Now it seems to me that the ideal pilothouse sailboat is a --
Chris White Atlantic 57 cat. I think I'm in love.
Heresy, I know, and against my own tastes. I do not like catamarans -- they are just not my taste for a whole raft of reasons. However, I have to admit, that I have not been able to find a
monohull with such a bouquet of virtues:
1. Narrow, easily driven hulls; very high cruising speeds.
2. Dual
propulsion -- redundancy. And with lovely independent dual
fuel systems and fantastic tankage (about 800 liters for motoring range of probably 1200 miles)
3. Modest, easily handled rig. And carbon!
4. Very light
displacement -- only 14 tons loaded.
5. Fantastic, spacious inside
helm position.
6. Fantastic, spacious, inside separate chart table with view over bows.
7. Perfect
dinghy stowage.
8.
Salon with panoramic views.
9. Plenty of space for
solar panels.
10. Excellent sailing
cockpit, and within easy reach of inside
helm station.
11. No heeling.
and, surprisingly:
12. Very modest cost compared to high end monohulls.
Drawbacks:
1. It's a cat, with that unpleasant motion in a seaway.
2. Huge beam -- where do you park it?
3. No feedback when getting overpowered -- so disconcerting to mono sailors.
4. Horribly unaesthetic plasticky
interior -- acres of white gel coat inside.
5. Cave-like accomodation in the hulls -- as good as the
salon is, so bad are the cabins.
6. Ugly as sin to look at.
All in all, if you want (a) to sail fast with little effort; (b) to have a salon with good views instead of being down in a cave; (c) to have a good inside helm station with good visibility; (d) have a good way to ship a good
dinghy -- I don't think you can match this combination of virtues in a mono.
I'm not really in the market to change my
boat, but this sure provides some
food for thought . . . . Wow, what a
boat . . .
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