Mono vs multihull

[salticrak]

Why should you be surprised... I've seen an Iroquois go over in Poole Bay... early Prouts and other narrow beamed marques went over along the UK S.coast in the 60's/70's and 80's... why dya think I buy Wharram...
But seriously it was those early days that started the 'Capsize Legend'... usually caused by bad judgment.. turning beam on etc..
A little Bobcat made it round the Horn in the 70's so I know what they're capable of if handled sensibly... most any Cat for that matter..
On the ratio's however if you extract racing mono's and stick to cruising boats the gap is much smaller...
Remember... Life is a 50/50 affair..

One thing you don't find on your type of cruising Cats I've noticed is the tendency to overtake the apparent wind.. must be a low windage Wharram thing...

Ahh, this is music to my ears, you sir are a soothsayer, I shall cock a snoot at all those condomarans with your words ringing in my ears and wondering if they have any ice on board for my warm beer.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Kestrahl

Most cruising cats are actually quite slow. They might be fast in 25 knots on a beam reach but thats it. Slow upwind and slow in light winds.

Yes, true. We don't really start moving until the wind gets into the 20's:

IMGP0099.AVI - YouTube

[ArtM]

Originally Posted by Wylieh

So it's like looking for a wife, test drive untill you get what you want or just get comfortable. I just hate the thought of spending so much money renting something I could own. Anyone know any good rent vs buy a boat comparisons.

The cost of ownership is pretty steep if you are not sailing it. I think the main rent vs. buy argument is that you would spend more than that keeping a boat that you don't sail continuously.

I am in agreement with you, the price of a few charters is a good downpayment on a used boat. I'd rather buy and take my chances on not liking it.

After all, whoever bought a Lagoon and didn't like it??

[ArtM]

To answer the capsize question, I think the fair statement is that

1) If you are buying a modern cruising catamaran design of one of the common makers Lagoon, FP, Leopard, and
2) If it has not been modified, and is sailed in a sensible way, and is not taken through a hurricane, that
3) The likelihood of a catastrophic loss (capsize, pitchpole, sinking, etc) is probably no greater, and possibly less than it would be with a similarly spec'd monohull boat

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Kestrahl
Most cruising cats are actually quite slow. They might be fast in 25 knots on a beam reach but thats it. Slow upwind and slow in light winds.

That is of course, just dribble. Or you must have been on some rubbish boats. And indeed there are some brands which are so fat arsed that I am suprised that they sail at all. BUT just because some of the wide bummed rubbish doesn't work well doesn't mean all cruising cats are rubbish.

I am not as fast as 44C, but I can do 5 knots in 8 knots of Breeze, and 8 knots in 12/14. And I am 10.8 meter. I can point as high as a 10 metre cruising mono and go about their speed or crack off and dismiss them. and 50 degrees apparent is plenty wide enough to start overtaking 40 foot cruising monos.

NOTE I sail some nice monos which I enjoy, but I cannot let uninformed statements about performance go unchecked.

[Jimbo485]

Wylieh,

There has been a lot of rubbish on this thread, especially about cats. The armchair lads are really going for it! God knows how a newbie can filter it out. My suggestion, Wylieh, is that you click on each avatar to see what the writer sails or has sailed. That will indicate a little with respect to their sailing background and whether they have real on-the-water experience with respect to their comments or whether they are full of ****.

BTW, our cruising cat points at 30 degrees and the boatspeed hits apparent windspeed up until about 10 knots. You may want to check out length to beam ratios of individual hulls, bridge deck clearance and read a little on that.

[Dulcesuenos]

Whats th crap with all these people saying cats are slow blah blah blah we had a endeavour cat that would do 5kts in 8-9 and 7-8 in 15+ and could surf comfortably at 10+. And point relatively well. Our mono felt out of control going any faster than 7 and needed just as much wind.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Whats th crap with all these people saying cats are slow blah blah blah we had a endeavour cat that would do 5kts in 8-9 and 7-8 in 15+ and could surf comfortably at 10+. And point relatively well. Our mono felt out of control going any faster than 7 and needed just as much wind.

18knots in a Catalac 900....
flying a handkerchief..

[ArtM]

High windage boats with fat bottoms are slow, whether one hull or two. That's my limited experience, but I've seen nothing yet to contradict it.

[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by ArtM

High windage boats with fat bottoms are slow, whether one hull or two. That's my limited experience, but I've seen nothing yet to contradict it.

Just to point out i said most cruising cats are slow not all. Most cruising cats out there are lagoon lepord etc houseboat style older designs. A good example of this is the cruiser fun races in tonga, most of the time when a cat enters it gets slammed but every so often a quick one turns up and destroys everyone.

[ArtM]

Under certain conditions cats can be very fast, even fat ones. For many people, though, the main measure is the ability to track upwind. Fat high windage boats don't track upwind. Daggerboards or deep keel helps.

Cats are not as slow as people think, but after a while you get tired of arguing it when there is no hard data.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Wylieh

So would it be fair to say cats use to be tippy but as new technology develops they are becoming more stable/safe then a mono haul which hasn't changed since the time of the Vikings.

[Wylieh]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

So now they use more plastic and less wood then the Vikings ?

[downunder]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I expect we see quite a few of these with owners on CF now.

[smj]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

My god that's about the most unseaworthy helm I've ever seen. Is this supposed to be progress?