Peter, I'm not sure why you say a cat is better than a mono? Certainly they
have different attributes but the choice of what makes one type of boat
better then another is strictly personal. I grew up racing monohulls and
that is what I feel comfortable on. I do see the advantages of a cat: room,
sailing flat, shallow draft, but I also see advantages in a mono: load
carrying ability, more seaworthy, softer ride.

Buying a boat is a personal decision. What is better for you may be worse
for me.

Fair winds,

Bryan

"Peter HK" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
nk.net...

So why do people buy cruising catamarans if monohulls in
the same price range are just as spacious and can go just
as fast ?

1. Shallower draft
2. They can be parked on the beach
3. They don't sink as easily
4. They don't roll like monohulls
5. ???

"Bryan" wrote:
We raced our Schock 35 for many years and often there
was a multihull fleet sailing the same course. F-28 Corsair
Trimarans and others of the same ilk. We were very rarely
beaten around the course by those multihulls.. I would
tend to agree that in general a large monohull will be as
fast if not faster than a cruising cat.

There are a number of errors in logic in the above post.

People buy cruising catamarans because they are better than cruising
monos, albeit generally more expensive.

Firstly let me make a comment about speed. In this perennial argument
there always seems to be the anecdotal statement that someone in a mono
somewhere beat a multi around a course and that means that multis aren't
faster.

Let me point out the reality. Cruising multis (of similar size) are slower
than racing monos. Racing multis are faster than cruising monos. Racing
multis are faster than racing monos (clearly evident from all the long
distant records and also from the America's cup farce in NZ between the
huge mono and the multi half its size where the cat annihilated the mono
to windward and held back off the the breeze so as not to jeopardize the
subsequent court case). Cruising multis are faster than cruising monos-
but not by much as both tend to be overloaded and the evidence that I have
seen suggests about a 10% difference.

Shallow draft is great.

Movement under sail is arguable as multis have a sharper motion but the
lack of heel is a big plus. On my cruising cat we never had a glass spill
even in 40- 50 knots ( though I admit we weren't beating into it!).

Non-sinkability is a huge safety plus and forgotten by the mono brigade.
Here in Oz in the last 25-30 years there have been no deaths from multi
capsizes but well over 200 deaths from mono sinkings. Multis here are
popular and account for 25-30% of boats cruising, so it's not a
statistical error. Clearly capsize is not nearly as dangerous as sinking.
Better upside-down on the surface than right way up on the bottom.

Beaching is not that common.

At anchor they can behave poorly, especially in wind against tide
situations.

In cold climates they are harder to heat and all the deck space is not
much use- the converse is true in the tropics.

The spaciousness is great if a cat is large enough so that the bridgedeck
is a lounge area. This means that the staterooms are separate, the
shower/heads are separate, and the whole setup is more like a house. Monos
are more like a dormitory.

If, given the choice, I would certainly choose a large multi over a large
mono for cruising.

Peter HK