where can i learn to sail a cat

[penzo]

After years of harpin on to the wife about the joys of boating but getting nowhere, i finally persuaded her to try a 1 hour catamaran trip from benalmadena in june. Horray:- she saw the dolphins and loved the boat, so much so that she now wants to learn to sail,buy a big cat through sunsail and sail the world. Before buying however i convinced her it would be wise to undertake a sailing course (day skipper for myself and competent crew for her) followed by a few charters. No problems she says , just book us in to somewhere in the med where we can learn to sail a cat in relative comfort. As we are both in our mid fifties sailing in monohulls heeled at 20 degrees does not apeal to us and i do not want to scare her off sailing in the initial stages. The problem is i have trawled through the net for med sailing schools and found none (bar one) who can offer cat sailing courses. The one i did find was Broadblue charters in Turkey , but they say they are fully booked through 2009. If anyone can offer any advice or know of any med sailing schools i could try (before the wife goes off the boil, so to speak) i would be very gratefull.

 

[tangomoon]

Do a few months dinghy sailing too - gives you an appreciation of balance, speed, luffing etc etc then bigger stuff allows you to relax a little

 

[oughtoc]

PDSA?

 

[tangomoon]

OK ????

 

[capnsensible]

Try multihullworld.com then go services, then training. They should help.

Disregard any twaddle about dinghys if you are over 50 unless you want a near drowning experience that will probably have cold added.

Most multihull owners will tell you that they are childs play anyway!! Seriously, do the theory course together, at Day Skipper level, maybe night school, and see what the above address can give you. No connection, and good luck.

 

[captainhaddock]

Try Top Cat Cruising School based in Plymouth. I did my DS there 3 years ago and received excellent tuition from Jim (the Principal) and had a great week sailing along the coast of Devon. Their website is at www.multihull.tv

 

[ebbtide]

Re: where can I learn to sail a cat

Sorry, the best training is in a dinghy uncluttered with booze, bogs and all the other paraphernalia of big boat sailing.

Please don't be over-optimistic about cruising catamarans: few go well to windward, they hobbyhorse in a short sea (= bob up and down in the same place) and have a peculiarly unpredictable motion which many peeps find more sick-making than a monohull - a big disappointment when that first joy of not heeling wears off.
That's my conclusion after umpteen Channel crossings FWIW.

 

[Talbot]

Re: where can I learn to sail a cat

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry, the best training is in a dinghy uncluttered with booze, bogs and all the other paraphernalia of big boat sailing.

Please don't be over-optimistic about cruising catamarans: few go well to windward, they hobbyhorse in a short sea (= bob up and down in the same place) and have a peculiarly unpredictable motion which many peeps find more sick-making than a monohull - a big disappointment when that first joy of not heeling wears off.
That's my conclusion after umpteen Channel crossings FWIW.

[/ QUOTE ]

Such a terrible motion that TCM who was a big mobo guy ihas just completed - is it his 5th transatlantic on his big Privilege.

Check his original thread, his wife doesnt like a half boat. neither like heeling over, you trying to put them off sailing, or just being you normal self?

 

[snowleopard]

I would be uncomfortable sailing with someone who had gone into sailing cruising cats without doing some time in small tippy things. There is very little feedback to tell you when you are getting near the limit in a big cat but if you have been capsized in a dinghy a few times or had the lee rail under in a gust in a smallish mono you tend to have a bit more respect for the conditions.

As the saying goes, I am an old sailor, not a bold one but I have scared myself a couple of times by carrying on when I should have reefed. Running at 11 knots was exciting but a few moments later putting both bows into a wave at 17 knots and taking green water right over the boat is something I hope not to repeat.

 

[Tranona]

Kiriacoulis have a number of cats in their charter fleet and can provide a skipper. This might be the next stage up once you have done the theory.

 

[jamesjermain]

Re: where can I learn to sail a cat

If you want to learn how to get the most out of a boat and be as good a sailor as you can, then the only place to start is on dinghies. But if you only want to enjoy cruising safely then I do not believe it is essential and may only delay the moment when you set off on adventures in your own boat. I would recommend the bonding benefits of doing a Day Skipper course together

As for your comments on multihulls, all I can say is each to his own. Cats and tris are not for everyone and some people do find the motion odd, but usually only those who have been brought up on mother's milk and monohulls at the same time.

I switched codes three years ago after flirting with the idea for the previous 10 and have not regretted it. Modern cats are generally much better sailers than those of the 60s, 70s and early eighties and the best of the modern generation can outsail almost all modern cruising monos.

It might not be politically correct to say so but it is true nonetheless, that women, in particular, find catamarans much more comfortable and acceptible. If your wife is a reluctant sailor and you want to keep sailing as a couple, a multihull is a very sound choice. And the blokes, too, might just admit they like the extra space and comofrt, the lack of rolling at anchor, finding the gin and tonic still on the table where they left it, not having to fight weather helm for hours at a stretch while bracing their feet on a lee bench just 6in too far away.

There are drawbacks, obviously, the most serious, perhaps, being that they do not have the feel or response to satisfy the purist. Coming a close second is the cost of marina berthing. But if you're cruising the world you very seldom use marinas anyway.

