Historical multihulls

[redreuben]

Well apparently Mr Sedlemeyer has never designed a trimaran so...... guess the memory ain't what it used to be !

 

[brian eiland]

Ppalu sailing trip

Going sailing on Ppalu tomorrow. Boat has been in St Augustine the last few weeks, and is now headed down to her 'northern anchorage' in the Daytona area.

Hoping for good winds for this powerful ketch rig (only ketch rig Spronk built as I understand it).

And I think you are correct Richard, largest and fastest of her time.

We finally got out of the inlet at St Augustine on Sat morning. Turned south towards Daytona and made it on one tack.

We put up her full sail ketch rig and sailed very relaxed at 8-11 knots on a close reach. The winds started somewhere around 10-15 knots out of the east and increased to 17-22 knots by the afternoon. (we did not have wind measurement instruments, so these are estimates of mine and the skipper/owner Randy West.
Our speeds were derived via hand held GPS.

We experience a considerable ocean swell on our beam as a result of the wind having blown all night and day the day before. The swell got bigger as we approached the inlet at Ponce. We ended up surfing in a sizable swell. In fact Randy West who grew up in this area commented it was one of the largest he had ever tried to navigate thru.

Its been awhile since I've been out on a big multihull (Ppalu is 75 feet). Some of my thoughts on such designs for aging sailors have been fully reinforced:

1) The ketch rig is a godsend. There were 3 of us on the boat,...all over 55 years of age. Handling that mainsail was a chore, and I could just imagine trying to do it any shorter-handed, and in much heavier winds. Then I thought about this vessel being rigged as a sloop....WOW just that much more difficult. Even as a ketch the main mast is 63 foot tall. As a sloop it might have been 80 plus.

The mainsail was a 'stack pack' arrangement with some laze jacks. When dropping it prior to surfing in the inlet it did not what to just drop into the stack pack,...but rather this rather big heavy sail wanted to flake out over the boom and impede our view forward to help negotiate the waves we were going to surf in. It would not have been a one-person job!

Even the non-overlapping jib was a heavy sail, even while constructed of modern materials.

The mizzen was a great sail to maintain balance. We barely had to touch the wheel to keep her on course, while sailing thru a good size ocean swell. (we did not expend a lot of extra energy on tweaking the sails for max drive).

Then we had to put those sails away in the bags and covers once we were at dock. That took at least another hour, with 2 people.

It all went to reinforce my beliefs in my all-furling single-masted ketch sail plan.

Sailing Challenge

Sailing Challenge
I recently caught up with an old friend who skippered Olaf Harken's unusual vessel Procyon for its first few years. I showed him a model of my 'single-masted ketch' concept, and then just the other day I sent him a copy of this 'sailing challenge' I had issued to a few naysayers in the past.

You know I can still imagine sailing a big 65-foot catamaran with this mastaft (single-masted ketch) rig right off the mooring, and back to the mooring, without the engine, by myself, with so little effort that I might take it out having only a few spare hours to kill, or for just a carefree daysail.

I wouldn’t have to uncover any sails, nor recover them when I returned to port. I'd likely start out with just unrolling that central 'mainstaysail' then add in more sail area as needed.

I would be less concerned with reefing by myself if the wind were to really come up. If I were short-handed at sea, I would have many of the benefits of a ketch rig, without the necessity of slab reefing the main and mizzen sails of the traditional ketch rig. I'd be in a constant state of helm balance as I could tweak the mizzen sail for that.

That about sums it up. I would like a 65 foot cat that I could take sailing by myself, and that might even be easier than a beach cat. Try hoisting a full batten mainsail on a 65 footer by yourself, or even a 40 footer. Most folks over 50 will have second thoughts, or will just unfurl the jib and forget about hoisting that traditional MAIN sail.

I'm 65 (now 73), and I could sail this 65 foot cat by myself with this aft mast rig. And with the balance and low power afforded by the smaller 'mainstaysail' I could sail this vessel right off the mooring or maybe right off a side-to-dock slip.


So here's a challenge Mr Naysayer..... Le Mans start. I'll be out sailing before you get the covers off your mainsail, and when we return for the day, I'll be at the bar sipping on a Margarita watching you put away your vessel for the day.


Randy West sent me a reply this morning...
...reminds me of Procyon,....we would have her sailing before the crew could put away the fenders

Ketch Rigged Catamaran, Chris White

Deketchification of America

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/aftmast-rigs-623-53.html#post753573

Overlapping Genoa and all-furling rig

2) I would prefer a dual helm station to the single one on Ppalu. It would allow one to read the sails more easily, and to get out of the shade of the mainsail at times. It was a cable system with a very large diameter wheel which gave plenty of steering power, and feedback (unlike hydraulic systems).

3) The single big outboard engine on a lowerable skid under the bridgedeck is a very adequate propulsion option for a sailboat auxiliary. Ppalu's needs to be hooked up so as to steer with the helm when docking and maneuvering under power. And I would likely modify the pivoting skid some what. What night even be more applicable without getting too fancy, would be to be able to separate the 'powerhead portion' of the engine from the drive leg. It would certainly be nice to just have a simple retractable drive leg/prop arrangement, with the powerhead portion up in a accessible 'engine box' on the wing deck.

