Of the last 20 years, the Classics of the Cruiser multihulls?

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by makana

top speed 16.9 knots, avg daily speed 9 knots.

Sorry, I have to ask: Average 9 kts every day? Or your ave daily top speed was 9 kts? Really? I need your weather man.....

Dave

[lcdemack]

Originally Posted by trifan

Hmmm... the OP said "cruiser multihulls" without specifying number of hulls and the best trimaran y'all came up with was a dinky lil foldup? Get real. The Norman Cross boats are great but my favorites are the Horstmans. Daggerboards in the amas if needed, gobs of room inside, less windage than a cat, no banging from waves pounding the underside of the deck. Ketch rigs fit nicely in the ICW (mostly - there are a couple of spots east). Most I have seen have enclosed pilot houses. One engine instead of two, yada yada yada.

Right, I actually purposely didn't specify how many hulls of multihulls. I'm not well versed on older models (reason for the post) and didn't want to limit out a worthy pick of any sort on an assumption.

[lcdemack]

ahh, your answers are excellent, love the feedback. Tho some sound a bit wide of the mark(er), I'm thinking that's plenty better than a bunch of censored responses.
So... now that I think we've established a couple, but especially the 380 from Lagoon as somewhat the most popular pick, what's 2nd and 3rd to that model? The Catalina to the Hobie kinda thing.
Now I've got a great list to research.
Keep um coming, and thanx.

[makana]

Originally Posted by makana
top speed 16.9 knots, avg daily speed 9 knots.

We departed Cape Town in winter, mid-Aug 2006. The wind speed never dropped below 20+ kts from CT to St Helena, we encountered 7 days of gale force wind and sea from the aft port quarter along with a large following swell from a storm off Antarctica, during that leg we often had 225+ mile days as we were surfing, the seas got to be quite large, (under 9 day leg). On the leg from St. H to Brazil the wind dropped to between 16 - 20 we flew the asymmetrical spinnaker the entire time and averaged 8-9kts and we only had to adjust the autopilot several times, (11.5 day leg). 20.5 total days sailing covering 4330nm. This works out to an average of 8.8kts, so I apologize and should have been more precise and listed the average speed as such. We spent 3 days anchored in St Helena. We only used the motor to get out of CT, to anchor in St H and motor into Brazil. The leg from Brazil to Trinidad was a totally different story, the polar opposite! The boat was relatively light as we didn't have a dinghy, outboard and all the "stuff" we've accumulated over the years. We still average a boat speed around 50-60% of wind speed.

Cheers,

Rick

[Mr B]

2002 Gemini MC 105, Not being a sailor, and not wanting to damage anything, I was mainly cruising around 7 knots, I got my best speeds by using the GPS to get the best speed,
I stopped using the main, as it didnt seem to make any difference to the speed of the vessel. I used the Genoa only, It was all mainly down wind sailing, I did manage 240 NM one day coming down the Tasman, But that was a one off, Every thing was happening right that day, It was perfect conditions, 180 was usually the max any other time,

It was all plug and play, Set the Auto pilot, then just sit back and let it happen,
Cockpit and hammock on the back, they were always level and steady,

The Head was suicidal, No way would I shower in there, The main cabin, Levetating 6 inches off the bed, I ended up sleeping in the salon or on the hammock over the Transom with a harness on, The rear beds were too noisy to sleep in, Plus it took too long to get out of if any thing happened, Approaching ships,
The front third of the vessel was rotating up and down by about 2 feet, Just using the Genoa, I didnt have to go out there any way,
I did have some scary moments with massive waves and very high winds,
Force 6 was reported by a passing ship in the morning, But it got a hell of a lot worse in the afternoon,
But I never felt unsafe in it at any time, Even with the cockpit full to my knees from a following sea, It was still sailing flat and level,
Its only a 34 footer, and 14 foot wide, Im happy with it,

Cheers, Brian,

[rabbi]

Lagoon 410.

Rock solid but still light compared to current models. Not too much accomodation for its 41ft.

[Bobcat]

You need to go back more than 20 years - many of Bill O'Brien's designs are happily cruising including many of the first of each design until recently. One of his 'Oceanics' was the first around Cape Horn, another made an early transatlantic passage.

Bill O'Brien RIP

"Born in Dublin in 1920, his family then moved to a farm in the Irish town of Carlow in 1926. He spent happy years as a lad testing model boats in a stream on the old farm at Monavothe, Rathvilly. A family joke is that his first catamaran comprised two wooden pig troughs battened together for paddling on the pond. Finding that one alone was too tippy, fixing another alongside seemed right – even at the age of 10.

