Catamarans - To School or Not to School ?

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by wind-lass

Again, I can't thank you all enough for your input. Next step? Think we need to join a sailing club, and get some practice. Keep up our skills and study navigation. Its been 20 years since my nav classes, still have chapmans. Any good texts you recommend to get me back in the swing? They didn't have GPS in '82!

John Rousmaniere - Annapolis Book of Seamanship
Bob Bond - the Handbook of Sailing

I would suggest taking a Coastal Navigation course. As an instructor, I find my students are much more successful in a classroom setting than a correspondence course. A celestial nav course should be taken closer to any offshore expereince. It reallly is a "use or lose it" set of knowledge and skills.

GPS, chartplotters, radar, etc are best learned on aboard. The systems vary quite a bit.

Jack

[Chuteman]

Books - Be careful what you ask for............you could spend more on them than your Cat............and if you start loading them onto your CAT forget about all those performance hopes.

But since you asked:
Amazon.com: Chapman Piloting & Seamanship 65th Edition (Chapman Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling): Elbert S. Maloney: Books

[cchesley]

Hello Sara, thought I'd share my response to your PM with the group.

MaineCats are head & shoulders above any other production cats even close to our price range. (Okay, so I would like a Gunboat 48 but the Admiral says she's not interested...)

One of our primary requirements was the ability to see where we're going while comfortably seated. The MC does that very well the Seawind 1000 also did it well but had no forward facing seats (dinette only) The 360 view is unlike all the competition. One of the other benny's is that the helmperson is a part of the conversation, not perched somewhere up above and away from everyone else. The bridgedeck is all one level. Great for the knees and ankles and much nicer than having to hop up or down to/from the helm, seat, etc.

No, the MC doesn't evoke the aft cabin of an 18th century squarerigger with wood trim and all but it's easy to keep clean, comfy when hot, and doesn't make you a slave to boat projects that you never really wanted to do anyway. The practical reality and simplicity technically outweighs the presence of finely crafted wood work but your friend's won't be as 'impressed' with technical, simple reality. Oh well, so what if they walk away and say "I could never live on/like that". But you'll appreciate sailing and napping instead of sanding and varnishing/oiling.

I've always called it our cottage or 'sun porch', it's a great place to curl up on a coolish or breezy day, snug in the sunshine....

Self tacking jib.... sort of. You end up having to adjust the jib traveler controls on each tack and it helps to slack the jib sheet 6 inches to do it easily. The sheet geometry isn't identical on both tacks and the tension is a bit more when pulling the traveler back one way. It's waaay simpler than a genoa jib.

Sailing qualities... Having chartered a 30 in the Bahamas, I can authoritatively say that the 41 handles much better than the 30. I did like sailing the 30 in the Bahamas with the board up and just relying on the stub keel for leeway resistance. But with the 41, you can sail with both boards sticking just a foot down which protects the prop and rudder and still perform better than most cats to weather. We did it all our time in the Bahamas on our 41, no prob and no sacrifice.

I singlehand all the time, (my wife is along, but usually working at her computer or napping) I also anchor under sail and get underway undersail from anchoring without any difficulty. I take the boat into a lot of places and close proximity to things that go bump (boats and rocks, etc) with complete confidence in having the boat respond positively and smartly. It also heaves to very well and comfortably. Something I couldn't get my J 105 to do!

Maintenance and accessability for repairs is a snap. Just hauled out this week for bottom paint, zince replacement, prop maintenance.... all easy and simple to do. I also love having engine rooms with full headroom. I havent' seen that except on a 67' Nordhaven trawler! MaineCat owners don't suffer doing lots of 'boat repairs in exotic places' while cruising.

Yup, I do like my MC 41....

When do you get yours?

Chris

[wind-lass]

Hey Chuteman,

Actually we're off to the Blue Ridge Mntns for the summer.
Started searching for sailing clubs around Lake Chatuge,
and Lake Lanier. Don't think there's enough water left in
Lake Nottley to do any sailing, or boating for that matter.

Lake Chatuge is on the NC/GA border and Lake Lanier is
North of Atlanta, between the city and the mountains. Have
you ever sailed there? Its a pretty big lake - manmade.
Gonna try to find something local.

Hey, do you know any good Nav books to brush up on my charting
skills?

Thanks, man.
Sara "wind-lass"
mrsgoodcash@gmail.com

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by wind-lass

Its been 20 years since my nav classes, still have chapmans. Any good texts you recommend to get me back in the swing? They didn't have GPS in '82!

Love and Light,
Sara - "Wind-lass"
mrsgoodcash@gmail.com

Glad things are working well and also good to hear a story progress.

20 Years? I think you will be (pleasantly) surprised what comes back even after 20 years. Sorry, not got any books to recomend....why not buy the basics and see wot yer can puzzle out?

[David M]

I just remembered a thread on must-have books to bring on your boat. I'm sure a search would bring up that thread.

There is also American Practical Navigator-Bowditch, which can be downloaded or purchased as a hard copy. It has everything and more than you would ever need about navigation, weather, oceanography etc.

[Chuteman]

W-L:
Whew, no barnacles under your feet............ok, GA it is.

Looks like lots of oppts to sail in all forms.....skipper, crew, cruise, race

Lake Lanier Clubs

Hey, how about this.........you could continue your formal training too:
Windsong Sailing Academy :: Atlanta, Georgia

Navigation Books - I went the US Sailing path, so I used their course book.....sure ASA has similar which you can buy separately.........along with the other suggestions