helpful community!