Dart 18

Book yourself onto an RYA cat course, they teach the basics, how to tack properly, righting the boat, etc, etc. Appart from that, try crewing for a few cat sailors at your club to give you a feel for the difference between sailing a mono and a cat. Big difference changing from a monohull to a cat like the Dart is manouverability and closing speeds. The RYA course should provide you with everything you need to get started, and at the very least, picking up the handbook for the course at your local chandelry will give you a rough idea of how to sail cats. Also might be worth looking at the Hurricane 5.9, they are going really cheaply at the moment and although they are another leap up the scale in performance, personally I prefer the handling of them and know quite a few people who started cat sailing on Hurri's and continue to do so.

Firstly, a Dart 18 doesn't come with a Spinnaker!

Where is it you sail? Take a look at the boats at your SC and talk to a few people.

What to look out for - Obvious repairs to the hulls, I know Dart18 flex when standing on the hulls when righting, so check for cracks etc. Make sure the mast is straight and all the rigging is intact. When you buy it (as with any boat) try and rig it to check everything over, ie Sail track for Main Sail.

To avoid a pitchpole is sometimes easier said than done, but when the boat is healing on one hull, you don't want the hull "digging" in to the waves as that causes it to go over (IMO).

As 49erGBR said, try crewing or even taking an experienced cat sailor out. (They will prob do anything for a Pint!)

I have sailed cats in the past but can also say the Dart 16 is a good Cat for "leisure" sailing, not so good in racing but that one does come with a Kite now Laser have redesigned it.

No spinnaker ??????

 

yes they do , admittedly not very popular at the moment .

Works really well when sailing solo , theres one at our club and he has a hoot with it , competitive too, he wouldn't go back to sailing without one .

{infact come to think of it he was 2006 class champion racing at our club - sailing against , Huricane 5.9s , Hurricane 5.9sx (who was 2nd at 5.9 Nats ) Tornado , A class ,Stealth 18sxl, and other darts in their various guises }

even though

Slight problems with steering  when windy

 

Check out Dart 18 class association website for lots of info , also chat in forum regarding spinnakers

 

 1.avoiding pitchpole - don't go out when its windy ! only 100% safe method of avoidance

 2.reduce chance of pitchpole - avoid boats with narrow bows and nae bouyancy up front

3. Fly a kite

4 .Get a cat with wings on its rudders and a kite - worked for me last two yrs , but not as reliable as method 1.

 

Pichpoling is fun - ribtickling

 

Well sailed Darts can be competitive in SCHRS fleets , especially when windy

 

Don't particularily want to blow Dart 18s trumpet , but they are an ideal way to get into cat racing if you don't have a lot of money to spend  and good springboard to move onto high performance cats , easy to sell when you're ready to move on . 

 

 

 

Edited by catmandoo

the dart kite is crap.  we tryed it and didnt like it as the mast isnt set up as a kite boat so it didnt seem supported. 

the dart website has all the stuff that u need to buy a boat.

when we used to sail one we never capsized it in 3 years.  and we were really pushing it. 

they are good boats to sail but i would also consider a spitfire

Thanks for all the advice, i race at Rutland SC and the Dart 18 is very popular, up till 2 years ago they had their own fleet. Im 16 and currently race a Radial because i have problems finding regular crew, so if it works well singlehanded that would be a huge bonus for me.

this is a Dart 18 with a kite i belive, dosnt look like you can rig up the kite at the same time as the jib?

Edited by Quagers