As a captain on performance 70ft cat and owner of fleet of rental hobies I too have had plenty of experience in getting the nose round and watching / teaching others to do it- it is certainly more difficult on smaller beach cats mainly as you don't have the weight/ boat speed to get you round- not to much of a prob on a 17 tonne cat but still can occur.

The key points in a successful tack are cerainly- choosing your wind shifts/gusts, choosing the right wave to go on, keepings momentum up thru smooth turning, releasing jib at optimum time and leaving main close hauled thru tack ( I guess not possible on a model as the main and jib sheets are usually working as one) and probably most importantly when in doubt, bear away a little ease out sails a fraction for a gain in boat speed then bring it back on wind while sheeting in and continue thru to a tack before you lose that liitle boatspeed.

All sounds easy on a big cat- looking forward to giving it a shot on model- which brings me back to where I was a few posts ago- I understand that hull shape is not as important as sail setup- mast placement- trim and skipper expertise...but what I would like a recommendation on is what approx measurements should I be looking for on a 1.2 mt cat ie..what hull beam at widest point, what overall beam of cat, mast height??, with these basic cluse I could make a start buildinga couple of prototypes with foam and epoxy.

Or should I build something with a little more LOA??, any help much appreciated