Bill left Ireland, joined the Royal Air Force, and was posted to the 202 Group Western Desert. He was stationed in Abukir, Egypt where he served as a rear gunner in the Second World War. In Alexandria, he met Louise, a beautiful half-French half-Italian girl; they courted, under the very watchful eye of Louise’s mother who was very soon under the spell of this gentle man with the soft Irish brogue. Bill (very wisely) quickly learned to speak French and Italian. Bill and Louise were married on September 11, 1943 and lived with Louise’s mother in Port Taufiq 20 yards from the lukewarm sea where he used his free time, and the ideal facilities, to test out his various sailing ideas.

For a short time back in the UK, Bill spent some time on Sunderland and Catalina flying boats, in 1946 at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland and experimented with a couple of Sunderland floats as a catamaran. The concave shaped floats, designed for high speed, were poor performers at slow speed under sail; however, he discovered that a wooden version with a deeper vee forward and some rocket to keel changing to flattish sections aft proved a better compromise for light airs or strong winds. An idea was born.

In 1950 Bill, Louise and their two daughters, Mary-Rose and Liliane, both born in Alexandria, came to the UK and settled in Weston, Southampton. At Weston Bill met Ivan Morris, his brother Franz, Don Harvey, Bert Drought, Phil and Harry Cozens, Leo Line (designer of the Weston Sharpie), Luke Wilkinson, Ken Wyeth, George Gray and Harry Critchley. They formed Weston Sailing Club at the Seaweed hut on Weston Shore in January 1952 adopting Leo’s Weston Sharpie as a Club racing class – two already built, a number of them set to building others in back gardens.

Bill, now a civilian and having to earn a living worked as an airframe fitter at Air Service Training, Hamble (a branch of the Hawker Siddely Group during 1950-1951; Airframe Engineer/Inspector on flying boats at Aquila Airways 1952-1953 and then back to AST again as an Airframe Inspector.

In 1953 the younger members of the Weston Sailing Club wanted a lighter, faster racing dinghy with built-in buoyancy for righting by the crew. The Committee decided on a design competition, designs to be built at the owners’ cost and thoroughly tested before approval. Bill designed and built the Daring and in the Southampton Water Sailing association event in the spring of 1954 (six clubs entered five boats each), having started late, overhauled the other 29 boats, including an 18’ National and a 24’ International. Daring was approved by the Club Committee. Bill later received a request for an “amateur build” competitor and produced the Challenge, a number were built (not professionally) and reports were that she could easily outplane the 505. Local Weston Sailing Club builders of Challenge were Knobby Clarke, Andy Osman, the Morris twins and Ivor Drought.

In the early 50’s Bill still had the catamaran bug and he designed a 14’ catamaran for Denis Roe, a tea planter in Ceylon, as it was then, in 1954 and suggested that the plans could be used by others there to form a separate class for racing.

An opening came in August 1955 when Ken Pearce of Essex won the Fastest Boat Prize at Cowes with his 18ft catamaran, Endeavour, the average speed of which was 14 knots over the nautical mile, although she was recorded on radar at 22 knots in the spurts. Bill spurred on by the favourable reaction at Weston Sailing Club for multi-hulls tidied up his 1946 design, calling it Jumpahead. Bill then with others formed the Springbok Restricted Class Association for catamarans in November 1955 and wrote to Roland Prout and many others asking them to join in with similar sizes to meet the restrictions. Bill made a scale model of Jumpahead and exhibited it on the Captain Watts stand at the 1956 London Boat Show. The Prout brothers also exhibited one hull of their Shearwater on their folding dinghy stand. Both aroused interest, backed largely by the resultant publicity of the Ken Pearce Endeavour success at Cowes. Thus, the Jumpahead and Shearwater catamarans emerged on the sailing scene.

The management of Hawker Siddely, mainly due to the slowing down of the aircraft industry in the area, was looking to diversify and decided to start up a boat section. Bill headed up the boat section designing his first motor/sailer cruiser – The Shamrock which was successfully received in the sailing world and was featured at the London Boat Shows. Hawker Siddely moved the Catamaran Division to Anglesey in North Wales in 1960 and, although Bill had been offered a position as designer, his preference was for Southampton and the Solent area.

In 1960 Bill decided to set up his own company, Bill O’Brien Ltd. The Shamrock paved the way for the BobCat and the 26ft Channel Rover. A few years later Bill parted company with partners in Bill O’Brien Ltd. and decided to go “on his own” and Bill O’Brien Catamarans was established within Willments Shipyard in Woolston. Bill then designed the 30 ft Oceanic. Over the next 25 years 80 Oceanics’ were built, many of which are located in seas and/or marinas all over the world. One of his famous one off designs was The Anneliese a 70ft catamaran designed for Rosie and Colin Swayle who sailed around Cape Horn (Rosie wrote a book on their experiences - Children of Cape Horn).

