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Old 28-07-2008, 02:34   #1
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Fast Cruising Catamarans - How Fast ?

How fast is the fastest you have sailed with your cruisingcatamaran?

Brand, Model, wind, speed?
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Old 28-07-2008, 04:52   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freetime View Post
How fast is the fastest you have sailed with your cruisingcatamaran?

Brand, Model, wind, speed?
FastCat 435 25.9 knots app wind 120 degrees wind speed 32 knots
St Francis 48 20.8 knots app wind 130 degrees wind speed 31 knots
Maxim 38 14.9 knots app wind 120 degrees wind speed 30 knots

all these top speeds are not very important since it was all to much for real safe sailing but the average speeds come in around 40 % of these max speeds and that is more important.

Greetings
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Old 28-07-2008, 05:15   #3
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Offcause the safety come first. But itīs Fun to see how fast the boat CAN go. And if the boat is capable of 25 knots you understund that itīs more often you can sail in 15-20 knots than a boat with a "top" speed around 16-17 knots.

Would like to see a test with Simular sized catamarans at the same time, not like the multihull mags test with lagoon 380 and F-P 36, I can not say a test like that is compare how good they are, itīs more like a presentation of two single tests from different places.

Other boats i want to know how fast they are...

Outremerīs all models...
Freydis 49
Lavezzi 40
Orana 44
Lagoon 420
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Old 28-07-2008, 05:19   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freetime View Post
Offcause the safety come first. But itīs Fun to see how fast the boat CAN go. And if the boat is capable of 25 knots you understund that itīs more often you can sail in 15-20 knots than a boat with a "top" speed around 16-17 knots.

Would like to see a test with Simular sized catamarans at the same time, not like the multihull mags test with lagoon 380 and F-P 36, I can not say a test like that is compare how good they are, itīs more like a presentation of two single tests from different places.

Other boats i want to know how fast they are...

Outremerīs all models...
Freydis 49
Lavezzi 40
Orana 44
Lagoon 420
The mentioned cats besides the Outremer and Freydis are all slow , They will be able to sail top speeds in the area of 17 , maybe 18 but that is the absolute top.
The Outremer series will do in the area of 20 to 25 knots top depending on size and load and the same for the Freydis.

Greetings
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Old 28-07-2008, 05:29   #5
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For FP Orana 44;

13,2 knts at 28 knts true wind, from app. 120. This is the speed on water and not GPS. Probably we had about a knot of favorable current, following seas of around 1,5-2 meters, 3 reefs on the main and full genoa, very comfortable ride at night..So, it seemed to be sustainable in those given conditions.
Should we be taking off one reef, probably we could get a knot or so more but I'd doubted that we could have equally pleasant sailing..

Cheers

Yeloya
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Old 28-07-2008, 05:41   #6
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The mentioned cats besides the Outremer and Freydis are all slow , They will be able to sail top speeds in the area of 17 , maybe 18 but that is the absolute top.
The Outremer series will do in the area of 20 to 25 knots top depending on size and load and the same for the Freydis.

Greetings
Nice...

Outremer, Freydis and Fastcat. (The Gunboat 48 but i canīt find a steeringposition soo you can steer and at same time see the sails??)And its to much $$$ĢĢĢ

Any more brand in size 40+? And from year 2000---
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Old 28-07-2008, 05:42   #7
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For FP Orana 44;

13,2 knts at 28 knts true wind, from app. 120. This is the speed on water and not GPS. Probably we had about a knot of favorable current, following seas of around 1,5-2 meters, 3 reefs on the main and full genoa, very comfortable ride at night..So, it seemed to be sustainable in those given conditions.
Should we be taking off one reef, probably we could get a knot or so more but I'd doubted that we could have equally pleasant sailing..

