Cruising catamaran speed

Hello all,

I just returned from the Chesapeake where I chartered a Fountaine Pajot Lipari 41. Beautiful boat and great vacation, except for one incident.

A storm was rolling in with wind speeds around 15 knots. Our boat speed peaked at a steady 6.5 knots, which felt pretty fast for this big yacht. A few hundred yards behind us was a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 41 heading on the same course as us. I kept an eye on them to see who would be going faster, and to my dismay they overtook us within an hour. Both boats were on a beam reach.

So why is it that a comparatively sized monohull overtook our catamaran? I know that the cat is theoretically faster, without carrying the weight of the keel and for the more racing-oriented to fly a hull. Are Jeanneaus just more racing optimized and lighter? That Fountaine Pajot was pretty huge...

 

Most cruising multi's are quite heavy all that nice extra gear comes at a cost of performance. Jeanneau's are quite a performance focussed monohull with a fairly tight rein kept on weight and a pretty good rig and sails. Most charter boats dont really have decent sails either which doesn't help.

 

My name is Barry Parkinson Ex Tornado Olympic helm and Catana 381 owner.

Where to start, Catamaran speed is a misconception, yes they should be faster than Monohulls but you don't stand a chance with the boat you chartered.

FP are not designed to sail well, they have Skeggs instead of Dagger-boards, you are up against a Monohull with a deep keel that can point to windward, you can't, you would be lucky to be beating at 40 deg while the monohull will point higher.

Your rig is 10' short like all production Cats, they don't want you to Capsize do they (bad press) and your slot might be wide open and who knows, you might have had a Blade Jib and been under canvased, where you????

I am 2 weeks away from Launching my new Web site called What Catamaran NOT TO BUY and why. Hopefully I have just told you why???

My Catana 381 sails at 35 deg to windward, out points most Monohulls who try their luck at outpointing me, I need 15 knots of wind plus because my rig is 10' to low as well but, I have a Flat top Main, full Genoa, closed slot and Dagger-boards.

There are only 10 cruising Catamarans on the market that sail like Cats are thought to sail like - quick.

Read on my friend, there is a lot to learn but, don't charter a Condo next time.

Best regards

Barry Parkinson
bazcatana@yahoo.co.uk

 

Thanks for the replies guys.
You pretty much confirmed what I suspected. For such a huge boat, the sails looked pretty small. The slot was huge, but we did have a large genoa.
I've heard that Catanas are great performance boats, especially since they have long daggerboards.
Shoot me a message when you launch that website, Barry. I'd be interested in reading it.
Thanks,
John

 

Hi Cataphract,

I have to make my Catana 381 go quick with the advise of the designer, I think my Cat is the only one with a closed slot, the factory brief to CB was keep the sheets out of the cockpit.

My Web site when it Launches is more of a question to you asking what you expect from the cat you intend to buy, I then translate that using all the Cat designer numbers (not my thoughts, pure designer data) and tell you what your intending to buy, how it will sail against your requirements.

If you say you want to buy a condo, I will tell you if you chose right, on the other hand, if you want to sail like me, you will get lost in all the garbage that is spoken and I intend to cut through that and give sailors a place to come and get rock solid advice.

Remember it's not my opinion your buying it's the Designers data I have got that converts what you want into a Yes or No.

I will send you my Web address if you can Email me direct on bazcatana@yahoo.co.uk

All the best

Barry Parkinson