beach catamaran hull plans

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Thanks, Corely-come sail my boat when its done!

 

Thanks Doug, I'd love to sail your boat looks like a very interesting project.

 

Richard,
If your post is based on your proa experiences, then you must have been sailing poorly arranged proas. Shunting downwind is slower than gybing, but far safer. No traveller cars or booms to catch the unwary, no flogging headsail sheets, no risk of capsize, nose diving or losing control. The great thing about shunting, upwind or down, is that it is completely controllable and reversable at any stage. The stronger the wind and bigger the waves, the more of an advantage this is.

Not so. Harryproas (a combination of Atlantic and Pacific types, with the advantages of both, see harryproa.com) use oversize rudders which do not need to be moved when you shunt. Numerous other proas have similar set ups.

Nor were "traditional" catamarans. This has not stopped modern ones being developed. The same thing has happened with proas.

It is no harder to gybe a proa than a cat. If the rig is balanced (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8chR6DAFjGA), it is easier. The breeze in which this is safe varies between types, and how far above ddw you are sailing on the 'wrong' tack. In a harry, once the breeze is strong enough for it to be a problem, gybing a cat (particularly shorthanded) will be a handful, so shunting is a safer option.

This may have been true once, but is nonsense now. Sailing a proa is easier and safer than a catamaran as you do not have to change sides, do not need speed to change tacks and can stop on a dime and/or reverse at any time, under perfect control. Steering with a bow and a stern rudder is far quicker and more versatile than doing so with rudders on the sterns. In crowded areas, shunting is so much less room consuming and hassle than tacking or gybing that it is not necessary for anyone else to understand what you are doing. If they are close enough for it to be a problem, they would be too close to a tacker/gyber as well.

Or you could just stop and wait for them to go past. Or gybe, and then gybe back. Or luff up, then revert to course. All of which are much easier and safer than a crash gybe if you did not see them until the last minute.

Cheers was around at the same time that catamarans could not tack without getting into irons. Cats and proas have both come a long way since then. I think you may have skipped the reference to "crowded" in your quote. Plymouth Sound is 3 miles x 3 miles. Cheers had no problems at the start of the '68 Ostar maneuvering around it with 34 other single handed boats and a pile of spectator boats.

I have a 25' beach proa which I use as a test bed for various ideas. I shunt it upwind and down the channels between marina berths and other narrow channels with ease.

 

Tacking vs Shunting

Rob, I do not disagree with your assessments, but I would suggest, for sailing a boat in close quarters or in harbor area, tacking might prove the better choice, by and large, not to take anything away from what you stated. I seems, plainly, easier and forthright and certainly quicker to avoid other vessels, to me.

 

Proa

Mr. Upchurch, I could not locate. You see it here? http://www.tacking-outrigger.com/ or maybe this is it http://www.eckerberg.net/boatbuilding/proa/proa.html

 

In a 2 man cat (anything from a Hobie 16 to a Tornado), the tacking procedure in a breeze and seaway is: Ensure the boat has some speed on and is close hauled. Look for an area of flattish seas. Push the helm down, the crew rush from one side to the other, easing the mainsheet as they go and releasing the jib sheet when the boat is past head to wind. Once they are on the new side, the jib is sheeted in and the main retensioned. Failure to do any of the above (apart from re tension the main) in a timely fashion will result in the boat getting into irons, going backwards or capsizing.

On a well set up proa, you release the single, lightly loaded sheet, rotate the rudders (on some beach proas, this step is unnecessary as the rudders are bi directional), and sheet in the new sheet, which is made easier as the sail weathercocks as the boat turns. Wind strength/direction, sea state and boat speed are irrelevant. No one has to move and if you decide part way through it to revert to the original course, it is very easy to do so. In some circumstances (tacking from reach to reach) shunting is also quicker.

To tack, the cat needs at least it's own footprint directly upwind. The proa stops and restarts. It needs no extra space to do this.

I have done a lot of shunts. In a poorly set up boat, they can be hard work and are much slower than tacking. In a well set up boat, shunting is far safer, easier and more predictable. The bigger the breeze and waves, the more this applies. It takes many hours to teach a beginner how to tack. Most of them get shunting after watching it once or twice.

rob

 

BobBill,

The Chris White boat is the Dragonfly about half way down on the first link. It is just a line drawing, I haven't found a picture in a long time. Thanks

I hate Mr. please call me Marc

 

Beach Cat Hulls

Aye Marc, and thanks. I emailed them as well. I think the original plans are better. More like small Malibu Outrigger I am beginning to work on.

 

You must be a busy guy since I just replied about a SOF kayak skin!