After some advice please on what cat to buy I am in the U.K. sailing at sea with steep waves,Have sailed mono-hulls for a number of years mainly as crew.Have really been thinking about a hobie 15 or a dart 18 I am really after a boat i can sail solo or with my brother as crew we are both about 114kg(250lbs) but also take out a young family on nice summer days budget is £2000.
we do not intend race in a fleet just low level club handicap every so often
hope some of you guys can help
chris

Your total weight is 500lbs? N20 all the way.

where in the UK?

There is a substantial difference between the north and south UK.

I lived and sailed in Campbeltown Scotland for a few years. all 2 weeks of summer were glorious sailing, but after day 15.. winter hits hard

I would personally recommend a catamaran designed with the North sea winds in mind (Dart or similar) before you jump into a 20 foot beachcat that may (will) get overpowered in above 25knots. a 20' cat can be sailed in 25+ but really requires great skill and hopefully a fair amount of experience depowering such a powerful sail plan.

I have crewed on a dart 18 and dart 20 in pretty extreme conditions (through squall lines up to 45 mph) and both did very well (and did not flip)

There are a few people from the UK on this forum, hopefully they can help steer you towards a great first beach cat.

good luck

Hi Bacho
the n20 look fantastic but i really have not seen very many in the uk but i will look into that cat but i dont think u be able to sail solo

MN3 Thank you for your input here i am the other end of the uk between Brighton and Dover i have had great difficultly finding any cat forum based in the uk:( The dart does really look good but i do like the look of the hobie cat 15 as it seams a more forgiving but i really cant find out much about them even went to the RYA dingy show but was nice to see and talk to the classes but they really all said that there boat was the best for what i need

The problem is that anything with enough umph to have a bit of fun for 2 guys that weigh 230kg is going to be too much boat to singlehand.

You will singlehand a Hobie 15 ok but the two of you will be too much for it together.

An 18 footer will be the best compromise, the dart 18 is very underpowered and won't like those beaches! The Prindle 18 might be your best bet, not many about but they will be that sort of price. There were Pridle 18s at Bognor Regis SC I know.It might be worth a look in at Pevensey Bay SC to see what is for sale there

With you located in the UK I would not hesitate to recommend a Dart 18. Should fit the budget with no problems.
Its good for soloing and works well with two, will carry three in a pinch but you won't be going anywhere fast with your crew-weight.

I don't see why a Dart 18 wouldn't like beaches? With no daggerboards or boom to worry about it is an excellent all-rounder. OK, its no where near modern, but its a good and sturdy boat all the same. As you get more experienced you may find yourself wanting more power, then you could look into a F-18 cat, but most won't right solo when you REALLY need them to, and that can make the difference between a tall tale at the bar and a headstone, if you get what I mean!

Besides there's loads of 'em around in the UK and (used) parts are readily available there.
Personally I sail a Nacra 5.2 which would also seem to be in the ball park, has a little more volume than a Dart 18, but with your weight it should also work well (has daggerboards though).

Morning Paul
we are not far from pevensey so will go and have a look.The club we sail at we launch in to a river it will be very rare that we run up on a beach so the skegs should not be a problem
my crew did say about a hurricane 5.9 but i dont know a bout one of those solo they are a big old lump to get around on land as well

Hi Dennis nice to meet u feel like i know u as i read lot of your posts on here and it sounds like u had a very similar problem to me.I have crewed a dart 18 and it was good fun but i was a lot lighter and the helm was only light but i remember it was not really a handful and it was a fair breeze blowing

Thanks bicrider, that's nice to hear.
Seems like you have a fair idea of the type of sailing you are looking for. Hope you soon find a boat you will be happy with!

You could consider a Nacra 5.8, heaps of them around, you have the weight to hold it down in a blow, you could start with the old smaller jib and stiff battens tied in loosly just leaving a slight wrinkle in then pull on heaps of downhaul. Will carry whatever weight you put on it, handles beaches fine, just paint an epoxy paint on the last 2 inches on the bottom as a sacraficial layer if your dragging it up the beach. I sailed my 5.8 in heaps of wind as a novice and had great fun, here's an old video of my 3rd time out on the old one with a novice crew if your interested, it was blowing with steap enough waves to jump over one through the next for a while and we didn't go over.
http://youtu.be/X70tEeWpDrY

Hi Jeff thanks a lot i do like the look of the nacra and dagger boards as we have a mile of river to get up be for the sea where we sail so dagger board will help if the wind is an non preferable direction but the nacra is not as popular in the uk as the dart and hobie brands dont konw why? but if i find one up for sale i will have a look have u tried any solo sailing on the narca 5.8?

There isn't a single 5.8 in the UK
Some 5.5s about
Quite a few 6.0s about, certainly were one or two at Pevensey Bay. That would be a great boat for the two of you, but not a single hander.

hi Paul
Got a feeling a narca 6.0 would be over budget but i am leaning to wards a dart 18 and maybe in a few years move up to a hurricane 5.9 as i always had a soft spot for them and they are a reasonable price but on a nice weekend i can see a trip to pevensey bay do u know if they still run the royal Sovereign race could never get my dad to do it when we had the 470 i did read that it was the only offshore race for dinghys

The sovereign race was run out of Eastbourne sc. haven't heard of it being run for a while
Pbsc have the Martello race as their long distance event

I've sailed a bit on the 5.8 solo mainly in lighter wind, once with the spinnaker, jib and main on the wire but heres a recent video you'll find funny as my wife goes of head first in a bit of a blow and I tack and gybe in plenty of wind to get her, we both go over at the end
http://youtu.be/qDEbzavQOOg

hi paul same i have always wanted to do that race we norally sail out of rye harbour are u local to us?
will have a trip to penensey bay for a good look we have a couple of dart 18 at our club but they not been out for ages and a couple of hobie 16 but i think thay are not as good sea boat mot with my crew weight

Hi jeff great vids but looks like narca 5.8 is out of the question as there never been any imported in the the uk does look very simalar to a hurrican we have over here

There is a tidy Hawk F18 on e-bay for the right money at the moment.
It's a first generation design F18 but was the last of its type and was in good nick last time I saw it. Might do for you?

Had a look can only seem to find a f18 sail any chance of a link?