Capsized/Pitchpoled Atlantic?

[jzk]

Originally Posted by jzk

Peter Johnstone from gunboat claims that daggerboards are more safe than keels. In bad weather, just bring them up so the hulls can slip sideways rather than dig in. He even says that if you just set the autopilot in really bad weather with no sails up, and the daggerboards up, the boat will just surf around and be fine.

He is saying that a cat with boards up is safer because it it will just slip sideways.

[Tropic Cat]

I guess I blame myself for not communicating correctly. My catamaran slips sideways, cats with boards slip a lot less. Unless you crank the boards up. If you're not paying attention, you don't bring the boards up. Bang, yer upside down.

Speaking of attention, did you actually read the articles in the last couple of threads you posted to? The captain and crew were all inside the cabin when the gust hit and the cat went over, in one case and in the other the captain was on the bow of the boat. If the boat hadn't had his boards down, nothing would have happened.

Cat's that go over ALL HAVE THEIR BOARDS DOWN. Cat's without boards slip sideways.

We've all sailed monos, but evidently not enough people have sailed a cruising catamaran. You know, I think it might be a good idea for mono guys to bareboat charter a cruising catamaran, and get some experience, before you try and armchair analyse a catamaran capsize.

Rick in Florida

[jzk]

Originally Posted by rickm505

I guess I blame myself for not communicating correctly. My catamaran slips sideways, cats with boards slip a lot less. Unless you crank the boards up. If you're not paying attention, you don't bring the boards up. Bang, yer upside down.

Speaking of attention, did you actually read the articles in the last couple of threads you posted to? The captain and crew were all inside the cabin when the gust hit and the cat went over, in one case and in the other the captain was on the bow of the boat. If the boat hadn't had his boards down, nothing would have happened.

Cat's that go over ALL HAVE THEIR BOARDS DOWN. Cat's without boards slip sideways.

We've all sailed monos, but evidently not enough people have sailed a cruising catamaran. You know, I think it might be a good idea for mono guys to bareboat charter a cruising catamaran, and get some experience, before you try and armchair analyse a catamaran capsize.

Rick in Florida

No, the apology is all mine for not communicating properly.

Cats with no boards have keels that prevent sideways slippage. Most cats with boards have little or no keels to hinder the sideways slippage.

Sure, sailing with the boards down in heavy weather on autopilot is a recepie for disaster. But, sailing with the boards up is safer than a boat with keels.

[jzk]

This is an Outremer Catamaran on the dry. Notice that it has no keels. The only thing hindering sideways motion would be the rudders and the daggerboards, and I submit that compared to the keels on a non-daggerboard cat, is insignificant.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by rickm505

Cat's that go over ALL HAVE THEIR BOARDS DOWN. Cat's without boards slip sideways.

Rick in Florida

What about cat's running under kite with board's up that just "sail over".

Sure , it's just another case of inattentivness or just plain flogging the **** out of it,but it does happen.

Dave

PS: Hey look...... I can now quote paragraphs, ...look out

[yotphix]

Which way do cats flying chutes sail over Cat Man Do? Do you mean that they can bury the bows and pitchpole? Or do you mean when reaching with a chute a cat might lift a hull and go over even without the boards down?

[cat man do]

Haven't actually done myself, yotphix, although i've stuffed the bows in a few times and had a wall of green come over the top. Yeah we were floggin' the poor girl.

But do know of at least 2 reasonably high profile cats in OZ . One admitted to being stupid and having the kite cleated off and gently lifted stuffed and slowly did a diagonal roll in slow motion.

The second one would have been a bit more spectacular knowing the reputation of the boat and crew. They now have the boats name printed up-side down on the back beam.

Dave

[Tropic Cat]

Jxk, you're exactly correct. The hulls on my boat are very similar. Kudos for doing some homework, as it generally seems to be sorely lacking with some of the posts on here. I think we have a case of people posting without experience.

I still maintain if you put these guys on a cat for a week, their tune will change.

Rick in Florida

[yotphix]

Thanks for clarifying Cat. I wouldn't have thought that would be possible. I've always presumed that downwind was a cat's strongest, safest point of sail. (Well not a beach cat but I've stuffed and pitchpoled a sunfish too so little boats don't count.) Glad to hear you're staying rightside up though!