South African Cats Are the Best Blue Water Boats!

[Sand crab]

Recently I was invited by my friend to have dinner with his friend who were both South Africans (ZA). My friend has a ZA cat. They went on to tell me how the boats built in ZA are better because they have to handle the turbulent seas right off the coast. I mentioned that all the French, Australian, American, British, etc boats can all be found literally at the opposite ends of the earth from their point of origin so they must be equally capable as well. They wouldn't hear it and kept talking up their countries boats. So, I let it go.

I wished I brought up the fact that Lagoons are put right in the Bay of Biscay from birth. Nothing ever gets rough there!

PS I am in Montana having dinner with 2 ZAs who live in the same town I live in. Small world.

[atoll]

well somebody has to keep the french,aussies and kiwis from getting too far up themselves.....one of these days they might learn to play rugby as well.......

[D&D]

So pleased that atoll didn't mention cricket...

Back to the OP tho...

Really...it's the height of ignorance (and arrogance, but we'll leave that for another South African thread...) for anyone to claim theirs is the best blue water boat. We hear something very similar here, along the lines of 'built Australian tough for Australian tough conditions', but that's nothing more than a catchy marketing expression...even though yes, some of the vessels so marketed are indeed excellent blue water vessels. The ignorance kicks in with the necessary assumption that Australian (or South African) conditions are somehow tougher than everywhere else...and then one looks around the world for places renown for tough conditions...and finds HEAPS of such places!

We saw plenty similar puffery during our 4yr vessel buying search. We now recall with amusement one broker who stated as a fact that all Lagoons were basically unseaworthy for blue water; that's a statement we now know first hand to be pure self-serving b------t.

Sure there are vessels that wouldn't be very comfortable (or even very safe) in blue water for many reasons, but blue water ability cannot be determined by country of origin!

After ~20,000nm crossing the Med, the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Pacific & the Tasman...and then up and down the OZ east coast and Tasmania, we know our beloved CatNirvana is a superb blue water boat, proven safe in seriously rough conditions. We would never, however, suggest she is the 'best' at anything other than being the best boat for us!

Anyway, we say 'Hurrah!' for all blue water boats...and for all the people who love sailing them!

[salticrak]

My wharram cat, built by me, is the best in the world you see, I,m a South African.....

[D&D]

Originally Posted by salticrak

My wharram cat, built by me, is the best in the world you see, I,m a South African.....

Love it!

[tamicatana]

how lekker

[tuskie]

Hey Sand Crab,
Those Zud Africaans know they aren't the only builders of good ocean going cruising catamarans, but they usually have a good sense of humour. Are you sure they weren't just having you on? They are good at keeping a straight face. Nearly as good as the English.
R & C, of Leopard catamarans realised that to get a good design they had to get a Californian company (M&M) to do the job. Gino and Pete have designed Leopard's best boats. Are they 100% South African?
We have plenty of ZAs here in Australia, as we are one of the closest down wind countries, and we all know their cats won't sail to windward! They are nice people, they like beer and braais (google that one) but don't take their bragging too seriously. A bit like the English really. By the way, have they played the All Blacks lately?

[Sand crab]

They were very adamant about it. They talked about windage on the Lagoons and something about breaking to bits in a storm. I didn't bring up the bridgedeck issue on just about all ZA cats. I was a guest after all. They did like Outremers though.

[tuskie]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

I didn't bring up the bridgedeck issue on just about all ZA cats.

LOL. Yeah. Just about all except the Morrelli and Melvin designed ones.

[ghostrider]

Performance Catamarans Sailboats | Lightweight Leisure Catamarans

[colemj]

^^^^^^

Aaaaannnndddd…. we have come full circle. Haven't seen Gideon put through the wringer here for several years now!

Mark

[Teleman]

I grew up and learned to sail in Cape Town.
Very gnarly seas/winds at times, and very few hidey-holes along the coast. You know you're near the Southern Ocean!

Most ZA cats are built for charter, hence the b/deck and weight issues. A very good friend makes his living delivering cats from CT to the Caribbean. His feedback is that most of the boats have various build/rigging issues that the delivery crew has to fix/deal with.

There are several world-class builders there, Bongers of Gunboat fame comes to mind. But the charter boats are built to very demanding cost/time frames, which leads to some compromises.

Edit: However, ZA boerewors is indisputably the world's best sausage!

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Teleman

However, ZA boerewors is indisputably the world's best sausage!

Yes, true, but they also do not sail to windward very well!

[Blue Skye]

Originally Posted by colemj

^^^^^^

Aaaaannnndddd…. we have come full circle. Haven't seen Gideon put through the wringer here for several years now!

Mark

[SimonV]

If I remember correctly, was it the Bumfuzzles cat, the one that was built in South Africa that started to delaminat and needed to have major work done in New Zealand.