Do Multihullers Ever go Back?

[weavis]

Last patient came and went. 1 am UK time. Tired out.

I just had one of those subconscious moments of realisation.

We dont HAVE to choose between monohulls and Multihulls for sailing on.

We just choose which boat we PREFER for a certain situation. Ive been saying that on here in bits and pieces but......... the reality is there is not a choice to "go back"....... I never left. I just chose to have a Catamaran for living on. Its a type of boat and I like it.

I like them a lot.

[caradow]

donradcliffe you are correct and it was a voyage cat that flipped but without knowing exactly what was going on it is difficult to blame the boat. Apparently they went out with a known approaching storm and anything else is conjecture. Remember Capt. Walbridge? Although I will admit it was not a hurricane but non-the-less maybe a little reservation would have saved 3 lives.
Similarly an Atlantic 57 flipped on its way to Australia a few years ago.
I am not sure where you are coming from with that statement other that perpetuating the monohull vs. multihull debate. Something I refuse to get involved with.
also colemj thank you for your clarification.
the reality is that I do not think of my boat as a performance multihull ( whatever that means) but maybe something in between.
I guess a performance multihull is something that goes upwind like a performance monohull and can reach 20 kts downwind?

[Canibul]

Sports cars are a lot of fun. Unless you have to live in your vehicle.

We bought the Winnnebago.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by weavis

er......... Id be happier on this than a monohull..

ki

Caradow, this is the kind of crap the multihull promoters put out--a story about a multi surviving a cyclone while sipping tea, with videos of no wind-driven spume, waves less than 3 meters, etc. This makes people like Weavis buy into the fantasy that cats can go anywhere with relative safety.

I made the posts to try to bring the dreamers back to reality. Cats may be OK for the milk run and the tropics out of cyclone season, but they are vulnerable to disasters in heavy weather.

You at least have some experience offshore with both cats and monos, so I'll put the question to you--in storm (F9-10) conditions, would you honestly be more comfortable and feel safer in your V440 or your previous Little Harbor 50??

PS, I'm boatless, so have no vested interest in Cats or Monos.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

ki

Caradow, this is the kind of crap the multihull promoters put out--a story about a multi surviving a cyclone while sipping tea, with videos of no wind-driven spume, waves less than 3 meters, etc. This makes people like Weavis buy into the fantasy that cats can go anywhere with relative safety.

I made the posts to try to bring the dreamers back to reality. Cats may be OK for the milk run and the tropics out of cyclone season, but they are vulnerable to disasters in heavy weather.

You at least have some experience offshore with both cats and monos, so I'll put the question to you--in storm (F9-10) conditions, would you honestly be more comfortable and feel safer in your V440 or your previous Little Harbor 50??

PS, I'm boatless, so have no vested interest in Cats or Monos.

Well, we recently had a Hans Christian that ripped open its hull-deck joint from a single knockdown in F5-6 conditions.

Where will you take, and what will you make of that?

BTW, that V440 on the beach knowingly launched itself into one of the worst storms of the year to make a delivery schedule. Even the fishing fleet pulled into harbor for that one. What do you make of that? Would a (pick your monohull model) have also survived?

Sounds like you have a little interest still…

Mark

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

SNIP

I'll put the question to you--in storm (F9-10) conditions, would you honestly be more comfortable and feel safer in your V440 or your previous Little Harbor 50??

SNIP

A while back there was a similar thread with some back and forth about monohulls or cats being better in heavy weather. Till someone posted they sailed on a commercial ship over six hundred feet long and wondered why folks were arguing over who was the tallest midget in the room.

[colemj]

I've never not wished for an extra 600' when the weather goes south!

Mark

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by tomfl

A while back there was a similar thread with some back and forth about monohulls or cats being better in heavy weather. Till someone posted they sailed on a commercial ship over six hundred feet long and wondered why folks were arguing over who was the tallest midget in the room.

Sounds like me but it wasn't.

