On 4/2/10 6:15 PM, Tim wrote:
On Apr 2, 4:13 pm, wrote:
On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 14:28:48 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch

wrote:
Something I noticed on this leg of my cruise is the radical diff tween
the wakes of mono and catamaran hulls for power boats. The monos have
huge wakes while the cats have very small wakes. This should give
better fuel economy. Does it?

It absolutely does. The less water you push aside the better from
the standpoint of efficiency. One of the big cruising trends we are
seeing this year is the increase in multi-hull sailboats. There are
hundreds of them just here in Martinique and it looks like they will
be in the majority sooner or later.

Waht about harsh side winds? Can you flip one?


Of course not:

Foncia capsizes off Lorient – Alinghi crew safe

[Source: Alinghi] AT 11:30 this morning, in 20 plus knots and a lumpy
Atlantic swell, the 60ft trimaran Foncia capsized off Lorient with
Alinghi sailors onboard. Of the 10 crew onboard, Piet van Niekerk and
Francesco Rapetti were airlifted to hospital, both are safe and with no
serious injuries. The rest of the crew along with consultant Alain
Gautier were involved in securing the boat and towing it ashore, the
sailors are shaken but unhurt.

Ed Baird, who was onboard, provides some insight into what happened: “As
we were bearing away, always the highest risk situation on a multi-hull,
both the leeward and the central hull dug into the water and the rudders
came out. From then it was out of our hands and we capsized forwards. As
the mast hit the water, it broke, followed by the rear beam.” He
continues: “The crew reacted very quickly in getting everyone back on
board, doing a head count and checking injuries before calling for help
and beginning to secure the boat.”

Foncia is currently being towed into the harbour upside down to be
craned out and assessed for damage. “We have all been through crashes
and capsizes before, this is all part of the sport,” says Ed Baird,
adding “however this is a temporary situation with Foncia and is not our
equipment, so it is even more disappointing to us that we are involved
in damaging someone else’s gear. We have learned a valuable lesson here
and now must get to work to fix things up for Alain [Gautier].”

Of course, this was a trimaran...but...






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Conservatives - just pretend Obama's health care legislation is another
unnecessary war and you'll feel better about it.