Catamarang's ! What are they like ???

Re: The difference really is prejudice.

" I've never sailed in one and probably never will." You couldnt have illustrated my point better!

Funny really, since we agree totally on "In car terms, there are more reasons why a man of my age should by a volvo estate than a ferrari, but given the choice, I'd still have a motorbike." Cant afford a Ferrari, so I have a motorbike.

If you ever get chance to sail a Farrier tri, do so. It will definitely change your views - I cant think of any boat nearer to a motorbike.


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Re: A bit different

Each year a large (8-10) of us charter a largish cat 40ft+ for a blast around the Solent. They are great for reaching or motoring at speed. Living on board is superb, with so many distinct areas to sleep or chill out and without that constant pushing past each other that large crews get on monohulls. Normally if I've 10 people on a mono we can't wait to get up the pub once we're moored but cats offer so much space that you can stay onboard without pissing each other off. Carrying the dinghy inflated is easy on even the smaller cats as is drying out.
Twin engine cats are dead easy to manouver in quite tight areas and I've seen outboard versions, with the outboard linked to the steering, that appear quite light on their feet. Steering under sail can feel a bit dead compared to a mono.
Sailing performance is often exaggerated. In general they go a bit faster than the same size mono but don't point as high. Reaching is there forte. Many people kill the performance advantage by overloading them, very tempting with all that space, but then thats true of mono's too, just not so noticable. I suspect that the motion beating into a head sea would be quite tiring. The world is not full of upside down multis so they must be quite seaworthy.

If you want to try one Victory Yacht Charters at Haslar 02392520099 have a few, more modern than you want but it gives you a go. Fill it up with your mates and you might even break even on the trip.



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Re: Catamarang\'s ! What are they like ???

Some more information for you all.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.cruisincats.com/AboutCats.htm#Catamaran>http://www.cruisincats.com/AboutCats.htm#Catamaran</A>




<hr width=100% size=1>Andavagoodweekend, Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
Re: Catamarang\'s ! What are they like ???

There's as big a variation in cats as monos, and most of the comments reflect heavy cats such as Prouts and Catalacs.

Get a light cat by Dazcat or Woods and you'll go faster than any mono up to 40ft longer, and have more fun sailing it. But you'll also get banged around in any breeze as you hit the waves at over 10 knots. And the accomodation, though spacious, is likely a bit spartan.

We cruise in our Dazcat 9.2 for 3 months every summer. Can't imagine any boat we'd change it for.

Cheers

Tony

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Prouts and Catalacs + UFOs

Dont catogorize Prouts and Catalacs together. Prouts will sail to windward, Catalacs will not. Catalacs dont have a keel as such and therefore have terribly windward performance.

I sailed in company last week in our Snowgoose 37 ( with tall rig, performance sails, husband and wife crew) with our friends in a UFO 34 They had everything set up for racing.

We sailed 250 miles in a clockwise circuit around the Irish sea from Pwllheli in North Wales, to Barmouth, Wicklow in Ireland, Dun Logaire, Dublin, Malahide and then back over to the Welsh coast. It was interesting to see the difference between the cat and a performance monohull of the same loa.

The trip from Barmouth to Wicklow was some 73 miles. It took the Prout exactly 10 hours. The UFO 34 took an hour and a quarter longer. The wind was on the beam, F4 average. The first 2 hours of the trip we had wind on the beam but seas head on. It was uncomfortable in the cat as we were hitting 5 foot high waves straight on and slamming or going straight through the waves. We had to ease the sheets to slow the boat and make it more comfortable.

The UFO had less of a problem because of its fine entry but still bounced about.

On one part of the trip down the Welsh coast we had light winds on the nose. We were tacking to windward We could sail faster than the UFO but not as close to the wind by a long way. Once we rounded a headland the wind direction was more favourable for the cat and we were faster.


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Re: Catamarang\'s ! What are they like ???

IN the med, they are not too popular cos berths are measured and charged by the beam - stern-to mooring. Also, they don't (to many people) look as "proper" or good-looking as a mono. However, if you do lots of anchoring, then twill be fine. The motion of a cat is quite different from a mono at sea, but what the heck. Have fun!

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