[caradow]

Well donradcliffe you ask a very difficult question!
I want to say my cat but HONESTLY I would have to choose my Little Harbor for those horrendous conditions. I say this with some reservation in that I am a newcomer to cats and have never experienced anything stronger than high 30's in my cat. However I did experienced microbursts to probably 70 in my Little Harbor off the coast of New Jersey when bringing my boat up from Florida. I say "probably 70" because we were knocked down when we were ok at 55 when we got a very short burst that laid us on side for awhile which seemed like an eternity. She came back up nicely and we continued on our way. Obviously the waves were not large like they would have been in a real storm however. Give me a few more years in multihulls and I might change my mind but I have to be honest with you.
I would hope I never have to tell anyone about experiencing a Hurricane while out at sea. I suspect their are those on this forum who have and I would love to hear their comments.
As a side line I have a sailing buddy who while in the merchant marines went through a Cat 5 Typhoon in the South China Sea. When he told me the story I made the comment that he was lucky to have been on a big ship. And he quickly answered that he would have rather been on a small boat. Then of course I asked him why and he got a very serious look in his eye and stated that in a small boat you can't really see what it looks like

[weavis]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

ki

Caradow, this is the kind of crap the multihull promoters put out--a story about a multi surviving a cyclone while sipping tea, with videos of no wind-driven spume, waves less than 3 meters, etc. This makes people like Weavis buy into the fantasy that cats can go anywhere with relative safety.

I made the posts to try to bring the dreamers back to reality. Cats may be OK for the milk run and the tropics out of cyclone season, but they are vulnerable to disasters in heavy weather.

You at least have some experience offshore with both cats and monos, so I'll put the question to you--in storm (F9-10) conditions, would you honestly be more comfortable and feel safer in your V440 or your previous Little Harbor 50??

PS, I'm boatless, so have no vested interest in Cats or Monos.

donradcliffe. it is always best to know what a person does for a living and what experience they have in life before making assumptions. For that reason I will merely state that your inaccurate assesment of both catamarans as a seaworthy vessel, and my abilities to differentiate fantasy from reality is not appreciated.

There is, or was, a friendly banter in this thread, which sadly diminished when some people, including yourself, have made snide and pointed one side comments deliberately to stir up dissention to assert Catamarans are not safe or a viable sea going vessel.

The fact that you are boatless does not confer a lack of vested interest in Cats or Monos. It merely means you are without a boat.

YOu are perfectly entitled to your own opinion but please do not make a false statement that you are ambivelent about which hull you prefer.

[TeddyDiver]

Cool down weavis You seem to take other peoples opinions too personally IMHO
BR Teddy

[weavis]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

Cool down weavis You seem to take other peoples opinions too personally IMHO
BR Teddy

There is a difference between taking an opinion personally and watching someone deliberately push an agenda whilst denying it all the time.......

[boatman61]

Both mono's and Cat's are capable of Pitchpoling.. both are capable of Broaching and being flipped..
In the majority of case's its not down to the type of boat but human error.. a dickhead is a dickhead...
Even Wharrams.. one of the most stable cats going due to low windage and minimum solid bridge deck can be flipped if you sail it beam on in big sea's and strong winds..

[Canibul]

a sister ship to our old Catalac survived the Queen's Birthday Storm in 94.

Surviving the Storm Massive Waves Rescue - YouTube

I thought this was a pretty interesting writeup about the specific boats in that storm:
Multihull Dynamics, Inc. - News Article

including three catamarans.

I think I'll stay with this old boat. The fact that people have to start reaching for 600 ft. comparisons makes me smile.


Weavis, don't sweat the old hard core monohull folks. WHen they can afford the other half of their boats, they'll start to mellow out.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Both mono's and Cat's are capable of Pitchpoling.. both are capable of Broaching and being flipped..
In the majority of case's its not down to the type of boat but human error.. a dickhead is a dickhead...
Even Wharrams.. one of the most stable cats going due to low windage and minimum solid bridge deck can be flipped if you sail it beam on in big sea's and strong winds..

My last motor boat was 40ish foot long. To the best of my financial abilities it was fitted with all the aids (and more) required for safe passaging.
However as Boatie says, this is to a lesser extent, not as important as SAFE HANDLING of the vessel. I had my boat delivered from Miami to Sarasota Florida.

The Skipper told me of a certain 'characteristic' he had experienced whilst picking up a friend of mine from the Keys.

He "highly recommended" a total avoidance in turning the vessel a certain way in a heavy state and showed me how to negate the effects of a beam on sea with engine thrust and continued angle of turning. As long as I did it that way... the boat behaved like a lady. If I didnt...... it was unpleasant and potentially a capsize in severe weather.

I dont believe any vessel is unsinkable. Its just that some float.