cruising catamaran average speeds

Recently I was asked by a friend, contemplating the purchase of a cruising cat, what average speed did I use for calculating passage times.

The answer of 5 to 6 Knots Was not what they wanted to hear for a 10.5 meter bridge deck cat. I know my boat is not slow, as I come from a racing background and race the boat regularly.

With all the "optomistic" speeds reported in sailing magazines I can understand why novices think a cruising cat should be able to average maybe twice this.

Sure, when conditions have been perfect we've completed 100 nm in daylight hours, but your never going to maintain this for a cruising season.

As an execise, I've averaged the 2007 308 nm brisbane/gladstone multihull race results, excluding the fastest and slowest boat. For a predominantly downwind race in fresh conditions (fresh enough for two large cats to capsize) the average speed for the 14 finishers was approx 10 knots, for an average boat length of approximately 12 meters.

So if "joe crusiser ",with the wife , kiddies, and all their cruising crap, plus a strong desire to get to the destination in one piece can average half this for a complete cruising season ,their probably doing well.

What passage averages do the experience multihull cruisers out there work on when planning a voyage 6 months hence.

Regards

 

Short fat cats slow. Long slim cats fast.

Look at Gunboats 62 and 48.

http://www.northsails.dk/uk/tribe.asp

http://gunboat.info/

http://www.deltayachtsbrokerage.com/news/YWorld_gb62.pdf

Pericles

 

Bruce, I've mostly done coastal cruising in cats(had a beach marine 10m) & raced monos, & mostly if boatspeed drops below about5.5 knots, I turn on the engine & "make it happen" & comfortable speed of 7.5-8.5 is much more satisfying. Because my wife is scared of the dark, I often did daylight hops of up to 70 miles , leaving early(often not much breeze) & planned to enter port before 3 PM(east coast looking at sun/glare to enter sucks!). Of coarse every one likes to talk about the 14knot average runs but often theres a bit of zigging & zagging in the way as well as the 22knots that I saw on the log for at least 300-400 metres. Regards from Jeff.

 

Good Morning...

IMHO...if a weight cautious cruiser with perfect wind and sea conditions gets better than 1.5*(lwl^.5) then he is doing good. He may not get too much sleep but he will definitely be jetting. This excludes surfing and it is for a multi.

A mono will never break the 1.34 rule unless it is a specialized hull designed to plane or while surfing with optimal wind and sea conditions. I don't care how slim or trim it is advertised. It is designed to displace period. I have never seen better than 1.2 on a monohull cruiser and that was with a beam reach in 50 mph winds.

That's my opinion and it is subject to the freak moments when the rule and my observation can be broken but those times are not consistent or often.

J

 

Slow is the way to go

Hello Bruce,

Your speeds are a little less than what I plan on. I usually think about 7-7.5 knots on the chart. (East Coast Australia - usually sailing downwind) We have done less and more over the day (usually daylight coastal hops) Our best run ever was 160 miles from Coffs to Southport in 16 hours. (hand steering all the way)

The problem with letting it all hang loose is it is harder work. It doesn't take long before you realise that getting there happy and easily is better than getting there earlier and frazzled. I cruised a Twiggy tri for a few years and we used to fang everywhere at first - but we got tired and bummed out. I am a racer too but even my thirst for performance gave way to desire for peace and comfort.

Before people get excited about speeds on test sails they have to remember that most cruising boats are sailed under autopilot by shorthanded crews. What they can achieve in ideal conditions on a short sail with lots of people on board is vastly different from what cruisers sail at.

Kankama (a 38ft strip plank Chamberlin) got passed by about 3 cruising boats in 3 seasons cruising. That was when we had no kite up so there aren't that many fast boats whizzing around. A fast looking long cat with a big rig will probably go around with smaller sails and fewer extras than a smaller boat.

The contrary thing about talking too much about extra performance is that it costs so much. A carbon 60ft cat will go twice as fast as a simple 35footer. It will cost maybe ten to thirty times as much so you have to stay at work for a much longer time to get one (if you get one at all) The fastest cat is a simple one that gets you out there a season or two earlier or out there at all.

cheers

Phil Thompson

 

cruising speeds

Thanks catsketcher for your knowledgeable and valued input.

With no motor we recently averaged approximately 7 knots for the 1400 odd nm non stop, single handed Carnarvon /Darwin run but only 3.5knots for the very light weather mostly windward return.

The speed data published in recent times justifying one particular design over another needs to be placed in context, especially for those ineperienced folk buying a cruising multihull for the first time.

Regards

 

It's important to remember that nearly all reports of long high speed passages are decribing racing or record attempts. Most well designed multihulls can sustain 15 -20 knots under the right wind conditions ... but most cruising crews can't.

