J B wrote:
Ive always liked those , thought they were neat looking boats. How does it
sail? Dont have much use for one in central Ohio.JB

Its unlike a monohull. When a puff hits, it doesn't heel, it just
accelerates. It won't point too high (45-50 degrees true) but it will
go upwind side by side with any cruising boat. Foot off 5 to 10
degrees, and it takes off like a bandit. Tacking is tedious, it
certainly isn't good for short tacking out a channel. Light air is
another sore point, because the large wetted surface starts to
dominate. However, in 10 knots and over will do about half the wind
speed. It continues to hold this ratio up to 12 to 15 knots of boat
speed, depending on how long you hold off on reefing.

One aspect of cats is that the lack of a heavy keel means the rig
doesn't have to be large. In moderate to heavy wind we can travel
with 45 to 50 footers, but only carry the sail of a 32-35 footer.
There was a tall rig offered for the late models, for the benefit of
some light air buyers. Under power she'll do about 8 knots,
motorsailing in light air we're likely to do 8.5 to 9 knots. For
travel planning I figure 7.5 knots overall, but its not uncommon to do
50 miles in 6 hours. On a trans-Atlantic a sistership did just under
1000 miles on one 5 day stretch.

Handling in tight quarters is easy with the two engines, but since she
gets bounced around by the wind you need a firm hand. The only real
problem is that we're often at face docks with other boats fore and
aft, and the cat doesn't do "sideways" very well. We've learned to be
creative with spring lines. Crunches are avoided at the dock because
it only weighs 9000 pounds and responds quickly to the engines.