I know that you do not like sitting in water and have written off a Hobie Adventure Island, but there are some modifications that you can make to raise the seat and reduce the water spray. The Adventure Island is a proven winner. How you sail it will determine your comfort level. Some of these other trimarans that you are looking at have agreater limitation at a higher cost. You can't beat the Mirage Drive combination.

I would gladly share anything that I have lerned about the Island...

Dan

Dan

I'm thinking your right about staying with a cat, rather than a sailing kayak, too.  I can paddle my H16 almost as fast as a kayak in the calm.  But when the wind blows, Yeehaa!  

There's an older Boye MKIV for sale at the USACA with a carbon stick.  The should make righting easier.  One sail should also make life easier for the solo sailor.  A couple reef points and figuring out how to get it to stay flat and you might be there.  Keep the kit light!

Dan

Now that I've knocked a bit more of the rust off my brain, I'm thinking that I've confused the Weta with Warren boat.  A nice guy who broke his boat the day before the race let me sail it in Key Largo.  Could have been I got freaked sinking the amas since similar behavior in an H16 is prelude to pitchpoling.  But it didn't give me any confidence that it would be good for an EC.  (In contrast with the AI - a boat that, with the right sailors, did outstanding this year.) 

So I've probably never sailed a Weta and should withdraw my comment.  Still, though there have been several Weta entries, I don't remember seeing one at the finish.  Maybe its that rusty brain again.

The Triak looks interesting.  I remember that one on the beach in 2011. One cool thing about the Triak is that the missing forward iako doesn't interfere with a good paddle reach.  I'll do some more investigation.

But, meantime, I still have my H16.  With all due respect, Maddave, I love the upwind performance of my H16.  Sure, there are lots of beachcats with boards that will kill me upwind.  (Wouldn't an F16 be great!)  But compared to most boats in the EC, it is a rocket.  There's just this self-righting issue...

Have you looked into the Triak? The boat was waved off at first but in 2010 had a makeover by M $ M - Morrelli & Melvin  and it apears to be a more serious boat now.

Cleanslate has a nice watertribe blog about his and is signed up for the NCC.

Triak's site is broken as of this morning but here is a review. http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/?p=2919 

There was one at the start line in 2011 to do the marathon and owned by an older gentleman. Not sure what happened but we did take a beating that first day. As seems to be the norm!

May be worth looking into and is much more reasonably priced than the Warren., almost half. but still not cheap. It would be interesting to hear some watertribers take on it now with the upgrades.

JollyRoger

http://komoniwannashoya.blogspot.com/2010/03/lets-get-started.html

It does seem like a good concept, but maybe too fragile?

Thought I would chime in as I had the opportunity to sail that green warren light craft tri that same year in key largo. Although I was in only moderate wind and chop I found it seriously lacked volume forward and I submarined my way back and forth. I was only out for a short ride in a bathing suit and did not have a sprayskirt so i filled the cockpit to the rim in about 3 minutes. At 68 lbs it is seriously light and with a decent sized rig but a bit misproportioned to my eye. It's not an easy problem to solve. The kayak wants the person in the middle, but the sailboat says Hey get that person out of the way, i need to go there!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTYSleXDAgII believe the owner broke off one of his ama keels in the surf the day before the race start during a practice sail. 

I noticed in this video that it is also slow to tack and the skipper backed the jib to get her to come about. That indicates to me that in higher winds when the jib is perhaps furled/reefed and the main is reduced, tacking will be something only possible with paddle in hand. Nothing wrong with that though it is a kayak afterall. I do wonder though how the same trial would look with a watertribe gear load onboard....hmmm. Nothing against the boat just my opinions. the rigging was well laid out as I remember and it certainly was happy to get up and go get you wet. 

  I have never heard  of any owner bragging about  the upwind performance of a Hobie 16. It has to much sail and the roller reefing is handy but not the best way to get the most performance of a sail. BSD will be offering a hardshell ama in the near future. It will give everyone a choice of which kayak or hull they wish to convert to a tri.

                                            Maddave

Keith

The Weta is fun, but a little too frisky for distance racing. Plus, their strength leaves a little to be desired from what I've hear.

The Hobie AI is wonderfully easy.  But I don't like the idea of sitting in a puddle for more than a couple hours at a time.

You creative guys with the custom boats are too cool.  But I'll be too old to sail by the time I get one built.

I found out about the Warren Light Craft boat, Little Wing 15.5 last night. http://www.warrenlightcraft.com/specs15sail.html.  Boy, carbon fiber and 68 lbs!  I love that. Don't love spending $9,000 much.  But, at least, I'd also have a nice kayak for those windless days in Colorado.

Looks like a boat that should have been used for an EC,  but I haven't seen one in the last few years.  Anybody have any opinions to share on it?

(Sure, also share your opinions on my opinionated views above, if you want!)

IsZataRock