 

[photodog]

The RYA Day Skipper and Competent crew courses will not teach you how to Sail, they will teach you how to manage the boat, but They are not intended to teach the finer points of sailing per se....

You need to learn to sail first, by taking something like a RYA keelboat course or dingy courses, and then learn how to run/manage a bigger yacht.

My wife has taken the Coastal skipper theory and the Comp Crew and has spent the past 5 years on the boat with me, but because she has never really learnt how to sail, (Despite my best efforts) she is still confused about things like... "How do I know were to put the sails??" I think its because she has never sailed a small dingy.....

 

[jamesjermain]

'Try Top Cat Cruising School based in Plymouth.'

Top Cat (the boat) was for sale and I have a feeling Jim is taking a sabatical. I haven't seen him in our part of the world this season and he usually uses the pub moorings on a monthly basis. But here is no harm in trying to contact him through his web site although it hasn't been updated since December last year.

 

[tangomoon]

Should have added - your wife should learn to sail a dinghy separately to you - RYA dinghy courses up to level four doesn't take long - somebody there to drag you out of the water if necessary etc

that way she will taught to be a helm under her own knowledge

rather than a helm under instructions from you

Assuming that wouldn't threaten you!

You can always shout at her until she does as she's told!

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

additonally - whether you're going far from land or not - she does need to be able to do EVERYTHING aboard in case you disappear.

BOL

 

[Rumtotty]

Dear Mrs Penzo,

May I respectfully suggest you should learn to do everything that Mr Penzo does.
Nothing will boost your confidence better than aquiring boaty knowledge and skills and being able to particapate in the safe running of the boat is definately more fun than worrying about "What if" and being a passenger!.
Can't recommend winter evening classes and short courses enough along with practical experience under a confidence building instructor's guidance.
Welcome to the water!

 

[captainhaddock]

>> Top Cat (the boat) was for sale and I have a feeling Jim is taking a sabatical....his web site...hasn't been updated since December last year.<<

The news page on the website is up to date: www.multihull.tv/news.htm

It seems that in fact Jim is collecting a new boat (a Privilege) this month and there are courses running after that. Look out for a Privilege outside the pub!

 

[capnsensible]

Hiya and thanks for the reply. I reckon some opinions here are definately from the under 50ies!!
I can honestly say that I have taught many, many people how to sail tht have never been near a dinghy. If you want to drive a car do you have to fall off a skateboard first....
Regarding catamarans, well maybe earlier boats, 20 years or more ago did have performance and comfort problems, but not insumountable. Some 20 odd years ago I was delivering a Prout from Edinburgh to Bergen and about halfway the gearbox packed in but I got her there under sail with reasonable comfort, albeit a tad slow. To compare vessels of that era to modern craft is not quite fair though.
A couple of years back I delivered a Fontain Pajot 40 footer from St Lucia, across the Atlantic and thence through the Med to Croatia, a fair yacht test I feel. The manufacturers handbook gave clear details of recommended sail plan for various windspeeds and relative directions. I applied this very stringently in the interests of Insurance cover with no problem. We even had a couple of interesting days in heavier airs of 50 knots plus in relative comfort. General winward performance was quite acceptable with no pitching at all.
I feel that if the average older person is shown how and why to sail within the reccommended limits whilst their experience grows, the whole thing is not as daunting as some of the parishoners here opinions may suggest, whether founded on fact or sheer speculation!!
And, of course, talking of TCM, as I write this, I can see the recently arrived Mojomo from my saloon window. Lock up your booze!!!!!
Bit long winded but hope it helps someone.

 

[webcraft]

[ QUOTE ]
Top Cat (the boat) was for sale and I have a feeling Jim is taking a sabatical. I haven't seen him in our part of the world this season and he usually uses the pub moorings on a monthly basis. But here is no harm in trying to contact him through his web site although it hasn't been updated since December last year.

[/ QUOTE ]
In the News section of the Top Cat site it says:

[ QUOTE ]
Dates with space. 2008

Sorry folks, no courses in August this year as I'm away delivering our new boat from Galway in Ireland. She's a Jeantot Privilege 12m.

September and October. All weeks available except 1st - 6th Autumn courses will be run on Moorings 42 ( Leopard 42) All mod cons. loads of room!

Start Sundays at 2000 through Fridays about 1600



[/ QUOTE ] . . . so very much still in business it would seem and sounds ideal for you - hopefully the weather will improve in September when the schools go back!

- W

 

[snowleopard]

Were you replying to me?

I was saying the reverse to what you seem to have answered, i.e. that sailing a cat is NOT daunting - you can get close to the limit without realising it. If you have a book and adhere to the rules laid down you can be reasonably safe but I personally feel that there is no substitute for a healthy respect for wind and sea acquired from a boat that lets you know when it is overpressed. A cat will carry on quite happily until a slight increase in conditions pushes it beyond its limits.

 

[Gludy]

As I understand it a cat requires about five times the amount of fore to flip as a mono does to roll.

I think that you really would have to be stupid to flip one.

I agree that the physics are that when it starts to go it goes quickly.