| Author | Message | ||
     Ted Lavino Senior Member Username: Tlavino Post Number: 187 Registered: 01-2004 |
Greetings All, a letter to Blue Water Sailing responding to their article on the topic: The Safety of Modern Multihulls I enjoyed Kevin Jeffrey’s article “Cruising multi- hulls for blue-water sailing” (BWS March 2004), but like many such articles it left out one of the most important features- safety. Since multihulls are so much more comfortable to sail fatigue is not a problem on long passages. This is primarily because one does not have to fight a heeled-over boat. Visibility is easier and more available, especially in bad weather, as one just takes a couple of paces from the saloon to the cockpit to see and does not have the unsafe hassle of going up and down a companionway. I sometimes wonder how often shorthanded monohull crews put off taking that quick look around because they have to climb up the companionway, open the hatch, close it, look, open the hatch, step down and close the hatch. Thus, it is often said that after a long passage monohullers drop the hook and are not seen for three days until they recover, whereas multihullers anchor and go ashore to party. Having sailed 36,000 miles in my two multihulls, I find this is very true. Fatigue is one of the greatest causes of error hen sailing. But the most notable safety feature is the virtual unsinkability of modern cruising cats. A two-inch hole in a 40-foot mono- hull will sink the boat in two hours. Put a two-foot hole in each hull of a well built catamaran and it will still sail, although slowly, and your feet will get wet in the hulls. The stability of modern cruising cats is tremendous. It is exceptionally difficult to tip a cat over (it can only tip by digging in the lee bow and going over diagonally). I do not know of any cruising cat over 50 feet ever pitchpoling in massive waves or wind. Even if a cat does flip, it becomes a massive, well equipped life raft. You can still live inside, out of the elements with food supplies available (read The Story of Rose Noel/c a 42-foot homebuilt tn that flipped. After 119 days the boat drifted back to New Zealand. When the four men reported that they had been on an upside- down boat for so long, they were barely believed. The local hospital checked them out: They had lost no weight and were perfectly fit. They were not kept in the hospital). It is often difficult to get across to dyed-in- the-wool monohullers the advantages of multihulls unless, a) one can take them for a long sail, or b) they love being wet, cold and miserable. Ian Munro s/v Monashee II |