Bill left his mark in the Southampton area, firstly with Weston Sailing Club, which later moved to Netley, his boat designing and building companies, and his participation with Norman Kemish and Arthur Gale for his participation in the planning of the inaugural Southampton Boat Show in 1969.

Bill and Louise were happily married for 62 years, his beloved Louise passed away in August 2005. Once Bill retired fully, they enjoyed taking trips to Weston Shore, looking out to sea and reminiscing about those first days of the sailing club. Louise, along with the other wives (one of the regulars was Phil Harvey) and their daughters, used to help in “the hut” making copious pots of tea and huge piles of sandwiches for the hungry sailors returning from participating in yet another race. Bill and Louise felt very much at peace and comfortable by the sea – Louise because she had been born and raised near the sea, and Bill because it was his passion – not many people are lucky enough to spend most of their life having their hobby as their career. He just loved messing about with boats, and although he did eventually retire he never really stopped playing with boat designs and kept in touch with everyone who contacted him with requests and for advice.

Bill’s other love was music – he was a very accomplished accordion player and in his younger days used to entertain many people in the clubs and pubs around the Southampton area. He was still playing the accordion at the age of 88 and spent many hours recording his music and sending the tapes to his family and friends around the world!

Bill loved to read, particular favourites were western stories – Louis Lamour and Zane Gray. The Woolston library had quite a challenge keeping stocks for him. He also loved to tell stories (or yarns as he called them) about his days as a youngster and his time in the RAF. These stories kept his children and later his grandchildren quite enthralled, to them he seemed to have had a very exciting and colourful life. Now his grandchildren enjoy his various hobbies, one grandson has a love of the countryside and gardening, in particular growing vegetables; another is musically gifted; the third has an interest in electronics and engineering; and his granddaughter is carrying on his love of sailing, which she recently took up and participated in the Fastnet in 2009.

Bill left this world on June 28, 2009. It was of great comfort to his family that many people from the sailing community of Southampton attended the funeral and a splendid tribute to him was published in the Southern Echo.

There is no other charity that would be fitting as a remembrance of this wonderful man. He was a key figure in the sailing scene in Southampton when it was really taking off.

Bill was a member of the RNLI and he and Louise attended many of the fund raising functions organized in Southampton.

Bill O’Brien's Catamaran Designs
https://www.facebook.com/groups/19959666274/

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by rabbi

Lagoon 410.

Rock solid but still light compared to current models. Not too much accomodation for its 41ft.

would have to agree. My first love.

[Factor]

Wow, Loch Crowther, Tony Granger to name but two designers didn't get a look in!

[Redreuben]

Originally Posted by Factor

Wow, Loch Crowther, Tony Granger to name but two designers didn't get a look in!

That's what happens when Americans run a "world championship" !

[PhiSig1071]

I was going to start this exact same thread, but I was going to call it "Plastic Classic Cats?"

I'm surprised there's been no mention of the Catalac series of boats.

My personal favorite is probably the Lagoon 42 TPI, and I like the FP range from around that time frame too, the Venezia, Bahia, and Belize. They seem to bridge the gap between old and new, old enough to be more heavily built and durable, but new enough to have more modern layouts and appearance.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by duefocena

While I thought the OP's interest was cruising catamarans I would agree fold up trimarans were an influence. I personally see Hobie Alter as the biggest introduction to multihulls of anyone in America. Thousands owned and raced around the world involving literally millions of people. Who else has introduced people to multihulls in these numbers? Attending his funeral in Dana Point this last year in the water at a paddle out funeral we lost a true pioneer and innovator. I know he started me off and was one of the first I owned at sixteen years of age.

And though many view the F series as cruising boats, Ive spent a lot of time racing them, and a weekend aboard is plenty for me....would not want to do extended cruising on one.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by FSMike

Of the last 20 years? That is the subject of the op. Otherwise we would all be paying homage (and deservedly so) to Jim Brown and James Wharram, along with Cross, Horstman and others.

I think they certainly have to be paid omage to as "founding fathers" if nothing else...and some of Wharrams designs are now being built by pro builders. Plenty of Tikis have been built by amateurs in the past 20 years, but dont qualify as production boats.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by D&D

Many people (and probably many here?) would apply the 'brick houses' analogy to the L380...and probably any other Lagoon (or production cat?) as well. Like you, however, we sailed the L380 and would agree it earned and deserves its place in this thread as a true 'classic'.

I agree, the L38 sails just fine for a production cruising boat. Have done many miles on them and think they deserve a spot.

[belizesailor]

Manta 42. Excellent design features, great layout for a cruising couple (not for charter), solid build, good performance.