The Future of Catamarans

[Canibul]

Bamboo, are you following Randy and Hideko on "Sailing On A Star", their blog about circumnavigating in their St. Francis 50? They came through here on their way South when they first started, and we met them online and then spent a day or two with them while they were here. Great people. Beautiful boat.

We even rated getting a post on their blog, which is an unusual thing for us, to be on someone else's blog. Of course we must have seemed like characters at the time. They have met MUCH more interesting people than us since then...ha ha.

[Laidback]

NO Worries Cats will go from strength to strength

[Eleven]

The bigger CAT's seem to dominate this discussion but the Sales of the Mahe 36 are good.
Adequate in most respects, reasonable quality because they make bigger boats where reputation matters, and a reasonable price for a pretty, pretty fast and quite roomy boat.
I like mine better, if only it had a steam engine! But offer me a straight swap. I don't want bigger, I don't want to be wet all day. I do want to sail in early spring and late autumn when temperatures require warm clothing. Without being wet.
Cats are great for being there too, where ever you end up, you sleep sound, eat well and have room to stretch out comfortably in a warm saloon, or snooze in a private bunk.

[boatsmith]

A simple 30' cat that sails in 28" of water. Not a liveaboard condo by most folks standard. It would need to be about 36' to have standing headroom. Sails well,up and down. Doesn't like upwind in slop with light air.

[SailBamboo]

YES, we're sorta following Randy and Hideko! So funny you should ask that! Met them in Grenada in 2006, hooked up again the following year or so in Cartegena, Columbia and spent quite a bit of time with 'the most gracious people you'll ever meet' going over their boat and eventually went to S Africa and ordered our own! We had been looking at cats for quite a while, and were seriously looking at building from scratch to get the customization we wanted. So glad we didn't go that route!
Although it'll be quite a while before we actually catch up with them again, plan is to pass thru to Pacific in 2010 or 2011. We should be up in your neck of the woods in a couple months with kids, grands and cousins visiting!
Randy and Hideko are busy writing, so it's possible for us to catch them once again!
Roxanne s/v BAMBOO

[Abaco]

David,

Your boat looks great in Sail Magazine this month. Congratulations on the good press!

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by boatsmith

A simple 30' cat that sails in 28" of water. Not a liveaboard condo by most folks standard. It would need to be about 36' to have standing headroom. Sails well,up and down. Doesn't like upwind in slop with light air.

Gemini's do with in slightly less length. The alternative is adding a doghouse to older smaller boats.

David, how did your get together in South Florida go? Did the weather cooperate?

[Eleven]

Multihull World (UK Broker) Newsletter Jan 2010
Broadblue 415 01 and 04 in the ARC
We were delighted to hear from John Macrae, owner of Broadblue 415/04 at the end of his atlantic crossing in the Atlantic Race for Cruisers (ARC) and to also hear that he and BB415/01 were the first two catamarans under 44ft to finish proving yet again that these are truly first class cruising catamarans. Perhaps the most important quote from John is "We have no issues at all to report. Nothing broke!!"

Cruising Cats, doing what they do best. Another thread has previous ARC 'results' showing Cats outperform mono's on WL basis. They cost more, to moor and buy, but you get more. That will only improve in the cruise market, so long as it remains separate from the charter market.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by boatsmith

A simple 30' cat that sails in 28" of water. Not a liveaboard condo by most folks standard. It would need to be about 36' to have standing headroom. Sails well,up and down. Doesn't like upwind in slop with light air.

If nothing else, the Wharram designs at least go a long way toward addressing the "ugly" argument.

[Jerry Wheeler]

I returned to a mono after having sailed a cat (prout 37) for 2 glorious years. The mono was okay but not where the heart was. Size of accomodations and price were the only reason to go back. After years of being away from boating in S. Texas we returned to a cat. Happy days are here again!!

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Eleven

... Cats outperform mono's on WL basis. They cost more, to moor and buy, but you get more. That will only improve in the cruise market, so long as it remains separate from the charter market.

That’s interesting information, which doesn’t address the constraints most of us face when purchasing a cruiser.
I could adapt my plans to accommodate a larger boat; but can only spend so much money.
A much more useful comparison would be between boats of a similar cost, to purchase & operate.