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

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.

"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

* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/3/2007 7:31 PM:
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

An old boat, with known structural problems has a complete structural
failure in rough weather and yet doesn't sink and all three elderly
sailors are rescued without injury. How many monohulls could break in
half, or even sustain a small puncture, without sinking?

I've been trying to find more info on this incident. It certainly
wasn't a normal cruising cat, since the two hulls are usually molded
as one, and breaking in half isn't possible without major trauma. It
was probably a racing cat converted to cruising, or a old homemade boat.

* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/6/2007 11:01 AM:


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.

Actually, the problem is two much buoyancy in the sterns, a function
of trying to increase load carrying, reduce hobby-horsing, and support
larger engines.

They dig in and pitchpole going downwind even
when running under bare poles.

And yet, its almost impossible to find a case where this happened on a
cruising cat. Virtually all cruising cat capsizes involve carrying
sail. As always, you're confusing cruising boats with racing boats.

Going upwind they just submarine through
the waves and do take quite a beating.

Unlike monohulls, which can go upwind under bare poles.

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.

Or use a drouge to reduce speed.

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 fantasy that I have since I've
never actually sailed out of sight of land.

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 07:37:04 -0400, Jeff wrote:

* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/3/2007 7:31 PM:
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

An old boat, with known structural problems has a complete structural
failure in rough weather and yet doesn't sink and all three elderly
sailors are rescued without injury. How many monohulls could break in
half, or even sustain a small puncture, without sinking?

I've been trying to find more info on this incident. It certainly
wasn't a normal cruising cat, since the two hulls are usually molded
as one, and breaking in half isn't possible without major trauma. It
was probably a racing cat converted to cruising, or a old homemade boat.

There is a bit more he
http://www.lep.co.uk/news?articleid=3097982

"Goofball_star_dot_etal" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 07:37:04 -0400, Jeff wrote:

* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/3/2007 7:31 PM:
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

An old boat, with known structural problems has a complete structural
failure in rough weather and yet doesn't sink and all three elderly
sailors are rescued without injury. How many monohulls could break in
half, or even sustain a small puncture, without sinking?

I've been trying to find more info on this incident. It certainly
wasn't a normal cruising cat, since the two hulls are usually molded
as one, and breaking in half isn't possible without major trauma. It
was probably a racing cat converted to cruising, or a old homemade
boat.

There is a bit more he
http://www.lep.co.uk/news?articleid=3097982


Thanks for the link. It looks like Tantara was a Lagoon 38. At least
that's what Google returns. Sort of blows Jeff's theory all to hell that
it was some kind of cheap homebuilt. Notice how Tantara has the large
aluminum spar at the bow where the standing rigging attaches. Let the
bolts carry away on that and it's Katy bar the door.

Catamaran designs are inherently dangerous. You shouldn't have to go
around tightening bolts to keep your sailboat from falling apart.

Wilbur Hubbard

On Aug 9, 11:37 am, Goofball_star_dot_etal
wrote:
On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 07:37:04 -0400, Jeff wrote:
* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/3/2007 7:31 PM:
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

An old boat, with known structural problems has a complete structural
failure in rough weather and yet doesn't sink and all three elderly
sailors are rescued without injury. How many monohulls could break in
half, or even sustain a small puncture, without sinking?

I've been trying to find more info on this incident. It certainly
wasn't a normal cruising cat, since the two hulls are usually molded
as one, and breaking in half isn't possible without major trauma. It
was probably a racing cat converted to cruising, or a old homemade boat.

There is a bit more hehttp://www.lep.co.uk/news?articleid=3097982- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hey Goofball, I hear you're getting more than your share of rain...

It's hot here in Texas.

Joe

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/3/2007 7:31 PM:
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

An old boat, with known structural problems has a complete structural
failure in rough weather and yet doesn't sink and all three elderly
sailors are rescued without injury. How many monohulls could break in
half, or even sustain a small puncture, without sinking?

I've been trying to find more info on this incident. It certainly
wasn't a normal cruising cat, since the two hulls are usually molded
as one, and breaking in half isn't possible without major trauma. It
was probably a racing cat converted to cruising, or a old homemade
boat.


Not!

http://www.2hulls.com/usedcatamaran-2007/Tantara.html

Read it and weep. I bet it doesn't make you feel very safe on your PDQ
which is sort of a cheapo version of the Lagoon 38.

Wilbur Hubbard

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
* Wilbur Hubbard wrote, On 8/3/2007 7:31 PM:
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

An old boat, with known structural problems has a complete structural
failure in rough weather and yet doesn't sink and all three elderly
sailors are rescued without injury. How many monohulls could break
in half, or even sustain a small puncture, without sinking?

I've been trying to find more info on this incident. It certainly
wasn't a normal cruising cat, since the two hulls are usually molded
as one, and breaking in half isn't possible without major trauma. It
was probably a racing cat converted to cruising, or a old homemade
boat.


Not!

http://www.2hulls.com/usedcatamaran-2007/Tantara.html

Read it and weep. I bet it doesn't make you feel very safe on your PDQ
which is sort of a cheapo version of the Lagoon 38.

Wilbur Hubbard

"Sorry, Tantara's journey has come to an end . . . " From:
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-3SXrUYM3aKqXThGnHIU-?cq=1

Sorry Jeff but it ain't looking good for catamarans these days.

Wilbur Hubbard