Multihull storm tactics?

[cat man do]

Hi Lodesman,I still would'nt have anything but a cored composite boat, but it would have to be done right and would have to be the right core and it would never be in polyester resin .

Some of the core samples and bilges of cats i've worked on in the past certaily seem to have chopper gun glass in them, but mainly as a consolidation layer between woven rovings and the core or gelcoat, but it could also be CSM, none of which has a place in the modern composite multi.

Some factories still have chopper in use, but I suspect mainly as a resin sprayer.

I'll see if I can track down some info on Simpson design for you. I know Boatcraft Pacific sell his plans, and I also know Roger got out of boat's unless it was for something he really wanted to do. He took up flying and instructing and now builds custom Banjo's beleive it or not.

Nice change of pace for him and well deserved.

Dave

[cat man do]

OK, i've had a look on google and this is all i've found on Roger Simpson Multihulls www.boatcraft.com.au/simpson.html

I also found some info on his cats and others in the 1994 storm off the top of NZ . www.bluesuit.co.nz

If you want more info. there is plenty more if you Google "RAMTHA CATAMARAN", the email addresses on some are just way to long for me to type in

Dave

[Tropic Cat]

I found this by taking Cat Man Do's advice and googled Ramtha Catamaran. It was in a mailing list at:

http://lists.samurai.com/pipermail/p...il/001034.html


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Although this deals with sailing cats—not many had much sail up by the time it was over. It certainly deals with the ability of a group of at least three cats to survive a storm—but also has some lessons for monohulls! This relates to the Queens Birthday Day Storm in June 1994. Typically one sails from Auckland N.Z. North to Fiji After the first week of April and before the end of June. This should avoid the Souther Cyclone season and the severe winter Gales. In 1994 there were a series of mild lows which kept many mariners from leaving in April and May—none of these were severe—but folks were waiting for “Ideal weather”. However time crept up on them. The meteriological scenerio is well described in the web site of Steve Dashew at: http://www.setsail.com/products/pdfs/qbs.pdf

The story unfolds as noted in the archives of Lat 38, June 1999:

‘It’s unclear exactly how many boats were caught in the core of the June ’94 storm, but nine boats with a total of 24 crew issued maydays. One boat and her three crew were never seen again. Seven other boats with 17 crew were eventually rescued. One boat rescinded her mayday and made it to port under her own power. What should make the Queen’s Birthday Storm story so interesting to you, .... is that two of the nine boats that issued maydays were catamarans; one a homebuilt 39-footer, the other a Catalac 41.

In addition, there was a third catamaran, a 39-footer, on the periphery of the core. The following is a quick rundown of all nine boats, their crews, and what happened to each of them.” Also an analysis of the monohulls condensed: “

Five things stand out from the experience of the seven monohulls:

1) Despite all efforts, it was virtually impossible to keep the boats from ending up beam-to the seas, which resulted in five of the boats being repeatedly knocked down or rolled.

2) Despite trailing drogues, two of the boats pitch poled.

3) No matter if the seven monohulls pitch poled or rolled, all of them lost their masts.

4) As a result of the pitch poles, knockdowns, and rollovers, many of the crews suffered serious injuries.

5) Having a ship come alongside to effect a rescue was extremely difficult and dangerous foreveryone involved.

6) Perhaps the most amazing thing is how well the seven boats held up to the unthinkably horrible conditions; had it not been for scuttling or collisions with rescuing ships, six of them would have continued to float.

The age-old admonition to never leave a boat until it’sunderwater would seem as true as ever.

Now for the catamarans:

“Ramtha, a 38-foot Roger Simpson designed modern-style catamaran from Australia, with a husband and wife crew with five years of coastal cruising experience and some offshore experience: The crew had set a drogue several days before the storm to fix her steering, but had to cut it loose when they were unable to pull it back up. Ultimately, they found themselves in 70 knots of wind and 40 foot seas, conditions so bad that the 4,000-ton ship Monowai, coming to their rescue, rolled as much as 48º in each direction, injuring three of her crew. Despite four reefs, Ramtha’s main blew to shreds and her steering system became inoperable. With nothing but her twin engines available for maneuvering, being aboard her was like “going down a mountain in a wooden box” or being on a “roller coaster that never stopped.” The boat slid down waves forward, sideways, and backwards. Several times it seemed as though she might flip, but she never did. Ultimately, Monowai shot a line to Ramtha’s crew, but missed. While the line gun was being reloaded, Ramtha’s crew began to get strong second thoughts about leaving the boat, feeling he was doing fine on her own despite being crippled. Nonetheless, they attached their harnesses when the second line landed on their boat, and were dragged several hundred feet ÷ often underwater ÷ to and up the side of the ship. After abandoning the cat, the owners gave her up for lost. A week or so later, they were stunned to learn that the boat had been found ÷ upright and in surprisingly good shape! After settling a salvage claim with another yachtie, they eventually sailed her back to Oz where they began rebuilding the cruising kitty.

