Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"Jeff" wrote
Of course, gybing to avoid tacking is particularly stupid if you're trying to get upwind.

Duh, tell that to Christopher Columbus and everybody else on tall ships.....


So now you're telling us that handling a Catboat is the same as
handling a Square Rigged Tall Ship. Yes, truly you're a lubber.

"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..

And the proper spelling is "ware ship."

"Jeff" wrote in message
. ..
snipped
And the proper spelling is "ware ship."

Not if you are on this side of the Atlantic...

"Ellen MacArthur" wrote in message
reenews.net...

"Jeff" wrote
Of course, gybing to avoid tacking is particularly stupid if you're
trying to get upwind.

Duh, tell that to Christopher Columbus and everybody else on tall
ships.....

Cheers,
Ellen

No, not everybody.
Read Alan Villiers 'The set of the Sails' about how the captain of the four
masted 'Lawhill' tacked away from a leeshore at the mouth of the Gironde
river with a small crew of young boys while other captains were getting tugs
to tow them as much as 50 miles offshore before setting sail.
Also his book 'The voyage of the Joseph Conrad' .
He tacked the Joseph Conrad for a week just to make a few miles in a fairly
narrow channel. She ended up in Mystic Seaport. don't know if she is still
there.
Tall ships could be tacked if they had a good crew and a captain who had the
guts to do it. Bear away a bit, get up some speed and go for it!

"Joe" wrote ...
Why do they call "cat boats" cat boats?



jlrogers±³© wrote:
So, behold the catboat. ... (snip for brevity)...
The classic catboat has a plumb stem, high bow, and big barndoor rudder.
Those cats 17 feet or more usually have a cuddy cabin with two bunks and the
rudiments for overnight sailing. The cat is rarely longer than 22 to 25
feet. She was never intended for blue water work. Some of the bigger cats
did go 30 or more miles offshore in the fisheries. But the cat mostly was an
alongshore workboat.


Excellent post, bravo! The only thing I would add is that the huge gaff
mains of *working* catboats, not racing ones, also overhung the transom
by a lot in many cases.... they often had "summer rigs" meant for light
air, and it was common among working boats of many types to have 4
reefs in their working mainsails.

But it doesn't naswer the question, why the name?

Here's the answer: because there was already a dog boat common to New
England back in the early days. However it was not as efficient and
effective a type as the catboat, and died out.

signed- Injun Ear (formerly known as Eagle Eye)

"Jeff" wrote in message

Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"Joe" wrote ...
Why do they call "cat boats" cat boats?


It stands for *can't always tack*. You have to jibe them most of
the time. The sail's too big and it's too far up in the bow. They
get in irons worse than anything......

Having sailed catboats most of my life, I can say you are absolutely
wrong. In fact, you haven't been right on much lately, this could be
more proof that you are really Neal.

I'm here. Please don't cornfuse this obvious imposter with me.

Respectfully,
Capt. Neal

"katy" wrote in message

Ellen MacArthur wrote:

If your gonna get a cat boat you'd better learn how to do
this.... Cheers,
Ellen


Jeff..
You wanna borrow my mincemenat grinder?.

Are you making a pie?

Respectfully,
Capt. Neal

wrote
Here's the answer: because there was already a dog boat common to New
England back in the early days. However it was not as efficient and
effective a type as the catboat, and died out.

Hmmmmm. I never knew they had MacGregors back then.....

Cheers,
Ellen

Neal,

A little bit of Cat Boat history. They were designed as shallow draft
vessels. As working boats for Lobstermen, Oystermen, Clammers, or for
any independent Watermen. They were shallow draft, beamy boats so that
they could work shallow sand bars and when they had something to sell,
they could sail them right up on the beach and peddle their product
right from their Boat. That was why the Big Barn door Rudders and Center
Board Keels and sand bags. When you had a hull load of clams you could
bump the sand overboard and stack the cargo on the windward (High) side
and sail pretty flat, When there was no cargo you could fill the bags
with sand (Cheap) and sail flat.

About being "In Irons" they were good at that. As a work boat you could
sail up to a Lobster Buoy, grab the pot line and the well behaved "Cat
Boat' would go nose up to the Wind and just wait for you. When you were
ready to go you just had to hold the Boom over into the wind and she'd
drop off into and easy reach to the next Pot.

Joe! I asked my Skipper ONCE how come they were called "Cat Boats" and
he replied;" How the hell do I know. probably because the rigging on the
Gaff looked like a " Cat-O-Nine tail, don't ask me dumb questions!" I
never asked again but to this day I don't know why the name.

"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Neal,

A little bit of Cat Boat history. They were designed as shallow draft
vessels. As working boats for Lobstermen, Oystermen, Clammers, or for
any independent Watermen. They were shallow draft, beamy boats so that
they could work shallow sand bars and when they had something to sell,
they could sail them right up on the beach and peddle their product
right from their Boat. That was why the Big Barn door Rudders and Center
Board Keels and sand bags. When you had a hull load of clams you could
bump the sand overboard and stack the cargo on the windward (High) side
and sail pretty flat, When there was no cargo you could fill the bags
with sand (Cheap) and sail flat.

About being "In Irons" they were good at that. As a work boat you could
sail up to a Lobster Buoy, grab the pot line and the well behaved "Cat
Boat' would go nose up to the Wind and just wait for you. When you were
ready to go you just had to hold the Boom over into the wind and she'd
drop off into and easy reach to the next Pot.

Joe! I asked my Skipper ONCE how come they were called "Cat Boats" and
he replied;" How the hell do I know. probably because the rigging on the
Gaff looked like a " Cat-O-Nine tail, don't ask me dumb questions!" I
never asked again but to this day I don't know why the name.



It's not Nelly.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com