Nice post Chopper ! I had my mid life crisis about 5 years ago and bought a Cherub to sail with my son, never looked back I can not recommend it highly enough. You'll be in good company too as we have 4 or 5 father and son teams in the fleet now.
I'm not aware of any boats for sale other than the ones on the for sale page, they are all good and its a bit of a case of pick your budget and level of difficulty, best thing is to get one, get on the water and haul you and your family up to Pwhelli for our nationals in August - I might even re-instate the chunder cup, sounds like just my kind of competition !
Please call or pm me if you need help (number on contact page) - I am often in Essex too (Brightlingsea) if thats any use to you ?