Advice on cat bareboat certification

[birgekr]

Hey everybody,

The wife and I will be buying a midsize (34-40 foot) cat in a couple of years for liveaboard and eventually fulltime cruising. Unflortunately this will likely involve a rather large boat loan. After poking around on some of the posts it looks like it's easier to obtain financing and insurance if you have experience piloting a similar sized boat.

I have decades of boating experience (mostly small powerboats) and have owned 4 sailboats, from a Hobie 16 up to an Irwin 34. But I am entirely self-taught. (books and the school of hard knocks) My only cruising cat experience was a week long charter with some friends on a Moorings 37 in the Abacos a few years ago. (I was not the skipper).

It seems that a good way to get the experience would be by chartering (as the skipper), so I was wondering if any of you could recommend a good sailing school here in Florida that has a catamaran bareboat certification program. There are tons of them on the web so personal experience/word of mouth would be invaluable.

Thanks,

Ken-

Dodging hurricanes in New Smyrna Beach, Fl

[imagine2frolic]

It can't hurt to try this, but this is what I found. I went from a 30ft. monohull to a 46ft cat, and no questions involved any experience with a catamaran. They were only concerned about what kind of time I had on any kind of boat. I would call the insurance company, and ask about this......BEST WISHES IN GETTING A GREAT RATE!

[Sunspot Baby]

Call Larry at Fun In The Sun in Ft. Lauderdale. He can get you into a hands on catamaran/bare boat class. Fun In The Sun (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Tell him Sunspot Baby sent you.

George

[SAILMONSTER]

Hi Ken, I cruise, race and have taught sailing. I have an irwin 30 that I race and an Americat cat rigged catamaran for cruising ( sails like a couch . I charted a 47 foot roberts and caine from the moorings in the BVI's a few times. The only difference you really need to worry about is the traveler and your apparent wind. The traveler is crutial on a cat to acheive good sail shape for the main. Also, don't bring the main in as much as you would on a monohull and you'll need to crack off a few degrees as well. The physics behind it are the same. I wouldn't wast time on catamaran specific class as there isn't a huge difference. Docking and learning what the boat likes will be the biggest challenge.

Fair winds,
Jason

[sandy daugherty]

You may not need to take a class to charter a bareboat cat. Call Moorings or Sunsail and ask. Do that on two different marques. Moorings sent me a "CLass A" card after my first charter, for whatever thats worth. The only education experience an insurance company asked was if I had the Basic Boating Safety Course from the US Power Squadron or the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the finance company never asked me anything at all. That may have changed lately, but I imagine their primary interest is still in just getting paid.