the Competitive Cat, Racing Small Gaff-Rigged Catboats

Helpful tips. Easy to understand.

I bought a used Compass Classic 14' catboat and wanted to know whatever I could about this class of sailboat so I ended up with five books - some given and some bought. This book is by far the best. It is filled with details about every aspect on catboats - it is not only about competition and racing. Whenever I heard a term I didnt understand i would find it explained in this book. Every time I pick it up I learn something that I didnt know.

Wow--there's so much I did not know. I do now . . . Buy this book!

I race 9' Nutshell prams with a bunch of older guys on Friday afternoons. I was tired of getting my butt beat week after week and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I've been sailing, but not racing, since I was a kid. This book has had a major impact on my tactics and strategy. I am now competitive and am pretty consistently among the first to finish!

somewhat to basic for anyone who has raced a catboat more than one season

I hate to be negative - catboats are wonderful and it is good to see the extent of the catboat revival of the past two decades - but the racing tips are old hat. This is the same stuff I learned as a teenager racing FJs and 420s back in the late 1960s. Same stuff as small sailboat racing in general for a century or more. Make sure the bottom is smooth. Make sure you have good sails. Trim the sails well. Trim the weight in the boat in response to different conditions. Tack well. Stay smooth. Don't point too high in low winds. Jibe carefully. Know the rules cold. Yawn.My family had a Marshall Sanderling from 1969 to 1979, when I was in my late teens and 20's. We cruised it everywhere from South Dartmouth to Nova Scotia, and it was wonderful. But as a racing boat with a bunch of other 60-somethings? Yawn.

Excellent, detailed guide to operating a typical Catboat. I'm a new Catboat owner, intermediate Sailing skills. Not a racer (yet) and all of my experience has been aboard sloop-rigged boats only; so this book is perfect for my level.

Details how to get maximum performance from your cat. Does for catboat racing what "The Boy, Me and the Cat" and "Penelope Down East" do for catboat cruising. If you own a catboat, you need this!

Limited cat boat content