Quote:
Originally Posted by Tupaia
I have an "H" configuration of jack lines.
SNIP
IMO any boat crewed by a couple should be configured so that it can be safely single handed, including being reefed by either person, this being the norm on passage when one or the other may be asleep.
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I have an "X" configuration; starboard aft cleat to mast base to port forward cleat and aft port cleat to mast to starboard forward cleat. My tether has 3 foot and 6 foot snap shackles but I almost always use the 3 foot one. One other thing not mentioned is that if I am tethered in I am seldom standing, rather I am crawling on all fours. Have to give a shout out to my
Spinlock Kneepads, both for multi and mono use.
Since I am almost always
single handing my
boat is configured that way.
Couple of things that may be boat specific to my
Seawind. Since cats have two hulls that are often narrow compared to monos there is not usually a lot of 'open space' below decks. In the
salon and
cockpit there is often more open space than on a mono and not always obvious places for handholds. But I can grab the hard top roof and get from one
steering station to the other; and often I find myself grabbling one or more of the lines in the mainsheet/pulley system for a handhold, or the two lines I use as a preventer.
One thing a lot of cat sailors do is somewhat alter course while taking a hit in boat speed to get a much more kindly sea motion. Since as a
rule cats are faster than monos this is often not as much of a hit as it may seem. Maybe just as important is not just crew
safety while on a
passage but how much more comfortable a cat often is at
anchor or on a ball. I have been anchored on a reef dive with a mono when a big
power boat threw up a big wake that literally threw
books off the shelf on a mono close to me while all that happened on my boat was several friends gave the
power boat a middle finger salute. I have always slept (recovered from a hard day of sailing) on my cat than I ever did on any mono smaller than 50 feet or so.
One thing to keep in mind is how much variability exists in boat design. I have seen several high performance cats with dagger/center boards that can go to windward with most any
monohull. My
Seawind has handholds on top of the
salon roof that makes going forward easy and I have been on monos that lack handholds there.
One of my pet peeves is visibility. I have sailed on many monohulls where the
wheel is way back close to the stern which means the whole boat is in the field of view of the helmsman, on my Seawind I can easily see through the open salon for good viz ahead and also kinda stand up and sit on the
hull deck for an even better view. But I have also been on condomarans where the salon was like a brick wall that obscured lots of the forward viz. I view poor visibility as a huge
safety issue.