SAIL

Zen and the art of Managing Cats

Since you’re reading this in a multihull magazine, chances are you’re already a fan of catamarans and are familiar with their advantages. They offer more room than same-length monohulls, they have system redundancy built in, they tend to produce less seasickness because they don’t heel much, and they can be faster since they’re not dragging a heavy keel through the water. At the same time, though, cats also offer a number of challenges that may have you rethinking how you manage a weeklong charter or an offshore passage. The lessons below (some hard won) are my personal tips on becoming Zen with two hulls and getting the best out of whatever multihull you may find yourself on.

The right direction

Unless you’re sailing a high-speed racing cat, chances are you won’t be seeing blistering speeds from a cat going to weather. Gunboats and HH catamarans can sail pretty close to the wind as can those built by Balance, Catana or any other catamaran with daggerboards. However, cruising cats with small fixed keels have limited pointing ability.

Two shallow hulls don’t track like a single deep one, so forget about the concept of “beating.” Also, unless there’s a nice high bridgedeck, the pounding cats take in head seas can shake the kidneys right out of

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