What Women Want

[CatGirl]

It's seems there is not a whole lot of women on this forum, but mostly men, speculating on what it is they think women want. First off a bit of a credibility statement. I'm a woman, 38, a full time cruiser, hold a USCG 100T master license with sailing and towing endorsements. In the last two years I've sailed 15,000 blue water miles double handed (just me and my finance) mostly in the South Pacific (NZ, FIJI, Vanuatu, Australia) and from Mass. to Guatemala. I currently own a Chris White Atlantic 42 sailing cat AND a PDQ 39 sailing cat (it's for sale) although I used to sail a sinker (Beneteau First 40 mono-hull).

Hands down I love the cats. I just hated living in a cave on our monohull there was less air flow especially to the aft cabin. It was darker and down right depressing at times to be down in the “cave” day after day. I have a tendency to get seasick for the first day at sea, not serious, but just not feeling that great and the rolling and heeling on a mono make life that much more miserable. It's no fun trying to sleep, read, cook, or clean up when the boat is cork screwing as it does when sailing down wind. Oh for those of you worried about windward sailing... why would you want to do that? Wait for the weather... everything should be downwind. Despite covering many many thousands of miles each year the majority of the time we are at anchor and this is where the catamaran really kicks butt. On a mono you got the companion way stairs and cramped cockpit and rarely a properly protected cockpit that keeps you BOTH cool and protected from wind and sun. The sun is your enemy out in the tropics. On my cats I can sit in the settee and look out the windows and since we have soo many hatches air flow on the cat is awesome. Want to have a party... no need to just invite two couples over cause theres not enough space, invite the whole anchorage twenty people on a cat is nothing.
Oh and the dingy, with the mono we had to haul that thing up with the halyard every night, which wasn't so bad, but when we went on passage we had to take off the engine, bring her on the deck, deflate and tie down. Whereas on the Cat, just hoist the dingy, engine and all with the davits and your done. I can do that by myself in less than 2 minutes. Granted you can put davits on a mono... if it's big enough, but on passage that wouldn't be so wise.

The main disadvantages of a cat is if you are a full time cruiser is that they cost more, and well most of us full time cruisers don't have jobs!

There are some arguments about the safety of a cat, because if she flips she will not right, but nor will she sink. BUT, 80% of boating deaths occur from falling overboard, not from flipping over. Falling overboard is much harder to do from the wide and stable platform of a cat. Flipping isn't a concern of mine as we mind our weather and just don't go out if it's bad and we don't push her beyond the edge of performance and yeah we've seen some shitty weather. Besides, worst case we flip or hit something hard, like a container or whale I'd rather live in a cat that is positivity buoyant or even floating upside down than a monohull that's sunk to the bottom!

I'll admit I don't much like passage making, to me it's a means to an end, but at least with the cat, we sail 30% faster (based on our PDQ 39) than a comparable mono so we get there that much quicker. On the Atlantic 42 there is no comparison to a mono PERIOD.

Since we now own two boats on has to go and the PDQ 39' is FOR SALE and set up to do some awesome cruising in the Caribbean or Bahamas or beyond. See more at: http://[URL="http://pdq36.blogspot.com/"]pdq36.blogspot.com/[/URL]

[Randy]

So, women want a Chris White cat? nice boat by the way.

[Jolly Roger]

I don’t wish to sound too ungentlemanly, but what’s the object of this long post? Sounding off about cats versus monos is old hat, and cannot be settled either way, since it always comes down to personal opinion and preference. I don’t see it has the slightest relevance to what women want - assuming you somehow know what all women want? OK, you have more sailing qualifications than most men – so what; your opinion is no more or less than just that – your opinion.

[Christian Van H]

Two observations: She is no where near 100 tons, and she wants to sell you a cat...

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by CatGirl

I'm a woman, 38, a full time cruiser, hold a USCG 100T master license with sailing and towing endorsements. In the last two years I've sailed 15,000 blue water miles double handed (just me and my finance) mostly in the South Pacific (NZ, FIJI, Vanuatu, Australia) and from Mass.

Now there's a heck of a Freudian slip...

Welcome aboard CatGirl...

[Pelagic]

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much”……. Could there be an ulterior motive?

