I am looking for a new liveaboard home on the water in San Francisco
Bay, to keep in Oakland or Alemeda or perhaps in the Delta. I have
been racing and sailing on the bay for 20 years and lived on a
Sparkman & Stevens racing design produced as a Catalina 38. Recently I
have lived in Europe and in the woods in Northern California and have
been away from sailing for almost 20 years and now its time to get
back on the water and start to enjoy myself again. I have not made any
offshore jorneys longer then 20-30 miles but now I would like to find
a boat suitable to make some jorneys along the coast to Mexico along
with some friends. I have just turned 60 and would like to find a
stable boat that is a good spacious liveabord, that will handle well
in the high winds of the bay, easy to singlehand, and go fast either
motoring or sailing. Also I have lots of older friends that would like
to go sailing, but not in foul weather gear, wet, cold, scared and
healed over at 30 degrees for hours on end. I work offshore on an oil
rig and have a great schedule of 21 days on and 21 days off. I would
use this time to go sailing to anchorages in San Fran Bay and stay for
days or weeks and also to possibly use one time off to sail to Mexico,
another time off to enjoy Mexico and another time off to bring the
boat back to San Fran Bay. I have always thought that I would like a
motorsailer as I got older but have seen several adds for cruising
catamans and think that might be a good solution to my needs. Also I
have heard about trimarans and have no idea of how they compare with a
cat. I am interested in any feedback about Cruising Catamarans in the
33 to 38 foot range. It looks like I can get a used one in good shape
for $120-150K. I would like to know how well they sail and point, how
they handle down wind and how well they would do in the blue water
between SF Bay and Mexico and how they do in heavy waves and wind as
well as the normal high winds in san Fran Bay.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.

"Brian" wrote in message
...

[snip]

motorsailer as I got older but have seen several adds for cruising
catamans and think that might be a good solution to my needs. Also I
have heard about trimarans and have no idea of how they compare with a
cat. I am interested in any feedback about Cruising Catamarans in the
33 to 38 foot range. It looks like I can get a used one in good shape
for $120-150K. I would like to know how well they sail and point, how
they handle down wind and how well they would do in the blue water
between SF Bay and Mexico and how they do in heavy waves and wind as
well as the normal high winds in san Fran Bay.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Cats:
They vary, just as monohulls do. Most cruising cats won't point as well as
a good mono but similarly to heavy displacement overloaded cruising mono
boats. Downwind they will be generally more comfortable than most monos
because they won't roll. Heavy winds - upwind many will pound on the
bridgedeck, usually not a problem other than slowing the boat down & causing
a lot of noise.

Tris:
harder to find any production tris around, most will be older
plywood/fiberglass Searunners or similar. These are good boats but most
examples will be getting long in the tooth. They will point better than
most cats because many have centerboards instead of the shallow mini keels
that most cats have.

Some good reference books:

Chris Whites "The Cruising Multihull"
"Sailors Multihull Guide" 3rd edition
www.2hulls.com for a lot of good reading too


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)

"Brian" wrote in message
...

[snip]

motorsailer as I got older but have seen several adds for cruising
catamans and think that might be a good solution to my needs. Also I
have heard about trimarans and have no idea of how they compare with a
cat. I am interested in any feedback about Cruising Catamarans in the
33 to 38 foot range. It looks like I can get a used one in good shape
for $120-150K. I would like to know how well they sail and point, how
they handle down wind and how well they would do in the blue water
between SF Bay and Mexico and how they do in heavy waves and wind as
well as the normal high winds in san Fran Bay.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Cats:
They vary, just as monohulls do. Most cruising cats won't point as well as
a good mono but similarly to heavy displacement overloaded cruising mono
boats. Downwind they will be generally more comfortable than most monos
because they won't roll. Heavy winds - upwind many will pound on the
bridgedeck, usually not a problem other than slowing the boat down & causing
a lot of noise.

Tris:
harder to find any production tris around, most will be older
plywood/fiberglass Searunners or similar. These are good boats but most
examples will be getting long in the tooth. They will point better than
most cats because many have centerboards instead of the shallow mini keels
that most cats have.

Some good reference books:

Chris Whites "The Cruising Multihull"
"Sailors Multihull Guide" 3rd edition
www.2hulls.com for a lot of good reading too


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)