Catamaran on open seas

[jam007]

Funny you should mention Bering Strait.... (Intentional?)
One mainiac has taken a small trimaran accross the Bering Strait:

"We are happy to arrive in Provideniya!" says Mike. "You could never imagine what we have been through. The meteo was favorable when we left but it suddenly changed and we were caught between two weather systems, cyclone and anticyclone. We experienced winds of (at a guess) around 50 to 60 knots. My 24ft Corsair trimaran was battered around like a cork on the wild ocean. Amazing how it held up! Great little boat! There were times when we thought we would never make it! I never imagined I would be so happy to land on Russian territory."

See Polar Challenges

Any more non-multi areas?

Anders M

[D'ARTOIS]

What do you want to believe us? Go to the web and read it thoroughly; a trimaran becoming a mono when the wings are folded -

[cyclops]

If 2 or 3 hull boats are so great . Why is it no commerical fisherman use them in the Alaska Crab fishing season??

[Deering]

Because they don't have the load-carrying capability that a commercial crabber needs.

Note that a lot of those boats aren't designed to survive a roll-over either, despite what you might have seen in A Perfect Storm.

[sharpii2]

Originally Posted by Deering

Because they don't have the load-carrying capability that a commercial crabber needs.

Note that a lot of those boats aren't designed to survive a roll-over either, despite what you might have seen in A Perfect Storm.

Good point. Two of them capsized in one day. And the conditions, by Alaskan standards, weren't rough at all.

As for multi capsizes, It seems to me that they are caused for the most part by audatious design, poor handling, and just plain bad luck. When mono's are subject to these same kinds of conditions, they usually suffer the same kind of fate.

A multi has a huge bank of initial stability. A 'bank' that should be jealously hoarded. Sensible owners, sailors, and designers understand this fact. Read some Thomas firth Jones (who rode out Hurricane Blanche in a small, 1 ton cat) and you will see what responsible multi design and handling is all about.

It's interesting to note that the same storm he rode out sank a 30 ft mono.
To his credit, Tom did not say that that was because his boat was better. But only that his boat was luckier. The mono fell off a huge wave (which cracked the hull/keel joint, causing a fatal leak) and his boat didn't.

Bob

[D'ARTOIS]

A boat that is impermeable to water cannot sink, mono, bi or tri.....

[Stephen Ditmore]

I think I'm with Sharpii2 on this. The Titanic was supposed to be impenetrable to water. We can always improve in that area, but we have to design with Muphy's Law in mind.

I wouldn't argue that all multihulls are seaworthy.... but some are.

[masrapido]

Reading this thread I can see that 99% of participants have never been on a wave bigger than 2 metres, nor have ever seen a serious storm in the middle of an ocean. This debate is pointless because every boat will sink under the right wave. I was on a 200 metres empty cargo ship, waves were mere 8 metres high, and I thought we'll never get out alive. And that was in Mediterranean.

How many of you will be that stupid to go into the Nord Atlantic for the fun of it? Ok, a fair few. Those who are led by their testosterones and adrenalins. You will likely meet your final destiny there no matter which boat you are on. If you do come out alive, the boat will be total writeoff anyway. Unless you go in the "calm" period, which is short and irregular, and just as bastard as the bad period.

Smart people will go sailing for pleasure. The pleasure is not in Nord Atlantic. Pleasure is in coastal sailing. Sailing with family and friends in safety. Smart avanturists will take trade winds to cross Atlantic safely or pick the time to navigate Pacific.

And for all that a well designed catamaran is way better than any slow, cramped, claustrofobic and obese monohull.

[D'ARTOIS]

I agree with you that it is pointless to discuss the pro's and con's of Mono's and Multi's.
You like them or you like them not. Here in Holland, they are very expensive and triple the price of what I pay for a good pre-owned (mono) boat. I am not including the amateur made boats (cat's) that are often (not always) cheaply on the market.

In the cramped country of Tulipstan, there is simply no room for those boats, cat's and tri's; it is already difficult to find place for a mono. I am not discussing the small ones.

I have expierenced two Levante's in the Med. and although I was not amused, I haven't felt threatened, but maybe the force of the gale was not ferocious enough but in any case I understand what you mean. In the Med, when it blows, it blows.

A friend of mine, in his Pilot-Botter, a pre war II build sailing vessel, not yacht converted, expierienced one of the worst gales of the last 20 years, and one of his passengers dared to ask at the top of the gale, whilst the fridge broke open and the goodies were rocketed through the messroom, when the gale was beginning.

