"Bart" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Aug 3, 7:31 pm, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
Rescue required. When are they gonna do something about dangerous,
unseaworthy catamarans?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6930023.stm

Wilbur Hubbard

No information on the type of cat. Now real details on the sea state.

Poorly written story.

A friend of mine just delivered a Cat and got caught in some rough
conditions. The boat could only sail in a narrow 15 degree course
generally downwind.

Farther upwind, the boat took too much of a beating. Farther
downwind would stuff the bows.


Therein lies the problem. Today's designers, in order to attempt to get
some speed out of a loaded cruising catamaran, design the bows with too
little reserve buoyancy. They dig in and pitchpole going downwind even
when running under bare poles. Going upwind they just submarine through
the waves and do take quite a beating. The best survival tactic for a
catamaran seems to be a very small hank-on storm jib and steering so as
to quarter the waves and in the trough trying to run a little less free.
But it takes a steady hand and a helmsman who isn't tired or
inattentive.

The best thing to do is forget about catamarans for ocean work. They are
inherently dangerous and unstable. They cannot cope with storm
conditions like a well-found, deep draft, ballasted keel monohull. But
people will continue to attempt to voyage using catamarans and their
bodies and broken, capsized craft will continue to come up missing or be
found washed up on beaches. That's a fact.

Wilbur Hubbard