Ppalu's outboard was adequately forward enough to not jump out of the water that often even in the considerable swells we were in. But it would have been even better had we not had that big (150hp) outboard hanging down there, but rather just a silent chain driven prop drive leg.

4) There is a lot to be said for keeping the systems simple, even on a large vessel. Her refrig and LED lighting, and cooling fans, and navigation computer were all powered by two solar panels

BTW Ppalu is for sale
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1977/Peter-Spronk-Catamaran-Custom-Ketch-2936979/Nassau/Bahamas#.WBikt8ki1-w

https://www.facebook.com/ProjectPpalu/

 

[Richard Woods]

It feels a bit strange writing about my designs in this thread as it proves that I am now old, if not actually historic.

Anyway, as many of you know, I have lived in and around the Multihull Centre since 1982. So there have always been many examples my designs in Millbrook. Now is the time to view them as boats come out of the water for winter storage.

I was down in the yard earlier today. Three boats were of especial interest. The first, Rainbow Runner, a blue Windsong, launched in 1982 was my first design commission, it had rounded V hulls rather than straight V.

Then a standard Windsong, launched in 1986, it has made two Atlantic crossings.

And finally the 35ft Banshee that was our own boat, the Banshee prototype, launched in 1986. As you can see, all are actively sailing and all still in good condition despite being over 30 years old.

more on my website

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

[cavalier mk2]

Don't use the O word Richard, the term is seasoned! Beautiful boats.

 

[Corley]

A nice thread started over on crew.org.nz with some photos of classic NZ multihulls in action.

http://crew.org.nz/forum/index.php/topic/11464-old-multihull-pics/

 

[upchurchmr]

Seems I have to join to view the pictures. Not

 

[Corley]

A retrospective of Thomas Coville's career, lots of famous multihulls in there:

https://vimeo.com/196259965

 

[brian eiland]

A retrospective of Thomas Coville's career, lots of famous multihulls in there:

https://vimeo.com/196259965

Interesting video. I had not realized how far back they have been moving those mast and rigs. Of course you can see why right about time frame 40:20

 

[semelis]

Really interesting !

 

[catsketcher]

Do you guys get subtitles? - I can't speak French

 

[Corley]

I wish my Francais was better I can pull out the odd sentence of what he is saying but that is it. I thought the video alone was worth the watch though. All those different boats over the years, quite a career.

 

[Ilan Voyager]

I do speak French...Coville is a very introspective guy, who needs to work his mental for winning. Compared to old school guys like Tabarly and Kersauzon, made in monolithic hard stone and no metaphysical anguishes, he looks fragile with lots of questions, some will say too many.
It's a very false impression, it's his functioning way as he has proven it on 25th of December he has just smashed the world circumnavigation record in solitary at 49 days, almost as fast as the crew record hold by Cammas at 48 days...That incredible.
Very interesting to see the evolution of the tris on a period of 20 years. The underwater shapes have completely changed, masts have gone back keeping a full power mainsail, a thing we have have tried in experimental "kleenex" 18 feet cats at the very beginning of the 90, we saw immediately that the hulls shapes had to be changed totally and some NA began to cogitate hard on that, as the potential of safety and speed improvement was amazing. Extrapolating from a cheap 18 feet cat hastily made to prove a concept, to a full size tri needs lots of money and years of hard work.
Add the foils, simpler mats, simpler sail plans, square mainsails, and highly improved hardware (winches, pulleys etc...) and a better engineering of the materials...I almost forgot; highly qualified shipỳards, so qualified that they work also for the aerospace industry. We see now the results

 

[Corley]

I was simply gobsmacked by his average of 24 knots which is just super impressive. He looks absolutely physically and mentally drained after the effort hope he can get some time to relax given that level of pressure. I hate the term but if there is a "Sailor's Everest" this has to be it..

 

[tane]

impressive!!!
(but like with Everest: there will always be somebody faster, but forever there will only be one "first"!)

 

[Ilan Voyager]

I was simply gobsmacked by his average of 24 knots which is just super impressive. He looks absolutely physically and mentally drained after the effort hope he can get some time to relax given that level of pressure. I hate the term but if there is a "Sailor's Everest" this has to be it..

That he has done, only a few mortals can hope to do it. It's more than the Everest, now rich tourists climb this sadly polluted mountain. The solitary circumnavigation on a maxi tri is for a very few mortals, a part the material problem of the boat, very few people have the physical and mental capacities plus the training for sailing such monsters at the max.
He took advantage of a meteorology you have once in five years, and pushed the boat and himself to the limits.
Coville has an immense experience, and tried to beat the record several times with sometimes very bad luck. This time he got good luck and grabbed it ferociously by the hairs.
Also the Sodebo team is one of the best. Coville and the sponsor created an incredible synergy of competences who designed, built and prepared meticulously the boat, the proof is that Coville broke nothing and the tri is very fast. It's the result of many years of hard work. You have maybe three teams in the world at that level of competence.
In this moment Coville is probably sleeping, as he spent 49 days sleeping 3 hours a day...Do not worry, he is very well cared. Few people can imagine the physical and mental prowess to keep alone a monster trimaran at its best possibilities during 49 days.
It's like running a half marathon every morning and going to work in a forge the remaining of the day with just three hours of sleep.