Catalina 30 mkii Seaworthy?

[Scout 30]

Just got back from Oahu 2 days ago. While there I spoke to a skipper who said he regularly delivers Transpac boats back to the mainland because the owners & crew don't want to deal with it. While the trip over is normally great storms are getting to be more common & you need to be prepared for serious weather. The Catalina 30 is a great boat for it's price & designed coastal use but I would only make this trip in a boat designed for offshore sailing.

[Rumbottle]

I sailed a Catalina 30 from Singapore to Singapore, singlehanded via Cape Horn & UK in 1986-87, (22 months), averaged 5.2 knots, rolled over off Newfoundland and still own the boat ("Rumbottle"). She was a Catalina Mk.1 (it was only known as a Catalina 30 in those days). Great yacht. The hull was overbuilt (1" thick hand-laid GRP), which I now know was unnecessary, but safe. Used an Autohelm wind-vane autopilot with its own rudder which worked beautifully.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Rumbottle

I sailed a Catalina 30 from Singapore to Singapore, singlehanded via Cape Horn & UK in 1986-87, (22 months), averaged 5.2 knots, rolled over off Newfoundland and still own the boat ("Rumbottle"). She was a Catalina Mk.1 (it was only known as a Catalina 30 in those days). Great yacht. The hull was overbuilt (1" thick hand-laid GRP), which I now know was unnecessary, but safe. Used an Autohelm wind-vane autopilot with its own rudder which worked beautifully.

Well, that's an impressive voyage, but I can't help but wonder how you got to Newfoundland waters when circumnavigating by the southern capes? And, did the rig survive the rollover?

Or did I misunderstand, and your route went up the Red sea and not around Good Hope?

Jim

[roverhi]

As others have said, the sail to Hawaii is a downwind sleigh ride. Not much of a challenge other than getting the most speed out of the boat if you are racing. Easily done in 15-20 days without pushing the boat or crew.

The return is not so much fun as it's longer and often means Some windward work sailing north to get around the high. It doesn't need to be hard on the wind sailing however. In fact if you do point as high as possible you may very well end up sailing into the dead air in the center of the high and either be becalmed till they find your bones in the middle of the North Pacific Garbage Patch or power for days to get out of it.

If you crack off a bit to a close reach sailing will be way more comfortable, faster, drier and quite possibly have good winds all the way to your west coast destination. It will still not be painless but relatively smooth sailing as the wind clocks from East around to NE on the outskirts of the high.

Bad weather can happen at any time of year but reltatively unlikely in the summer time.

The tankage of the Cat 30 is adequate for a single person and the boat is more than capable of carrying provisions for over 30 days. A couple of water filled gerry jugs along with a few with diesel will greatly extend the possible time at sea or accomodate another person on board for the voyage.

I'm not paricularly fond of Catalina's build quality but they will survive most of the conditions that you would encounter on the sail to and from the Islands. Complete novices in unlikely boats have done the circuit while experienced crews and well found boats have found the return sail more than they could handle. A lot of the abandonments seem to be from exhaustion after unexpectedly long bouts of bad weather and/or equipment failure that could occur on any boat.

As neophytecruiser says, sail north out of the gate for a few days especially when the prevailing NE winds are honking and you'll get an idea if you and the boat are ready to follow the pineapple expressway return.

[gonesail]

a Catalina 30 has a 1" thick hull? I find that hard to believe

[Pizzazz]

Regarding the trip back from Hawaii. I understand it depends a lot on the position of the High. Wouldn’t it be easier if one just motors through the High instead of going around it?

I just did a simulation on fastseas.com, from Hawaii to Los Angeles, 25 ft waterline, it estimated sth like 16 days, including 3 days of beating, 2 days of motoring, the rest was close reaching and reaching. I think that would be a better trip than going around the High and being prepared to be exposed to 40 days at sea.

Well, a Catalina 30 can’t motor for two days straight you may say. That is not such a difficult problem to solve with extra flexible fuel tanks. Although, I do agree that getting an engine failure in the middle of the High would be no fun.

[Jim Cate]

I think that would be a better trip than going around the High and being prepared to be exposed to 40 days at sea.

FWIW: I did the return trip from Kauai to SF in my Yankee 30 (admittedly a somewhat better sailing vessel than a Cat 30) in 21 days, going around the high. Dunno where that 40 day number came from, but it seems rather pessimistic to me!

Jim

[Gael Zane]

I am Kurt Zane's "baby sister" and am so glad to see that he is still remembered in some way. My brother in law toured the Catalina factory afterwards and found that they had glued rather than bolted the hull tot he deck. He being a boatbuilder knew a lot about that but Kurt like everyone else in the family was about navigation and other aspects rather than construction.

Myself I get seasick so am a landlubber I want to refresh my memory about this since I was only 17 when his estate was sued by one of the two survivor's insurance companies for injuries.