Bigger perforamce cruise cats that can be sailed short handed?

[LuvSun]

I was looking at this Antares 440 video, I love the cocpit setup and the ease of single handed sailing.

I know boats like the one I listed in the electric motors and hydrogen systems with lithium back ups. So its 100% emission free. But thats for an exsiting blog.

What I do find interesting is how yachts are becoming more and more sailable by a button. An extract from the D80 hydrogen battery engine system boat;

"Its very much like modern cars that can drive themselves. Press a button, it will trim, tack, watch out for other vessels etc. IF you want, taking auto pilot to a whole new level.".

like auto pilot cars that park themselves, break for traffic etc.

BUT thats not close to mainstream yet. What are some good perfomance multi hulls that are easily sailed short hand but perhaps a little quicker than this antares in the video. I also loved the rain water collection on the antares and the solar panels recessed into the roof, slick. But I feel its very much a motor sail cruiser.

Anatares 44, nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq-9AEpctlw

[LuvSun]

My feeling is its not the size sailing, its more the berthing. Which to me is easily solvable with somebody at most marinas ready to give a 5 minute hand should the wind be unfavourable.

I Like this https://www.chriswhitedesigns.com/a55

[44'cruisingcat]

Fast, roomy, all powered sailing systems..... not cheap.

https://youtu.be/3Pem-4H1qg0

[LuvSun]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Fast, roomy, all powered sailing systems..... not cheap.

https://youtu.be/3Pem-4H1qg0

Lol love it, recaro seat and momo wheel hahaha.

the Chris White is all inside, which obviously has clear advantages on the nasty days.

thats boat you linked is flying in that wind. 1:1 speed to real wind speed.

I think I need 2 lifetimes to afford something like that.

That winch/sheet pylon/console is awesome. I was going to ask where the sheets go.

So you can reef the main sail quite easily in a big blow etc.

Surely it has back up winches though if the electronics fail on one of the sheets etc?

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by LuvSun

Surely it has back up winches though if the electronics fail on one of the sheets etc?

All the winches appear to have provision for handles.

[LuvSun]

This a good read on the CW A57, the newer model to the 55. Everything comes down to weight, but cruising there is a weight vs strength ratio that needs to be proven. Obviously racing multis have support to pick them up should the hull break. But if you are a family out at see you dont have that option.

I do like the helm being at the front of the interior, makes so much more sense than out the back with minimal view and exposed to the elements.

[Svan]

As a PDQ36 owner, I found this view of the Antares 44gs very interesting. It makes me so happy to see them continuing their standard of construction and design, upping the ante in the 15 years since ours was built.

Running the lines through a hidden raceway from the mast to the pedestal or stern is very smart.

Even at the best of times our cockpit has 12 lines from 3 directions and at eye level, even coiled and away it looks cluttered.

Galley down FTW and love the NAV station.

I have noticed that mainecat has an option for an electric drive motor with recharging via the same system in reverse while sailing. I am 50/50 on electric drive for sailing, but I felt that way about electric cars once too.

[MIRELOS]

My wife and I sail our Eleuthera 60 by ourselves, it just takes preparation, always set before you have to do it

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by MIRELOS

My wife and I sail our Eleuthera 60 by ourselves, it just takes preparation, always set before you have to do it

Same for my Marquises. The only time IMO when I would need three aboard is Med mooring in over 15 knots of wind on the beam on a tightly packed quay. Or, when the proverbial sh&t hit's the fan, in which 5 crew may not be enough.

[AZUS]

Don't discount the Antares. We sailing ours from Florida, through the Bahamas, across the Atlantic, and throughout the Med. She's in Sicily right now, and we will be sailing back to the Caribbean and to Florida in a couple years after more Med cruising. She's a great sailing boat.

[contrail]

Whether a boat is good for short handed sailing is much more dependent upon how everything is laid out, and on the crew, rather than on the size of the boat. With all due respect, making electric and automatic everything a major criteria makes me question the ability of the crew. You should be able to get by, comfortably, with manual everything and using your head. Then electric assistance is exactly that, and can be a wonderful friend. But NOT a must!


I regularly singlehand my Leopard 45, because it is laid out intelligently and I know it, and singlehanding in general, very well. And, it's pretty good excercise, of which we never get enough.

