"sherwindu" wrote in message
...


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.

The same bad things can happen on a mono if you don't do what's required to
be safe. Your comments don't really add much to why or why not a multihull
is or isn't safe.

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,

Gradual heeling? Not in high wind gusts. These are common where I sail.
You're doing a nice steady 6/7 kts in 20 kts air, then you get a 32 kts
gust. Even reefed, the boat will heel quite quickly, and I've seen people
dumped into the bottom of the cockpit. And, this is in protected water!

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.

Probably? It'll happen very quickly. I reef by wind speed or expected wind
speed. That's very easy to judge.

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.

I think that if you're a prudent sailor (mono or multi), you'd want to do
all you can on the prevention side. Taking the position that a mono *will*
survive a roll with rigging intact is not a smart move. Further, the broken
mast has a propensity to punch holes in the boat. You would need to get up
on deck and cut it free immediately. This is extemely hazardous duty.

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.

Offshore out here is beyond the demarcation line, the dividing point between
domestic rules-of-the-road (Inland Navigating Rules) and the international
rules-of-the-road. Out here, that is definitely offshore in every sense of
the word, including not being within sight of land.