Photos of the New Leopard 50

[Zzmeyer]

It seems a number of posts are a bit off topic, but I had a ball reading them. A 45 year monohull owner who just pulled the trigger on a FP Saona 47 I'm a nervous newbie. I went to the boat show">Miami boat show thinking I was going to place an order on a Leopard 50. I had just completed an 800 mile rally finishing near the front of the fleet along side a very well sailed Leopard 48. I think (with no cat experience) that some of the performance problems can be attributed to "charter like" configuration - no downwind sails, no folding prop. I must say I was impressed with the Leopard 48 (off wind) performance. Two issues for me on the Leopard 50 were 1) it was huge. Much bigger than the 48 and more than I needed. The other, a killer for me, was the site lines from the helm. I couldn't see any of the four corners of the boat. Although an experienced offshore sailor I'm excited to learn about sailing a cat - whether from the arm chair quarterbacks or the seasoned professional.

[Zzmeyer]

Thalas. Just read the end of your post. Happy Together was the boat we sailed against. (in one of their videos they say nice things about my boat (a Beneteau Sense 50)). I would encourage everyone to watch their videos. They are very nice people who sail that boat very well. They also have a nice video on what they chose on the Leopard 50.

[Escape_Velocity]

ZZmeyer - Ironically, I also went to Miami this year thinking the FP Saona 47 was going to be the standard-bearer, and that I would love it. I'll be honest, I didn't. But, I'm now wondering if the reason I had a hard time falling for it was due to the fact that it was not configured with an "owner's cabin" at the show, and we'd just come off of seeing the larger Leopard and Privilege boats . . . anyway, I think the Saona is a lovely looking boat and agree that much can be done to a cat to enhance or hinder its performance. I'm actually chartering a Leopard 48 this summer (St. Lucia) and then a 50 next summer (BVI). I've spent a lot of time on Catana and FP boats, so I know them pretty well . . . I'm looking forward to comparing the brands.

I'd love to know more -- why did you ultimately select the Saona?

[billknny]

Originally Posted by fxykty

We sailed home from our holiday destination yesterday, 42 miles as a crow flies or launch motors, but 67 miles as our catamaran sails (roughly 100 degree tacks)

When I read a humble brag like this I always wonder what am I missing...

If you really covered 67 miles actual sailing to go 42 miles over ground straight upwind, my trigonometry says that would be a tacking angle OVER GROUND of 76 degrees. I know an outremer is a good sailing boat... but that seems... unlikely.. in the conditions you describe...

Am I missing something?

[CbroTheDude]

Originally Posted by billknny

When I read a humble brag like this I always wonder what am I missing...



If you really covered 67 miles actual sailing to go 42 miles over ground straight upwind, my trigonometry says that would be a tacking angle OVER GROUND of 76 degrees. I know an outremer is a good sailing boat... but that seems... unlikely.. in the conditions you describe...



Am I missing something?

I believe you added the "straight upwind" mention

[billknny]

Originally Posted by CbroTheDude

I believe you added the "straight upwind" mention

I most certainly did not... although I confess I did edit the part of the original post I quoted for brevity... here is is in full...

We sailed home from our holiday destination yesterday, 42 miles as a crow flies or launch motors, but 67 miles as our catamaran sails (roughly 100 degree tacks) with our destination directly upwind (ah, the tyranny of a schedule). In 15-20 knots of wind (true) and a single reef with 2 metre swell we averaged 7.6 knots and about 5 knots vmg. The sailing was fun and the 9+ knots in the gusts, leaping through and off the swells, made up for the dawdling 6 knots and additional leeway in the lulls.

I just don't see how the numbers quoted are physically possible or consistant....

[CbroTheDude]

Originally Posted by billknny

I most certainly did not... although I confess I did edit the part of the original post I quoted for brevity... here is is in full...

We sailed home from our holiday destination yesterday, 42 miles as a crow flies or launch motors, but 67 miles as our catamaran sails (roughly 100 degree tacks) with our destination directly upwind (ah, the tyranny of a schedule). In 15-20 knots of wind (true) and a single reef with 2 metre swell we averaged 7.6 knots and about 5 knots vmg. The sailing was fun and the 9+ knots in the gusts, leaping through and off the swells, made up for the dawdling 6 knots and additional leeway in the lulls.

I just don't see how the numbers quoted are physically possible or consistant....

Indeed

[Zzmeyer]

I think he is correct. The cosine of 50 degrees is .64 - on each tack he is sailing 50 degrees off. (The cosine of 0 degrees is one making your VMG your boat speed and cosine of 90 degrees is 0 meaning you are sailing perpendicular to your destination). That is, your VMG is only .64 your boat speed. Based on the miles he sailed versus distance he covered his progress was .63 miles for each mile sailed. Am I missing something? Even so, that is pretty impressive performance and implies little slippage.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by billknny

When I read a humble brag like this I always wonder what am I missing..
Am I missing something?

Yep, the correct boat

[fxykty]

Gosh, it wasn’t meant to be a humble brag, just an illustration of upwind sailing in conditions I expect a cat with higher wind age and more wave-making resistance would have trouble with.

With over 9 hours of sailing I reported my averages and an estimate of observed tacking angle, according to our instruments and including leeway but ignoring current. During the day the tide changed twice and currents likewise.


Carefully measuring the rhumb line over land areas is about 39 miles, but going around land is 42 miles. And about 1 mile of that was motoring out of anchorage and into the marina.



You can see the track in question coming from upper right to lower left with three atrocious tacks on the ground, thanks to windshifts and currents I suppose. Have fun with your evaluation.

My actual results are as reported. Whatever.