Tmsxm: Abacos are a good choice for something different. But knowing your preference for monos, you may want to consider a small cat as it is skinny water sailing. Get the current sailing guide, it is perfect for first timers.
Thanks! Yep, fully resigned to getting a cat for this trip. I've been slowly warming to the idea anyway. I grew up racing and it was baked into me to really "sail" the boat - getting the perfect trim on the sails, just the right amount of weather helm, eyes glued to the telltales, etc. I just couldn't see trying (and failing) to do that on a cat sitting on a bench seat in a fixed position. As I get older and as we are now taking another couple, I'm finding that I'm less determined to do all that work. It's much more about comfort at the destination now than squeezing a tenth of a knot more out of the boat.
That said, on this last trip, the sail back from Norman to the base was just about perfect and would not have been the same on a cat (I think).
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