Fast Cruising Catamarans - How Fast ?

[beiland]

our boat show flyer (single pager for just general handout to everyone even remotely looking )

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

To me, having a fast multihull isn't so much about top speeds. It's about being able to sail in light air. We hate motoring, so being able to sail at 4 knots in 3 knots of wind is marvelous. We'll regularly pass sailboats that are motoring because there isn't enough wind, while we're happily sailing. Some of our best sails are when the forecast is for "light and variable".


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Yep!

[RunawayC47]

The boat in Southern Cal is hull #9. I think Split Second. It has the Solomon motors. I did a test motor sail on it. Very quiet with hull speed as the max. It's only problem was it was heavy for its design as were the other cruising versions. The only fairly light one is hull #5 in owned by Phil ? In Newport harbor. He ran the crew building it when John had his accident. The first 4 are lighter than the Cal. boats. That is why I extended my sterns which made a tremendous difference.

On Runaway we sailed 8-9 knots in 5 knots true with our big screacher. As you know with 5 knots the sea state was flat. Apparent wind was 10 knots. That was our best. The narrow hulls are easily pushed in light winds.

If you are willing to sail slow you can sail almost all the time. Unfortunately when it drops below 4 knots I choose to motor.


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[RunawayC47]

Yes I have sailed on both Paragons as well as Capt Ron’s charter Why Not in Barbados. In Barbados we were sailing at 18 knots in 15-16 knots of wind in a fairly calm sea on the back side. We had 18 people on board.
Twin Outboard’s, dagger boards, and rotating mast.
She pointed to about 25 apparent wind. Amazing boat.
I have sailed on 6 of the 9 Conser 47 cats and seen the other 3 in person.

[JimmyDarci]

12 knots with a double reef and a half furled blade jib trying to sail upwind (and out of) a "bomb cyclone" last May in Maine. Long story but one hand was on the main sheet at all times. Boat did great.

18 knots with screecher this summer. Full main but again, eyes wide open.... one hand on the main sheet and one on the wheel. First mate on the screecher sheet. Six guests plus two crew so boat had some weight on her.

Crowther - 46', 10,500 lbs empty, mast height off water 64'. Daggerboards and tilt up outboards to reduce drag.

That said, too old for that risk on a regular basis. We much prefer cruising her faster than most monohulls in light air. This is why we opted for a performance cat. Speed when there is little wind.

[Soma]

32.6 knots on my Formula 40. Jib and full main reaching.
36.6 on a Gunboat 62. 2nd reef and Solent in 30-35 knots TWS surfing down big waves.
18+ knots on my Outremer 55, but we haven’t seen “fast” conditions yet. We’ve been family cruising and moving slow.

[jdazey]

25.2 knots on Chris White Voyager 48 reaching in 30+ kts, 12' seas, 1 reef in main while sailing from Antigua to Panama and loaded for passage making. OK, a couple of minutes of that was enough adrenaline for me and we slowed too 19-20kts

[GRIT]

We're still pretty new, and generally sail fairly cautiously. But single handing down the coast of Fl, I decided to push myself a little.

21 knots, surfing, SOG coming down the Fl coast, between Ft Pierce and Palm Beach. 3 miles out, gusting to 35 knots on the bum. I just went out that far to empty the black tank, once back inshore, the winds were 20-25 and we settled down to a steady 12 knots, and surfing to 15-16.

Double reefed main, and 75% of the jib.

Cheers.
Paul.

[smj]

Originally Posted by GRIT

We're still pretty new, and generally sail fairly cautiously. But single handing down the coast of Fl, I decided to push myself a little.

21 knots, surfing, SOG coming down the Fl coast, between Ft Pierce and Palm Beach. 3 miles out, gusting to 35 knots on the bum. I just went out that far to empty the black tank, once back inshore, the winds were 20-25 and we settled down to a steady 12 knots, and surfing to 15-16.

Double reefed main, and 75% of the jib.

Cheers.
Paul.

Great speeds! And probably fighting 2 kts of current.

[GRIT]

Thanks SMJ.

That area does experience 2 knots of current, but I was too involved paying attention to every little thing, to see the speed through the water. There was a bit of a "pucker" factor involved.

Lots of fun, but a bit nerve wracking.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Hodgdon87]

20kts+ on a Gunboat 57 while broadreaching and surfing waves - single reef and J1. The boat was very heavy because we were fully loaded with gear, fuel, etc for family cruising. We had several 310+ nautical mile days in a row on our Pacific crossing.

21kts on a Balance 526 broadreaching in 25kts TWS - single reef and screecher. Averaged over 18kts for 12 hours straight heading south from Cape Hatteras.

45kts+ on my Hobie Trifoiler... every point of sail is close hauled at that speed haha. TWS was 12kts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyTX_zt5hKk

[JustMurph]

Originally Posted by Hodgdon87

21kts on a Balance 526 broadreaching in 25kts TWS - single reef and screecher. Averaged over 18kts for 12 hours straight heading south from Cape Hatteras.

That is awesome!

~14 surfing to 17 knots in my Mumby 48, full main and genoa, broad reaching in about 25 knots TWS. I have yet to really load her up and push hard.

[GRIT]

On my way to Charleston, from Hampton VA last week, I had some 18 knots surfs, not my fastest, but fun. Before that, I took a video of GRIT surfing at 16.5 knots. It looks on the video just as sedate as it felt in real life.


https://youtu.be/ekqoziUeRpc

That was a single handed trip, 407 miles in 48 hours. Not a record, but pretty respectable.

Single reef in the main, code zero.

Cheers.
Paul.

[smj]

Nice!

[GRIT]

Thanks SMJ.

As an aside, the night before I left Hampton, a TRT 1200 sport pulled into the anchorage. Three guys from Newfoundland. I was leaving the next morning, and they had just arrived, so we didn't get a chance to talk. They just stopped by on their way to the anchorage to say hello.

I didn't take note of the name of the boat, as I was preoccupied with getting ready to leave. But I'll send it to you when I see it next.

Cheers.
Paul.