Oh and welcome by the way Catgirl… I hope our teasing doesn’t scare you away as it is a fun and informative group

[scotte]

Welcome CatGirl! Just ignore the people trying to criticize you because you own a different type of boat than they do... It's always great to hear other people's experiences...

[gbanker]

Creative ad, had me going for a minute.

[georgelewisray]

My wife and I recently fell in love with a C.W. ATLANTIC-42. It happened while helping to deliver a PDQ44 to the Abacos, Bahamas. During the trip we made friends with some folks on a C.W. Voyager 48 and that made us think that C.W. (Chris White) designs are magical. My wife is a captian 1600T Ocean and we fixing up a pretty but sinkable steel gaff rigged pinkey schooner. In Oct I am signed up to help bring a new PDQ 44' from the factory in Argentina to the US. Wish it were a Chris White coming from Cape Town.......

GO C.W. Cats !!!!

[sailorboy1]

Good ad I guess, as I wouldn't have read if not for the "What women want" title. I'm always interested in learning what women want (today that is because it changes tommorow).

[anjou]

I was going to say, dont ask Mel Gibson what a woman wants cos hes divorcing her.

Nice add CatGirl.

[BlueSovereign]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

I'm always interested in learning what women want (today that is because it changes tommorow).

All the women you know take that long???

[Mark424]

It's nice to have someone with a CW on board. How long have you had it? I have been intrigued by his designs. Since his boats are built at a variety of different yards, I'd imagine it's hard to draw any conclusions about build quality, but I would be interested in your thoughts on some of the design aspects. Systems layout, access, and maintainability.

What are your thoughts on the side entry double berth. seems like it would be a constant source of irritation. The other issue I have with the 42 is lack of a "back porch" which is where I spend all my time when on cats. I'd imagine you could put up a bimini over the forward cockpit, but it'd be like being in a small mono cockpit. I guess you could rig a removable awning over the whole center/front of the boat, use folding chairs, etc - just not sure how flat and livable that space is.

Would appreciate any comments you have on your A-42.....Thanks

Mark

[CatGirl]

Actually, we just bought the Chris White Atlantic 42, so my body of knowledge is pretty limited as of yet.



The boat was built by Lombardi yachts and build quality is high. Vacuum bagged epoxy over baltex core with tons of attention to detail and systems design and install. This particular boat won the Best Cruising Multihull Boat of the year award in 1998. You can see what the pros had to say at the time when they took her for a test sail at the Annapolis boat show: Atlantic 42


In terms of the side entry berths I don't see this as an issue and greatly prefer it to the alternative of crawling in and out of bed and laying on the bed while you try to make it. The berths have good ventilation and are plenty long which is important for my partner who is 6'2”.


Let me tell you the lack of a 'back porch' as you say, had been my only objection to the boat. Of course I'd prefer the 55' with the back porch, but that's way out of our price range. The inside salon is our major hang out area as the sun protection is 100%, ventilation is great and the visibility 360. We do use the cockpit when we put up a basic shade cover / rain water catcher that goes over the boom and ties off to the dagger boards, but wouldn't need to extend sun cover further for how we live.
The advantage with the forward cockpit is that in the hot tropics you get some nice air flow. Time will tell how I adapt to the new configuration.

I have to realize that every boat is a compromise... you just pick the attributes that are important to how you use the boat and make some trade offs, because at the end of the day you can't have it all in a 40 something boat and with a limited budget.



Another, shameless plug for our awesome PDQ 39 that is FOR SALE. It's seriously outfitted for cruising and was refit in 2008/2009 for problem free cruising.

Check it out at: www.PDQ36.blogspot.com

[Mark424]

Originally Posted by georgelewisray

My wife and I recently fell in love with a C.W. ATLANTIC-42. It happened while helping to deliver a PDQ44 to the Abacos, Bahamas. During the trip we made friends with some folks on a C.W. Voyager 48 and that made us think that C.W. (Chris White) designs are magical.

Could you offer more details of why you fell in love with the boat? I'd also be more interested in your impressions of the CW Voyager, seems that we only hear about the atlantic series. People tend to focus on the cockpit forward, but there is a lot more to a boat. Similarly with the Voyager, since it's a traditional cockpit aft, what distinguishes it from other similar cockpit aft cats.

Thanks....

Mark