Heart Light, a 41-foot Catalac U.S.-based catamaran with a crew of four; a husband and wife couple with 16,000 ocean miles, and two crew with no offshore experience: Despite having 16,000 miles ocean experience, the captain and wife claimed to have not steered the boat except near the dock and to have never jibed between the States and New Zealand. Heart Light was a heavy, solid fiberglass, narrow catamaran. Nevertheless, she did reasonably well, surfing at between 6 and 13 knots while dragging a drogue. When the autopilot couldn’t handle it any longer, the skipper finally learned how to steer, working desperately to prevent waves from slewing the stern in front of the bow. Eventually, both engines went down and linesfouled both rudders. They tied off the helm to port and slid sideways down waves. Despite being “captapulted” through the air on many occasions and being knocked onto one hull several other times, she endured. When the rescue ship arrived, her captain noted that the boat “appeared seaworthy and was riding comfortably in the improved weather.” When the captain said he couldn’t tow the boat, Heart Light’s first mate, a New Age visionary, talked the ship’s captain into a weird agreement: they would only allow themselves to be rescued if he promised to ram Heart Light until she sank. The woman’s theory was that the sinking boat would be a lighthouse guiding the forces of good through seven layers of reality into our currently evil world. Something like that ÷ and yes, she wrote a book. The ship’s captain complied, and Heart Light sank after being rammed several times.

The third catamaran, a 40-footer, carried a deeply reefed main and furled jib in slightly lighter conditions outside of the core. She experienced no serious problems.

There are several interesting things about the two catamarans in the core area of the storm:

1) Neither of them pitchpoled;

2) Neither of them flipped÷ although the crews thought they came close;

3) Neither of them were dismasted;

4) Both of them apparently would have survived ÷ by surfing forwards, sideways, and backwards ÷ had they just been left alone.

Does this mean that multihulls are actually safer in very severe weather than monohulls? We ÷ who own both a monohull and a catamaran ÷ certainly wouldn’t leap to that conclusion. After all, there were several other monohulls in the core area of the storm that didn’t even issue maydays and survived the storm with very little damage. And while it’s much too small asample on which to base any firm conclusions on, the performance of the catamarans in the storm nonetheless had some influence on our deciding to build a cat for our next charterboat.By the way, most of the factual information presented above comes from Rescue In The Pacific, a well-written and well-documented account of the Queen’s Birthday Storm by Tony Farrington. The book is still in print.
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[cat man do]

Good on ya mate. I was hoping somone with better keyboard skills or smart enough to save text to this forum might put some of the story here.

The lady on "Heartlight " , sounds an "interesting" type

Dave

[DtM]

Hi Lodesman,

On what do you base your comments about Fountaine Pajot construction?

No partricular barrow to push, I would just like to know.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by sneuman

If given a 50-50 chance of outrunning bad weather in an unseaworthy (or unsuitable) boat for heavy weather conditions or to plow through in a boat that can take it, I'd take the latter any day.

Our current boat is a 40' steel Roberts - one that can certainly "take it" but equally certainly wouldn't outrun very much at all. I am building our next boat - a fast, light, but immensely strong catamaran. So I have made my choice.

[Lodesman]

Dave and Rick - thanks for the links. Very informative and entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the Bluesuit tales.

DtM - I admit I don't have first-hand knowledge of this, nor do I have a beef with FP; just read it in a few magazine articles and heard similar in conversations with other cat aficionados.

Kevin

[Tropic Cat]

Well, that's one way to sink a Catalac

Rick in Florida

[Lodesman]

I wonder what the insurance companies would have to say about this practice?

Kevin

[David_Old_Jersey]

I will admit that I don't know enough about Catamarans to give any advice about Storm tactics (and I would hesitate to give any "advice" for a monohull).......but the attitude that "I will be faster than the weather" is a bit different from what I am used to / displays a greater faith in Weather forecasts than I have, unless it's a coastal hop / day trip.

Not to say that folk won't manage this 999 times out of 1000, but whether a Monohull or a Multi I would want to be on a boat I knew could cope with the 1 in a 1000 event and also it was a Boat that I could cope with. But I appreciate that opinions and experiances will vary from my own.

Still, with a Catamaran I guess the advantage is that if someone does get in wrong and dismasted or flipped that Air Sea Rescue do have................plenty of room to land the chopper

And for those of us with bright yellow bottom paint, be easily spotted

[cat man do]

I have actually seen on some multis the underwing or underside of beams painted signal orange.

Not such a stupid idea

Dave

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by cat man do

I have actually seen on some multis the underwing or underside of beams painted signal orange.

Not such a stupid idea

Dave

Signal orange - non skid. I wont ever need it, but that's what I will be doing.

The ammas are not yet painted, but will also be "VIVID" yellow. The non skid areas on deck will also be bright yellow,

[Lodesman]

KN,

Are you doing the topsides yellow too? It's always amazed me that people pick white and blue (and sometimes, black) as colours for their boats. They sure look nice, but are bloody hard to be seen. I'm thinking of going red for the hull and yellow topside; might make me look like the coast guard, but my motto is "see and be seen".

Kevin