Phil, you nailed it. Sailing fast is hard work. Exhilarating and loads of fun for a while, but certainly not a part of cruise planning.

 

We averaged 8 1/2 knots between Brisbane & Airlie beach, in a 38 foot Oram Mango. Anchored every night, and got there in 5 days.

 

Amen to that.

I have no actual first-hand experience in this subject, so I'm afraid I can't contribute much to the discussion... but watching it eagerly nonetheless.

 

Double Amen to that.

If I didn't have a boat that I can take and poke my nose out there every now and then...

J

 

I would agree with the other comments. It is indeed hard to sail over 200 miles a day. In part because the further you sail the slower the average speed. But mainly because, when cruising, high speeds are uncomfortable.

Having said that, here is a quote from a friend who just sailed a monohull from the Galapogos to Costa Rica. Her only other sailing was on a 33ft catamaran called Rush, a boat I crossed the Atlantic in last year. And also a boat that I found to be just about the most uncomfortable catamaran I had ever sailed. Anyway, she said:

"Monohulls versus catamarans! Well is there a choice!! I mean to say, a choice where everything is tied down, even straps to tie me in the galley, coffee cups 2/3rds full so it doesn’t spill, being flung from side to side versus a full cup of coffee, sitting or lying in comfort outside and not being flung out of bed.

There is nothing worse than your brains racing from side to side in your head when you are lying down. You know, it could have been worse, there is always worse. I have bumped around in Rush at times too but then the seas were a lot worse than we encountered on this trip. Pity help it if they had been worse, I can now see why so many monos motor sail. At least to get a break from the constant motion"

Cruising a multihull fast is possible, but why do it?? You are living on board, not just going for a day sail, so you should make it as comfortable and relaxing as possible.

I usually reckon that peak speeds are about twice the average speed. So if you average 8 knots that means you have often done 16 knots and you will swear the log never read below 12. The best I have ever done was 600 miles in 3 days when racing a 35ft Banshee catamaran and 250 miles in 24hours, again when racing. The best days run when cruising was 185 miles in my 32ft Eclipse, a boat I had earlier sailed at over 20 knots when day sailing, and a boat that when racing proved faster than, for example, all the French production cats.

You can see more about cruising speeds on my website

www.sailingcatamarans.com

Good sailing!

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

 

150 miles is a good cruising days run on any boat. The reality is that quite often there is no wind in the middle of the ocean. Unless you carry enough gas/diesel to motor when ever you drop below 5 kts your average will drop significantly.

 

Comfortable short handed fast cruising is possible.
In 1981 John Hitch, Holly North and myself sailed to lord Howe Island in Johns Crowther Spindrift 45 catamaran, in a club cruise.

We were on auto pilot all the way. We reefed as necessary for comfort rather than safety. We averaged 10.2 kts for the trip and arrived warm and dry, unlike other monohull sailors who arrived cold, wet and miserable.

 

This is a good thread...some very interesting appraisals of the the relative values of a boat's speed...Not having spent much sea-time above 5.5 knots ...I hadn't thought about the effects of speed or what ripping along at almost 8 kts would be like in say, a speedy, modern 36-40 footer...in terms of comfort and stamina on a long cruise with long intervals at potentially fast speeds...My own boat has a good motion and a solid feel...but for what it's worth, having read the above posts... I feel better about my old C-40's speed now...
She should do 6 knots easily much of the time and her theoretical hull speed 7.06 kts should be just fine...now that the lightbulb has finally flickered on...

I think I can squeeze 100 mile day by myself fairly easily from her depending on the route taken...140 with another crewman...and sometimes more....when she's on her rails in higher winds and we want to get some sea-miles behind us. I know this thread is about cats but it's actually very illustrative to some of us mono-coquers...thanks much my bi-cameral friends and carry on... please...

 

The fastest I have ever made a crossing was on a 550 mile delivery where we averaged about 16kn. While it was an awesome slay ride, the entire time we kept wishing we could slow the boat down. But with just five of us on board, and two down with seasickness we made the decision that it was safer to allow the boat to push, than to try and manhandle the sails (this was on an Andrews 70).

Luckily the crew found their sea legs before we hit land, and we were able to safely shorten sail as we entered the shipping channel, but there was some discussion of dropping the jib overboard if we couldn't get her under control by then.

Luckily this was an all out racing machine designed for the Trans-PAC, so these speeds, while high, we're well within her design and gear limitations. But it was a lot of work keeping her at that speed. In large part because the auto-pilot couldn't react fast enough, and so she had to be hand steered the entire way.