mono vs multi hull

Can a multi hull point as high as a mono hull.

 

Yes. A sail is a sail is a sail, the wind is utterly ignorant of the shape of the boat. But it might not be desirable for it to do so. Pointing very high is a characteristic of slow boats, The faster the boat the less high it can point for an equal rig. Thus big heavy lumbering keelboats can often point amazingly high, but something lighter and quicker will point lower but go so much faster that it makes better net speed upwind.

 

Interesting ,So it has nothing to do with the different heel angle of the boats upwind? Like say a large tri hull and a mono hull.

 

I sail my skiff type monohull bolt upright upwind, so its not a consideration I've ever had to make!

 

C Class Cats

I've heard that wingmasted C class cats are amazingly close winded pointing higher than any mono....

 

I don't agree that the rig is the only factor. The pointing ability is determined by the lift/drag ratio of the rig AND the lift/drag ratio of the keel, or, more accurately still, of everything in the air, and of everything in the water. After the transverse forces cancel, how much forward force is left? That's the critical question.

 

There's the question of can it, and then there's the question of should it point with a monohull. And what your basis of comparison is.

A modern racer-cruiser multihull can point as high as a modern racer-cruiser monohull. I routinely pass larger monohulls to windward in my F-24 trimaran, and I've crewed on trimarans in races that had no problem staying with the hottest monohull classes. So on the basis of what most of us race, the answer is, "Yes."

I don't know of any multihulls that sail to as high an angle as an America's Cup yacht. So on that basis, the answer is "No."

But that begs the question of whether or a multihull would wish to point with an AC boat. The multihull will do far better to foot off at the angle for its best Velocity Made Good (Vmg). I suspect an Open 60 multihull will have as good or better Vmg than an AC yacht. Such a yacht would not point with the AC boat, but would beat it to the windward mark. Does that make a "Yes," or a "No?"

Probably the most celebrated comparison of mono vs multihull windward performance was the 1988 America's Cup, with Dennis Connor's catamaran easily besting to windward a monohull twice its size. On that basis, the answer is definitely, "Yes."