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My opinion about any new boat is....NO! A Wave is a great little boat, especially in a windy area and/or sailing off the beach. A Nacra 5.0 is also very fun. In case I haven't made my opinion (which is worth exactly what you paid for it) clear is, buy a beat up used boat and sail it to death...

I can tell you there are a handful of guys out there that know where to look and find good deals on beachcats all the time. Sometimes you gotta go to Murrays to get parts but one of my buddies has a cleaned up, nice 5.2 that he's probably into for about a grand. When they first got popular the...

Look on thebeachcats.com. I've also heard of this new thing called the "craigslist" but not sure if it's real..? Again, Wetas are outstanding but show me a good used 1 for less than 5-7k. If you spend more than 1500 on a Nacra 5.2, a Prindle 16 or 18, for a Hobie 16 or 18 etc. then you probly...

That's always an interesting question...too soon to jibe??? If someone could find the old sfbama account of the F25 that got caught out in very bad conditions (Farallones race) it was a great read and very instructional. For those that don't know I can testify that the conditions in SF and...

In reply to Skippertri, Wetas are great boats, excellent for learning but a bit more complex than a beachcat due to the gennaker and a couple other little things. The best things about the beachcat, imho, are that it's cheap, fast, fun and a great feedback machine for learning. You can buy at...

I have never seen that happen myself. EASING the main and spin in a timely manner certainly shouldn't break the mast. Blowing the main completely in an emergency (no backstays engaged?) ok....maybe that's broken some masts, especially on a slow boat that can't sail out from under itself...

I was sailing on a relatively fast 25 ft. cat with the spin up in about 15 knots of breeze. The driver, who mostly sails monos, is pretty skilled but he had the main and spin sheets tangled up under his feet. After a few minutes I couldn't take it anymore and had to gather and sort the sheets...

Yes, F24 is a wonderful boat but... Big difference: not only will he learn a lot more sailing skills in a beachcat but he can buy approximately 15 of them for the price of the F24.

You just ruined Canoer's life...

If MultiThom's cyberpunk dream of a VR sailing system comes to fruition then my only demand is that it includes a pair of electrodes to be attached to your private bits and will administer a strong shock whenever you make a driving error. In real life you often flip in the worst possible place...

Myself and many others sailed beachcats to and fro in the area around the Channel Islands in California for decades. Look at the most recent Worrel 1000 for more evidence. Beachcats can sail anywhere! Yes, you'd probably be safer on an ocean liner but you won't be learning to sail at the buffet.

Any Nacra will be a great learning platform but the bigger ones are very powerful. I'd very highly recommend a 5.2 or even 5.0. Any Hobie or Prindle will also serve quite well. If you spend more than 2500 on it you will be a kook. I sold my last Nacra, a 5.5, last year for around that price...

Or this. But imho the beachcat is a better learning tool, a harsher task master to be sure as the Weta is a lot more forgiving

If you get to a level like these blokes you're in business!

Buy a beachcat immediately. Just about any of em will do. Sail the crap out of it for a few years or till it is completely, hopelessly wrecked. Sail it in any and all conditions. Flip it, race it, hit the dock, hit the rocks, duct tape, epoxy, spray paint. Repeat. If you do so for 10 years...

Nice vid. Good sailors! Reasonably good soundtrack! The original question makes me a bit queasy... If you don't know the answer maybe you need some time to reflect, ponder and study. IMHO the difference between the J29 and a similar sized F-boat is that the skill required to safely sail...

MultiThom's word is the gold standard on this issue.