sherwindu wrote:

Paddy Malone wrote:sherwindu has contributed one important fact to this
discussion when in his


first post he stated "I have never even sailed on a cat myself".



I am not questioning the comfort of a multihull, it's speed, etc. I'm basing my
views on many years
of ocean sailing experience and my education as an applied physicist/engineer.
My concern is one
of safety. I feel that a catamaran is not immune to tipping over, especially if
conditions do not permit
the reefing of sails. These comments about monohulls sinking is overstated.
Sure they do, but not
necesarily because of their basic design. Catamarans are made of fiberglass,
etc., which last I heard
is something that is heavier than water and will sink under certain
circumstances. Reducing sail can
decrease the probability of a roll in both monohulls and multihulls. Freak wave
action can roll a boat
over even with these precautions. I personally would feel safer and more
comfortable in a boat that
I know is going to come back up on it's own, with or without it's rigging, than
hoping I can get into a
watertight compartment with my boat floating upside down. The problem with
taking a multihull on an
extended voyage, say an ocean crossing, is that the chances of running into real
bad weather increase.
In the very extreme, one can take down all sails in a monohull, batten down the
hatches, put out a sea
anchor and ride things out. If for some reason the boat is rolled over, it will
right itself. Can't say the
same thing for a multihull. Granted this is an extreme case, but if I were
planning an ocean crossing,
it would certain cross my mind as a possibility.

Sherwin D.


Archaic thinking. Adlard Coles disproved the lying ahull theory years
ago. Multihulls have been crossing oceans for centuries.

Gaz

Gary wrote:


Archaic thinking. Adlard Coles disproved the lying ahull theory years
ago. Multihulls have been crossing oceans for centuries.

Gaz

Yes, but do we have statistics on the multihulls that never made it
to their destination?

sherwindu wrote:

Gary wrote:


Archaic thinking. Adlard Coles disproved the lying ahull theory years
ago. Multihulls have been crossing oceans for centuries.

Gaz


Yes, but do we have statistics on the multihulls that never made it
to their destination?


This discussion is stupid. Do we have stats on the monohulls? You bias
is showing and your argument is silly.

Gaz
Movin' on!

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:41:52 GMT, Gary wrote:

sherwindu wrote:

Gary wrote:


Archaic thinking. Adlard Coles disproved the lying ahull theory years
ago. Multihulls have been crossing oceans for centuries.

Gaz


Yes, but do we have statistics on the multihulls that never made it
to their destination?


This discussion is stupid. Do we have stats on the monohulls? You bias
is showing and your argument is silly.

I would really like to see stats on cruising generally. One of the
things we see often in this group are (usually second or third hand)
tales of woe where somebody has lost their boat, or their lives. Then
there are the stories of people who manage to cruise off on major
passages with no experience on an unproven boat, and make it to their
destination by "blind luck".

People used to give me grief for being a father of young children and
riding a motorcycle. The best stats I could find at the time suggested
that riding a motorcycle was about 4 times as dangerous as driving a
car. And it sure was fun!

I would really like to be able to compare the hazards of cruising cat
or monohull to the hazards of daily commuting by car into a major
centre. I suspect that the answer would be that the difference in risk
is not enough to over-ride my personal preferences.

Ryk

Archaic thinking. Adlard Coles disproved the lying ahull theory years
ago.

I don't know about Mr. Coles, but I used the 'lying ahull' in a very rough
Winter passage through the Windward Passage (going north against the
prevailing North Easterly winds) on my 22 footer, and it saved my butt.

Multihulls have been crossing oceans for centuries.

Gaz