[LuvSun]

Originally Posted by contrail

Then electric assistance is exactly that, and can be a wonderful friend. But NOT a must!

Yeah I agree, I stated that, 100%, and you should know exactly where all your manual gear is located before you even set sail, Im sure people have gone sailing on cats and not sailed it without electronics first.

What I meant was, is there a point with cats that size makes them unmanageable single handed? For me docking is as hard on my old 25ft spearfishing power boat as it is a 44ft yacht. 100ft clearly wouldnt work, but maybe somebody with experience could dock a 55ft single handed. I guess its knowing your yacht and such.

HOWEVER, I have been looking around and I dont think I need more size, I need a new boat haha.

Ive realised the faster cats are made of newer materials and weigh less, around 12 ton fully fitted. The balance 451 is an example. But I love this maverick 440 out of cape town.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fBsxXHx30

Also cost was, a performance cruiser at 55ft is around $1.5m, where the same 44ft boats are about $900k, clearly Im not looking to buy new. I think id get about $250 for my boat so time to draw some investments or save for another 5 years and accept what I currently have which is still a lovely caravan on water.


I also looked at the neel 55ft trimaran, having limited experience on tris, I dont know how hard they are to sail single handed. But I do love the room, Ive seen comments about how narrow the entrance to the cabins are etc, durrr its a much narrower hull on each side lol. I think a lot of people go looking at trimarans that have come from the really slower cats and expect the side hulls to be like a cat for space, not grasping the concept of a tri. And the size of that engine room. My uncle is a marine mechanic, he has to get into some real s...ty spaces like on single engine power boats. If i owned that neel trimaran he would probably want to liveaboard and leave my aunty and bunk in the engine room lol.

[Dave_S]

My boat has manual winches, raising and reefing the main is done at the mast......Not ideal, in fact it's a pain and I plan to change it.

I also sail regularily on a slightly smaller boat which has a single electric winch for the main and reefing back at the helm and it's a breeze, much more relaxed. It would be easy to single hand either boat with the same set up. I don't see much difference between a big boat and a small boat for short handed sailing just get the setup right.

A big boat is intimidating to manoeuvre in the confined spaces of a marina. Once out it is irrelevant, always ask for an easy spot and practice.

[rob denney]

It is easy to make any boat easy to sail single handed by throwing money at it. Otherwise you need to think outside the box.

Eliminate foredeck work. Furling headsails will do this, at least until they jam, when they become a nightmare. Non furling extras are even more work (and cost). A schooner rig on a lightweight platform, provides sufficient sail area with no extras or foredeck work required. The lightweight platform comes from minimising the boat surface area, concentrating the loads and a boat which sails well enough not to need large motors.

Reduce stress. A rig which can be totally depowered, raised, lowered or reefed on any point of sail, in any wind speed, by simply releasing the sheet means you do not have to reduce sail at night 'just in case' or fret when a dark cloud approaches. This is only possible with unstayed masts and fully battened mainsails where the sail can weathercock and the boat sits quietly. Flogging headsails while you grind in the furler in a squall is not only hard work and scary to the uninitiated, it shortens the life of the sail considerably.

As the Orams demonstrate, length is speed and comfort. It is different to 'big' which is expensive, highly loaded, needs big gear and has a lot more surface to clean and maintain.

Cost is about build materials, labour and fit out. A simple, hard to screw up, high tech build method minimises the materials and waste, reduces the hours and allows lower cost labour. A fit out with minimal measuring, no wet laminating, grinding or cutting cured laminates takes much less time than fussing and fidgeting to get odd shaped pieces to fit in 3 dimensional spaces. Such a method reduces build time by about 50% vs conventional one off builds and has none of the amortisation costs of moulded production boats.
The expensive parts of the fitout should also be minimised. One engine instead of 2, one steering wheel (which works inside or outside) instead of three, minimal deck hardware, smart ventilation systems instead of AC, solar panels instead of gen sets, an electric winch handle instead of electric winches, sheet winches which also lift the anchor, to name a few.

One way of achieving this is a harryproa. CRUISER 50 – Harryproa and http://harryproa.com/?p=1749

[rob denney]

For some reason, both those references go to the same page. The second one should be CRUISER 60 – Harryproa