According to Catana's brochu
...
Another important safety factor is the shape of the hulls and
the possibility of lifting up the daggerboards in heavy weather,
which allows the boat to side-slips rather than raising a hull.
Thus she can cope with the largest waves and heaviest squalls.
Without immersed anti-drift plan, the Catana can glide smoothly
on a steady plane, without the "trip" risk of a fixed keel.

Does this really make a big difference in heavy weather as
compared to other catamarans with fixed fins ?

Does it eliminate the need to use a parachute sea anchor under
the worst conditions or would you use a sea anchor anyway ?

You could read that another way - A Catana is more dangerous because
if you forget to raise the dagger you are at risk. Cats with a shallow
keel (like mine) do not have this problem. I don't know of any with a
fixed, deep keel. Remember most problems come from operator error,
not design flaws.

Before you get into this question you have to consider the very
limited number of cruising cat capsizes overall. I've been following
this issue for years, and every capsize I've heard of is a either a
racer, or a delivery (short handed, unloaded boat, aggressive
schedule, etc.), or someone just screwing up, like carrying full sail
while single handing in a strong breeze, and then leaving it on
autopilot and going below. You also hear of cases of older designs,
and smaller cat (under 35 feet), but its very hard to find any cases
of modern cruising cats that have capsized.

As for a parachute, its still a handy thing to have. Almost every
capsize has occurred while carrying sail; its almost impossible to
capsize a cat under bare poles. This would seem to imply that lying
to a sea anchor is the ultimate fallback.


wrote:
According to Catana's brochu
..
Another important safety factor is the shape of the hulls and
the possibility of lifting up the daggerboards in heavy weather,
which allows the boat to side-slips rather than raising a hull.
Thus she can cope with the largest waves and heaviest squalls.
Without immersed anti-drift plan, the Catana can glide smoothly
on a steady plane, without the "trip" risk of a fixed keel.

Does this really make a big difference in heavy weather as
compared to other catamarans with fixed fins ?

Does it eliminate the need to use a parachute sea anchor under
the worst conditions or would you use a sea anchor anyway ?

Another important safety factor is the shape of the hulls and
the possibility of lifting up the daggerboards in heavy weather,
which allows the boat to side-slips rather than raising a hull. ...

Well I have a cat with boards and have, from time to time, lain ahull
(parking in cat speak) and I do this with the boards up... However, it
is not a storm tactic. I have seen studies that suggest that tripping
might be a theoretical issue, but cats have lots of stability and very
large moments and are very unlikely to capsize in cruising usage. So,
no, I don't think this is a major issue. Sometimes having a boat that
can claw to weather and tack with assurance is a nice thing and boards
help with this. Still, keels are cheaper, and well done preform just
fine.

FWIW, I think Catanas are nice boats, but check the construction and
the wiring very carefully if you are buying one.

-- Tom.