Cheers

Yeloya
Sounds nice. The Orana looks soo comfortable too.
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Old 28-07-2008, 05:57   #8
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Having yesterday gone out on a 17.5ft bowrider speed boat with a 4.3litre V6 volvo sterndrive and hitting 45 knots, which is terryfing, just cruising around at 20 knots is very fast, so sailing at speeds of around 20 and 20 plus on a cruising mutlihull is not something I would like to do on my own or shorthanded for a long time, I think my nerves would be totally shot, for a short term with many other hands what a great thrill.
For comfortable cruising, personally (2 people) about 12 - 15 would be great for a burst whilst keeping very alert and preferably in a smallish sea state, but around 10 would be a lot safer and probably more comfortable.
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Old 28-07-2008, 06:13   #9
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Having yesterday gone out on a 17.5ft bowrider speed boat with a 4.3litre V6 volvo sterndrive and hitting 45 knots, which is terryfing, just cruising around at 20 knots is very fast, so sailing at speeds of around 20 and 20 plus on a cruising mutlihull is not something I would like to do on my own or shorthanded for a long time, I think my nerves would be totally shot, for a short term with many other hands what a great thrill.
For comfortable cruising, personally (2 people) about 12 - 15 would be great for a burst whilst keeping very alert and preferably in a smallish sea state, but around 10 would be a lot safer and probably more comfortable.


Ok, this is in a race but it looks quite comfortable

And 20 knots feels different in different boats.
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Old 28-07-2008, 06:35   #10
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18+ knots of wind
18 knots coming off of a swell in a good gust between St. Maarten, and St. Barts with the spinny flying.

Hand steering Adventure Cat on S.F Bay. Going from the city front to Angel Island with a reef in the main. Wind 25 knots, and doing 18 1/2 knots across the bottom. She is a custom built steel cat at 55 feet.
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Old 28-07-2008, 08:19   #11
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On a FastCat 435 I am comfortable sailing at speeds up to 16 / 17 knots but all very dependent on the wave conditions .
Anywhere over 16 / 17 knots is hard work and mistakes are not forgiven easily.
Going over 18 means holding the control lines in the hands to be able to let go fast.
Although our cats do float when upside down , I would hate to try it out.
Greetings
gideon
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Old 28-07-2008, 08:45   #12
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Looking for a cheap fast cat. SIZE IS EVERYTHING. To some.
There's 'TWO's COMPANY' 50' Prout Quasar for sale in the UK at 'Multihulls' for around 130k. Ok, it's not sparkly brand new but it is a very good buy. Too much for me though but you'll get good performance.
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Old 28-07-2008, 08:49   #13
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I am always surprised by the "speed" of the major production catamarans. I cannot understand why they are slow. I know they are built to a price, so deck gear and sails are usually poor, but their designers and builders are often world class.

Before using my 32ft catamaran Eclipse as a live aboard ocean cruiser for 5 years - sailing from the UK to the Caribbean and beyond, I sailed it hard in races. My fastest speed was 21 knots, but my proudest moment was overtaking Mumm 30's to windward in the 2002 Round the Island race. In this 50 mile race we beat the first French cruising catamaran (a Belize) by over an hour, and kept in contact with several Farrier and Dragonfly trimarans.

Later when loaded and ocean cruising we often did speeds in the mid teens and once beat a cruising Outremer 44 over a nine hour sail. Earlier we had been beaten by an empty one, which shows that long fine hulls are not really suitable as ocean cruisers. Too small inside, too little load carrying.

Having said all that, although I agree you need to push hard sometimes, just to see where a boats limits are, I posted elsewhere about real cruising speeds and the need to slow down.

You can see more about my Eclipse cruising experiences on my website

Woods Designs Sailing Catamarans

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Old 28-07-2008, 08:57   #14
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Hallo Richard

It is my feeling it mostly boils down to excess weight, As you know it makes a world of difference to sail a "lightweight" cat or one that is heavy build and sometimes overloaded.
And it is off course easier to overload a heavy build cat, All your designs as I know them are build in a lightweight manner so it does not surprise me that you have beaten an Outremer , a Belize and other Cats, Than off course you are a good, well experienced sailor and that also makes a difference.
I have seen a quite a few people that purchased expensive yachts ( cats ) with very limited knowledge on how to sail them ( fast )
Setting the sails right can make a huge difference .

Greetings

Gideon
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Old 28-07-2008, 19:23   #15
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Here's a short video of us sailing an Oram 38 foot home-built cruising boat at 16 knots in 20 25 knots breeze. (Excuse the shortness, it was filmed using a still camera with not much memory)

It was quite safe and comfortable at that speed. We were still reefed down from a 40 kt burst (of wind) a few minutes earlier.

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