"sherwindu" wrote in message
...


Paddy Malone wrote:sherwindu has contributed one important fact to this
discussion when in his

first post he stated "I have never even sailed on a cat myself".


I am not questioning the comfort of a multihull, it's speed, etc. I'm
basing my
views on many years
of ocean sailing experience and my education as an applied
physicist/engineer.

Sure you are! :-) Speed and comfort *are* safety issues.

My concern is one
of safety. I feel that a catamaran is not immune to tipping over,
especially if
conditions do not permit
the reefing of sails. These comments about monohulls sinking is
overstated.

What conditions are those? Bare poles? Drogue? Sea anchor?

Actually, mono sinking (and catamaran capsizings) are stated accurately.
They're recorded as they happen.

Sure they do, but not
necesarily because of their basic design. Catamarans are made of
fiberglass,
etc., which last I heard
is something that is heavier than water and will sink under certain
circumstances. Reducing sail can

Water itself can sink under certain circumstances! That doesn't say much.

decrease the probability of a roll in both monohulls and multihulls.
Freak wave
action can roll a boat
over even with these precautions. I personally would feel safer and more
comfortable in a boat that
I know is going to come back up on it's own, with or without it's rigging,
than
hoping I can get into a

But your making all sorts of assumptions about monos! On the one had, you're
making the assumption of a freak wave with no preparation or warning - on
the other, you're assuming that all the hatches, etc. on the mono are closed
and ready for battle. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

watertight compartment with my boat floating upside down. The problem
with
taking a multihull on an
extended voyage, say an ocean crossing, is that the chances of running
into real
bad weather increase.

Actually, they decrease, since you won't be out as long as with a mono. Now,
if you want to argue that way, you could say that SINCE multis go faster,
then people would be tempted to select smaller weather windows, and thus
open themselves up to greater danger. :-)

In the very extreme, one can take down all sails in a monohull, batten
down the
hatches, put out a sea
anchor and ride things out. If for some reason the boat is rolled over,
it will
right itself. Can't say the
same thing for a multihull. Granted this is an extreme case, but if I
were
planning an ocean crossing,
it would certain cross my mind as a possibility.

Again, you're making the assumption that NOTHING can be done to get a multi
to get through the situation. This is far from true.

Please describe your offshore, extreme weather sailing on a mono that causes
you to have these views!