Only people covering long distances are subject to storms and for many sailing is what you describe, coastal, family and fun. When it blows they stay in the save environment of the Marina.

Once, on a beautiful day, mid August, I left the beach south of the IJmuiden sealocks, and all in a sudden the sky darkened and in 15 minutes time we had a full force 9 blowing.
The pressure on the main was so strong that I couldn't set a reef. The autopilot could not cope and for the same reason I could not set another and smaller jib.
I heard the boat literally crying out of sheer pain, but I had no oher choice than to continue.
After an hour or so, the wind shifted and lulled. Finit de la comédie, as we say.
And I think that many sailors from the Nordic countries have similar expieriences. Look at the north of Scotland, do you think that is a leisure piece of water? But where else can you go?

Midsummer in the Irish Sea, do you think ha it doesn't blow there? But where can you go if you live there?

What about our Australian and NZ friends, they have also the nasty'st piece of water on their frontdoor. But you have to live with it as long as you want to go places.

[cyclops]

Finally! Some of the non-insane people are speaking the absolute truth. The few wannabees who think all of boat design should be diverted to their ever increasing suicidal desire to go faster each day with complete safety. They are afraid of death and want to be protected from it while yelling, " Nah nahny bo bo, you can't hurt me! "

[CT 249]

Yep, Cyclops, it's much better to wrap yourself in cotton wool, sit in front of the TV and eat cheeseburgers, and then die at 60 from a heart attack. Or die at 25 in a car accident.

Masrapido, you say that even the calm period in the North Atlantic is as bad as winter and therefore "You will likely meet your final destiny there no matter which boat you are on. If you do come out alive, the boat will be total writeoff".

If this is the case, please explain why the vast majority even of those who race singlehanded across the North Atlantic survive. Any point you make is destroyed by the fact that deaths are few. And I've inspected the boats as they finished the singlehanded Transat and they are NOT total writeoffs. Nor are our boats after the Sydney-Hobart (which the Whitbread Round the World crews wrote may have been the hardest part of the entire circumnavigation).

This is not to say that endangering yourself on purpose is smart - but it's not a simple choice between suicide and sanity.

[masrapido]

ct 249, one would have thought you should understand english, being from Australia. Since obviously you don't, here's a refresher: I did not say that. You are misquoting me by turning around the order of what I wrote. Which shows us which group you belong to, and confirm what I actually did write. Typical australian ignorance and arrogance.

Do I need to even mention 1998? And those waves I consider as a good luck if you must end up in a storm. Long, albeit high, but with a fairly slow speed (not the wind speed, don't upset me before you even start writing the reply, ok?). No one should have died, but all that did obviously miscalculated their meagre knowledge about the sea. As for the Nord Atlantic, which of the regattas there are in the winter period? Rolex is in May-June, "calm" period. And racers are prepared for what is ahead way better than you and I because they know they are going to push their luck hard, even though it is the "calm" period. Whatsya point? Go there in the winter, and you'll come with your tail as the only thing between your legs. If you come back...I liked the "vast majority" confession, however. Ponder over it a bit. If they die, what are my or your chances? I certainly have no intention blowing my life away in a senseless act of rebellion to fast food. I do not eat it and for me that is the best rebellion against it. TV sucks in Chile, so no one is watching it as much as you people anyway.

North Atlantic is way more dangerous than Tasman. Med is far more dangerous, when boiling, than Tasman. I'd go to Tasman before the two above (I shall avoid all of them at all costs however.)

And please do not misquote me again. Not nice.

[cyclops]

Well CT249, you have passed the partial test of sanity. " It is not a simple choice between sanity and suicide ". Looking at the boats after a race is not the same as being in a race.------------------------------- Paying a couple of million dollars for a sub-orbital space ride is in the same suicidal league as ocean racers. Neither vehicle is built with any intention of surviving the out of normal or perfect conditions. More cotton,,,,,,,,, please.

[JonathanCole]

Some people think that the most intelligent person has the right kind of small boat that can survive open ocean storms and gales. Some people think that the most intelligent person chooses the right boat (huge) to minimize the risks. Still other people wonder why anyone is so eager to tempt death when a round trip plane ticket across the Atlantic can be had for a few hundred bucks/euros. After all, you don't have to sail across the North Atlantic in your 38 footer! Mono or multi.