Ian George wrote:

The first rule of multihull sailing is 'If you
cannot reef quickly and easily, don't go to sea'.

I think that is true for any sailboat. The question is not always
having the knowledge of how to reef, but having the opportunity
to do so. I can think of several scenarios where the crew is
distracted by something and doesn't reef down in time.

In general, apart
from the nut-swinging hard core racer, a multi will be reefed well
before a similar sized mono - simply because the multihull sailor
reefs to gust-speed, whereas the mono sailor will as a rule reef to
average wind speed and point-up or heel over to spill the gusts.

I think you are trying to give some credit to multi-hull sailors over
mono hull sailors where it doesn't exist. What you describe is just
plain good sailing technique, for any boat. However, as I stated earlier,
a boat heeling over is a much more positive feedback than an increase
of speed. A monohull will usually do a gradual heeling or at least it is
obvious that you may be in trouble if your rail is in the water. A multihull,
on the other hand, will probably stay flat until the tipping force overcomes
the moment arm of the upwind pontoon, and the multi will go over rather
quickly. I'm curious what criteria a multi sailor uses to relate boat speed
to the amount of reefing required. Speed is not that easy to judge, and a
dangerous speed may be dependent on the particular construction of the multi.




Ah, that is my point. All of the issues you have raised in this thread
- bad design, poor seamanship, inappropriate precaution, poor
construction - all apply equally to both types of craft. They can't
possibly be used to argue a case for one type over the other.

My issue is not so much preventing the initial roll over, but what happens
to the boat once that happens. Not that it is exactly pertinent to multihulls,
but the news today talked about two women rowing their boat across the
Atlantic and having it flip over. Luckily, they had an EPIRB, called for
help, and luckily their was a Tall Ship in the vicinity that picked them up
rather quickly as they clung to their overturned hull.





Offshore to me is 200miles.

I don't know if that is enough of a cushion if the seaworthyness of any
boat is in question.