Long-Distance Sailing

[Randy]

Speed & comfort are such relative terms.

Without having to go to the IDEC level.
To illustrate the prior owners of my 31' trimaran were prepping to leave Papeete for Hawaii and were getting a lot of grief about the unseaworthiness of their multihull from a singlehander on a similar sized mono. This guy left a couple days before the tri and after two days of sailing the tri is passing this same monohull. The trimarans crew is lounging on the cabin top eating tea & crumpets, the singlehander is staring out harnessed in with a death grip on the shrouds.

This is a story of speed & comfort, but what creates that is all relative. Mono or multihull neither is necessarily better it's a matter of what you're comfortable with.

Like Oceangirl stated you've got to use your prior experience & decide what needs to be improved on.
Use your money to setup whatever boat well for singlehanding. The 32' Islander that Oceangirl refered to has been setup well. Radar, AIS, selfsteering, redundant communications.

[Ocean Girl]

As a singlehander I prefer a mono, I feel more confident how a mono will react if I get hit by a bad storm. Having said that, the mono better be able to take a bad storm cause they are out there twice as long

Randy, when you fly by me will you throw me a crumpet?

Erika

[Randy]

Very funny Erika.

To your other point, that's what preferences are all about & what creates a comfort level. After 10's of thousands of miles it's fairly deep seated & that's fine as far as I'm concerned a good boat is a good boat. I'm actually considering a monohull - small < 30' trailer sailer ULDB of course.

[Ocean Girl]

Randy, you are (monos rule) absolutly correct (monos rule)

BTW- I know I'm a total dweeb but -what is ULDB?

I hope you know I'm just picking on you, I lived aboard and sailed a Gemini and loved it! I hope one day to cruise on a big beautiful Cat...PEACE

[Randy]

I love your sense of humor!
It is OK for mono sailors to choose to be uncomfortable in order to feel safe.
ULDB is ultra light displacement boat. They are not cruisers per/se tho some do some light cruising in them. The good ones (able to sail in open ocean) do just that; they are often raced west coast to Hawaii. My interest is the ease & economy of drysailing, small package and it has to perform well in a variety of conditions.

The thing with full keel, full displacement boats is they've got to have big engines. I sold my tri to a mono sailor who saw a Searunner sailing along while he was in his engine compartment doing repairs because without the engine his boat wouldn't move. I was at the stage where it paid for a kitchen remodel for my family and it was the right thing to do. Now I'm desperate to get back on the water. 'Nother story 'nother time.
Cheers