Choice of catamaran

[Guest]

We are planning to spend 3-6months a year in the Med prior to a potential circumnavigation. We have twin boys who will be 2-3 years old when we start. We believe a catamaran is the correct boat for us. Can anyone give me advice on which is the best rigging to go for. Mast well aft and large foresails or standard sloop rig with the mast amidships.

 

[snowleopard]

Prout or not?

presume that's what you mean. Big problem with their 'minsail' rig is that you need powerful genoa winches & lots of beef. this means that tacking is hard work for a small crew. other problem with prouts is the weight, you have to drive them hard to get any performance.

The french option of a big fully battened main might be easier for you though it can be a bit of a handful downwind.

on my cat I have a fully rotating rig similar to the carbospars aerorig which is very easy to handle short-handed. if starting from scratch it is worth considering, see www.freewingmasts.co.uk

 

[timevans2000]

Re: Prout or not?

I have a Prout 37 with a taller than standard rig. She has a fully battened main, furling inner jib and a large mylar furling genoa. I use one winch for all my tacking of the genoa as they are mounted at the rear of the cockpit. Mine are Lewmar st44. They are slightly under sized for my genoa, but I am reasonbly fit and like the exercise.
The prout has no shortage of performance with this rig. I think the fact that the pre Elite model is some 2 tonnes lighter makes a significant difference. we weigh in at 4.5 tonne.
She is very easy to reef as everything is to hand in the cockpit. Down wind in a blow we often use just the genoa. In this mode she is safe,fast and exciting. I have not had the opportunity to compare the performance of my boat with the tall rig against a standard rig but I would suspect there is quite a difference. We do seem to have very good windward performance.