Are you guys aware T2x has an entire dvd series adressing this issue? I believe it's entitled "Cats conquer offshore" and it's excellent ! Should be required viewing for anyone interested in this topic !!

The only other carrier besides Markel that I know of is American Reliable and they will insure a cat...

I have mine with them but they typically won't insure a a first time cat owner and you still need to have gone through and passed a course like Tres' offers, which is well worth the investment in my opinion.

All said and done it was still around $5600.00 with a 6 month lay-up, designated driver policy and inland waterway's only, not including Tres's course... Even if you could find someone else to write the policy at a lower premium they probably wouldn't cover what you need if there was a claim.

In the late 80s I ran a 30 Chris Cat . We consistently beat the 41 Apaches , Gigarettes , 12 meters etc . in any water conditions .
In 1990 at Virginia beach we placed second in nasty water to a big V hull and trailed by only 30 seconds , with a snapped off trim hose I might add . Ask any throttleman how hard that is , talk about feathering the throttles .
The cat / v debate will never end . Once I got in the cat I never looked back . To each his own and respect for all .
As far as danger is concerned let's face it speed kills , the faster you go , the faster you may go .

I'm not really disagreeing with you, but I think there is probably more to this subject, than just one riding better than another. I think the type of water has a lot to do how each hull type is going to respond. Even the Skater guys say you really need a 36 for the slop we have here in So. Cal.

Michael

How can those of us who didn't own a cat before the "no first-timers" rule came into effect buy a cat? The logic of that rule means that when all the long-time cat owners have died or quit cats will be uninsurable (because all owners will then be first-timers).

Stop by sometime. We'll pop in a couple of my old Needle Nose video tapes and you can watch the Apaches motoring past all the cats in heavy water.

Are you aware that it was T2x who was flying in the helicopter and narrating those old Needle Nose Video tapes ? See what he has to say on this topic in his previous posts !

Yes, I do. I was at many of those races as well.

Like I said, you can come and watch the tapes. When it was really rough, the big vees were passing cats. Did the cats blow past on the inlet legs of the course- sure.

Memories are selective...... but, in truth the 41 Apache with Bobby Saccenti on throttles ran one of the greatest rough water legs ever...as seen all over the web. However, once the Chris Cats, Jaguars and 40' Skaters hit the scene..... things changed dramatically and I have to say the best rough water performance I ever saw.....and I saw a LOT...... was the Spirit of Norway at Ocean City Maryland in small craft warning conditions eating the 46' Apache "Tweets Revenge" for breakfast.

What made that performance such a slam dunk was the fact that the Skater was so much smaller than the Apache.

I also remember the great Bobby Idoni, in Lorne Liebel's Apache CAT....running heads up with Billy Martin in an Aluminum CUV vee bottom (one of the best rough water hulls ever) in stormy seas on Lake MIchigan.

While there may still be a debate in some minds, to me the discussion ended regarding cats and rough water in the early 80's.

The only caveat, I have, regards the West Coast cats, which came on the scene in the early to mid 90's and barrel rolled, stuffed, and slogged there way along, and generally put the progress that other cat builders (Cougars, Shadows, Skaters, Jaguar, etc) made back at least 20 years. and while they fill the pages of our major magazines seemingly every month, they are still the same combination of awkward lines, poor forward entry and faulty aero and hydro dynamics that characterized them from day one.

T2x

T2x , do you remember the year on that one? (Ocen City, MD) We ran there in 92 with us offshore and it sounds like the same race . Remember the whiplash 28 skater ?