A few comments on planning cats. I purchased a planning power cat, with the understanding of its deficiencies. I had read Malcolm's articles and graphs. I had sea trialed both displacement and planning cats. The decision was based on accomidations, draft, that it was legally trailerable without a permit and what was available in the US. There have been over 60 Tom Cat 255's launched during the first 15 months of its production run. For the US market it is an amazing number. I normally run at 25 knots and get 2.4 nautical miles a gallon, 50% better than I got in a deep V express cruiser of comperable size. I can keep the boat on a plane down to about 16 knots--and top out over 40 knots, even loaded for cruising. The boat does not run well between 7 and 15 knots. Some owners have put on Permitrims (like foils) on the outboards and claim to plane down to 11 to 12 knots. I don't have accurate fuel records at the lower speeds, since I just don't run there. Reviews also show that the boats don't run perticularly well at the 7 to 15 knot range and the fuel consumption is worse than the planing speed. When I was cruising with several trawlers at 7 knots, there were times when it was rough, I would pop up on a plane, run ahead and then wait for the slower boats, because the ride was much better at the higher speed. The fuel consumption at 7 knots was about the same as at 25 knots--I have to drop to 6 knots to equal that on a plane. The ride into chop was not as good as some of the semidisplacement cats, but the ride down wind and cross seas was better. Control is excellent on all points--but I avoid going directly into seas greater than 3 feet. For the smaller cat with its limitations, the realization that we will use more fuel in some circumstances, the planning cat has been satisfactory for us. If I was buying a larger boat, it definately would be a Malcolm Tennant design. Bob Austin