I'm real curious to know the model of the cat. 30 feet is on the small size for
catamaran safety because the general design which has proven to be safe in sizes
over 35 feet doesn't scale downward very well. In particular, the beam
sometimes gets reduced more than prudent so that it will fit in a slip. Also,
the weight doesn't get reduced proportionately, so the rig is sometimes
oversized. And since bridge clearance is desirable, the rig is often as high as
on bigger cats. The net result is a cat that's too narrow, too tall, and
overcanvased.

Still, to be considered a "cruising cat" it should have enough stability to stay
upright in 40+ winds with full sail oversheeted. Several cases of small cats I
know of flipping involved totally incompetent skippers , full sail, and large
waves.

Moreover, there's no reason for a catamaran to sink. Most modern designs have
several positive floatation chambers.

-jeff




"Flying Tadpole" wrote in message
...
What would you do? For a map of the lake see
http://ace.net.au/schooner/mlakes.htm

Gales on Lake Alexandrina last weekend. A 30'
cruising cat coming home to Milang flipped. A father and 2 kids
aged 8
and 12 were aboard finishing a weekend cruise. None of them
strangers to bad weather on the lake. Kids stayed (temporarily)
dry in inverted bridgedeck cabin
but dad got blown/washed off inverted hull. AT that point the cat
flipped and dad flew,
he was about 200m from
the northern lake shore (tacking against a NW gale). The boat
blew
SE faster than he could swim with PFD on, so presumably the mast
snapped in the flip (water depth about 3 metres)
he swam ashore to raise help. Kids were taken off the boat,
which by then was sinking, about four hours and 11 n miles SE of
capsize point,
heading toward the southeastern shores of the lake. Kids had
been in
water by then about half an hour (cabin eventually flooded). Kids
were a bit cold but otherwise OK. Waves on the lake 5 feet,
breaking (maximum height for the
water depth). No one else out. No ready rescue: Sea Rescue has to
trailer in from other towns once the dad raised the alarm.



--
Flying Tadpole

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