DragonFly

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rhinorhino

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Went to the SIBS yesterday.

I was looking at the new Dragonfly, what does the panel think?

Two related thoughts occur, first although the boats are clearly capable of high speed in the right conditions, what are sustained passage speeds like and the second is their ability in heavy weather?
 
I've sailed several of the Dragonflys and I've noted that, exciting though they are in optimum conditions ( flat sea, moderate breeze ), most owners graduate after a while to the Farrier and Dazcat types. There are several reasons given....

They don't carry weight particularly well, so loaded up with gear and stores for a 3-up or 4-up fast cruising holiday to, say, Brittany or Ireland, the sparkling performance edge soon goes and the boat feels 'lumpen'. 2-up, for just a weekend around the Solent, is fine.

These boats tend to get 'thrashed' in MOCRA and club racing programmes. Gear wears out, breaks, fails. Some of that is expensive - and recurring.

Keeping them 'honest' in roughy-toughy weather requires a high order of seamanship and helming skill, sustained, hour after hour. Many UK owners can manage that degree of skill - but not hour after hour after hour into the night without a break. I would think long and hard if asked, for example, to take one across Biscay at this time of year or bring one back from the west of Ireland.

...Not a boat you can stop, batten down, and go below on. The phrase 'not more than 60 miles from safe haven' comes to mind. That said, a lot of weekend fun if you sail all the time with a very sharp eye on the weather. :cool:
 
rhinorhino said:
what are sustained passage speeds like and the second is their ability in heavy weather?
Click to expand...

Sustained speeds depend entirely on conditions. I have averaged 15.1 knots single handed between Bardsey Sound and Ardglass in Northern Ireland in a (now discontinued) DF920, but it was a perfect day - F5 beam reach. Fried brain at the end of it! Upwind into a lumpy sea sustained speed will be about 8 knots. I have also wallowed around for hours in light winds on other days.

Their ability in heavy weather will be not much different from a similar sized modern boat, for example a 32' Bendytoy, so any more than F6 upwind or F7 downwind will be less than pleasant. If things get uncomfortable it's always possible to slow down. A big comfort advantage compared to a mono is the lack of tilt and roll, and no slamming because the hulls are so slender. But at the end of the day they are a lightweight performance boat, so they are not designed for oceans and gales.

Beating at 8 knots boatspeed.



Quiet day in the North Channel loaded up with stores so sailing at a lumpen 11 knots boatspeed, on a 4 week trip nowhere near the Solent!



The main problem with them now is their price. :eek:

Final note - there always seems to be a lot of prejudice against them here, some of it hard to understand, like OB above saying that they don't carry weight well (true), but then implying that Farriers do. On basic stats, equivalent sized DF's and Farriers are very similar.
 
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The video does show how incredibly tough they are though. As far as I could see there was no damage, I think even the rig was still intact. Push any boat in the wrong conditions for it and you will capsize it. And also proves they don't sink

If you where cruising you would have been going much slower, well reefed and certainly not the asymmetric up!
 
rhinorhino said:
Went to the SIBS yesterday.

I was looking at the new Dragonfly, what does the panel think?

Two related thoughts occur, first although the boats are clearly capable of high speed in the right conditions, what are sustained passage speeds like and the second is their ability in heavy weather?
Click to expand...

You need to go just a bit bigger:

http://www.neel-trimarans.com/en/nos-trimarans/neel-45/

Considered to be about 20% faster than an equivalent sized cruising cat.
 
oldbilbo said:
.
The phrase 'not more than 60 miles from safe haven' comes to mind. That said, a lot of weekend fun if you sail all the time with a very sharp eye on the weather. :cool:
Click to expand...

When I see restricted envelopes like that I think 'I'd much rather hare around honestly inshore without an eye glued on the forecast in a Skiff / Foiler Moth / Osprey'...!
 
Magic Hempel did the Round Britain and Ireland race way back when?All of 25 foot ?
Have a go on one.If you've never sailed a 'largish' multihull,you are in for a pleasent experiance.
Cheers
 
'Cookie' - or 'Cooking Fat' - was sailed solo around the world and, more recently, across the Atlantic and back again in the 2010 Jester Challenge, by Rory McDougall.

It's not every homebuilt Tiki 21, or every homebuilder, who could have managed that. Consummate seamanship is a VIP part of such adventures.


rory_mcdougall.jpg

Then there's 'Cornish Meadow' with Pete Goss, in the 1988 Carlsberg Singlehanded Transatlantic Race, so "Yes, you can!" - if the boat is prepped well enough and the driver has enough gumption, too. But I'd still want to find gentle breeze and long, low seas for a Dragonfly 'more than 60 miles from safe haven' ( a phrase from the Recreational Craft Directive ). :rolleyes:
 
oldbilbo said:
But I'd still want to find gentle breeze and long, low seas for a Dragonfly 'more than 60 miles from safe haven' ( a phrase from the Recreational Craft Directive ).
Click to expand...

I took a DF1000 across Biscay and on to Majorca in a November. All 5 beams broke, we capsized 3 times, the hinges regularly unhinged themselves, and unfortunately because we were more than 60 miles from a safe haven I am no longer here to tell the tale. This is my cat posting pretending to be me.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
I took a DF1000 across Biscay and on to Majorca in a November. All 5 beams broke, we capsized 3 times, the hinges regularly unhinged themselves, and unfortunately because we were more than 60 miles from a safe haven I am no longer here to tell the tale. This is my cat posting pretending to be me.
Click to expand...

Prawn?
 
oldbilbo said:
I've sailed several of the Dragonflys and I've noted that, exciting though they are in optimum conditions ( flat sea, moderate breeze ), most owners graduate after a while to the Farrier and Dazcat types. There are several reasons given....

They don't carry weight particularly well, so loaded up with gear and stores for a 3-up or 4-up fast cruising holiday to, say, Brittany or Ireland, the sparkling performance edge soon goes and the boat feels 'lumpen'. 2-up, for just a weekend around the Solent, is fine.

These boats tend to get 'thrashed' in MOCRA and club racing programmes. Gear wears out, breaks, fails. Some of that is expensive - and recurring.

Keeping them 'honest' in roughy-toughy weather requires a high order of seamanship and helming skill, sustained, hour after hour. Many UK owners can manage that degree of skill - but not hour after hour after hour into the night without a break. I would think long and hard if asked, for example, to take one across Biscay at this time of year or bring one back from the west of Ireland.

...Not a boat you can stop, batten down, and go below on. The phrase 'not more than 60 miles from safe haven' comes to mind. That said, a lot of weekend fun if you sail all the time with a very sharp eye on the weather. :cool:
Click to expand...

Apparently there are shops in Brittany and Ireland these days.
 
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