hi all,
I am doing a school project on catamarans and part of the project is to find out what the cat sailors sail and reason or reasons why you purchased that paticular cat, so if you could spare some of your time to tell me what cat you currently sail and why you like that paticular cat then I would be very greatful
Tom

I sail Nacras, the reason is simple. They are freakin fast. Its the hull design, they are efficient, and they lack the problems of other catamarans. Hobie's for instance seem to all have the "banana" shaped hulls, i had a hobie for my first boat, this hull shape is hard to tack, and it tends to make the boat pitch-pole easily, plus htey just aren't in the same league as far as speed. Most nacras also have boomless sails, whitch is a plus. Bottom line is speed though i think, Nacras are also more stable, but if hobies were faster i might overlook that. fortunately, they aren't.

Most of what this guy says applies to why I sail Tornado class over Hobie & Nacra...

Seriously though, I grew up sailing Tornado (Dad co-ran the fatory that built them in Montreal back in the '70's). It's the first boat I ever sailed and I have never found another that can sway me over...I'm spoiled now

---BEAM MATTERS---

Mike.
Tornado USA 807 "Full Tilt"

I sail a G-Cat 5.7M (18'8"), mostly solo, mostly in the lighter winds of Tampa Bay/Gulf of Mexico. In lighter winds this boat is very hard to beat, despite being heavier than most of it's competition. It's built like a tank, with tall symetrical-yet-boardless hulls and very thick keel that leaves me no worries about what I run over at speed (sea turtles, rocks on the beach, oyster beds, etc.), some of these boats have a steel strip along the keel for even more strength/abrasion resistance. The 3-beam design allows the jib to be larger than on other boats, and mounted right to the fore beam, nice and low. The 3-beam design also allows a front trampoline to be used, which gives enough room for 8 people on board (I've done it!), while the hulls have enough bouyancy to take the load well.

It'll keep up with H18s without much trouble, and in the right wind it'll hold it's own against Prindle 18-2s and NACRAs.

It is very simple to work on. There are only two sizes of bolts on the whole boat. One size for the beams, another for the rudders. I'm replacing the rudder system and using machine screws, so now there's one bolt size and a flat-head screwdriver.

Fun sailing, Socializing, Racing, Durability, Parts availability, Dealer and factory support... Hard to beat what Hobie Cat has going on.

Of course there are many reasons to buy a particular boat. Some of that is where you live, sailing friends you have. Everyone has an opinion and there are many great boats to choose from out there.

There is lots of information on that subject...

Hobie Cat

International Hobie Class Association

Hobie Class of North America

Hello Mike-

I bought two of those Ts back in 1973. I dealt with Chris Hart and the rest in Ill Perot??? just south of Montreal. My first catsailing was in a Shark I believe [looks like a dresser], then an H16, Sol CAt 18, Tornadoes, FMS [made a Boston WHaler after being sold by FMS] 20, FMS 20, ARC22 for now. I have sailed on MAcgregor 36, Sundowner 36, Stilette 27 as well. The boat I loved the most was the SC20 [I know its a fire hose] but the wavepiercing technology and the ease of sailing was what made me change from the Tornado. That and the ability to singlehand was the biggest plus [sealed mast]. I kept losing T crews due to their not wanting the atheltic side of sailing or the constant adjustment of jib tracks, barber haulers, out hauls, plus the costs of foam battens, etc.] Not that its not an athletes sport but the SC20 was alot easier to sail. Here in Texas the winds pick up abit and singlehanding a T can be an exhaustive exercise.

Now the reasons I went with wide beamed cats was speed and nothing else but speed.

thom

It soulds like you're not acquainted with Hobie's European division of formula class cats. The Hobie 16 is still a popular boat but there are a lot of new high performance formula class cats out there with spinnakers that can do a horizon job on many of the Nacras of the past "generation".

hi all,
I am doing a school project on catamarans and part of the project is to find out what the cat sailors sail and reason or reasons why you purchased that paticular cat, so if you could spare some of your time to tell me what cat you currently sail and why you like that paticular cat then I would be very greatful
Tom

Started out on a Prindle 16 later got Prindle 18, as an sailing intructor sailed a variatie of boats and did all of the Hobie line except the wave and the Hobie 18. That includes the modern EU hobies like the Fox, FX-one and Tiger/Pacifics.

After sailing for several years with a good friend of with also to much time on his hands I found myself without a crew. His girlfriend said , move to the east of the country and in with me or stay in the west. He made his decision and I was without a dedicated crew. Did the "take somebody along" for a few years and then got really tired of teaching some-one to race every few months. This prevented my from ever buying a new F18 although this is defiantely the class to be in for several years now.

After a while I decided I wanted to have it both ways. A boat very suited to singlehanding and still easily convertable to an all out doublehander able to hang with the big boats.

No builder was making such a boat at the time and luckily I found several kindred spirits and we started a new class. Formula 16.

Right now, we are in our 4th year and we are still growing and it looks like this year is going to be big year for us.

Apartly the singlehanded/doublehander setup using only one platform and rig is seen as a very attractive concept.

Sure we could have boosted doublehander performance past the F18's in the doublehanded mode but that would have impacted negatively on the singlehander setup.

Sure we could have boosted singlehander efficiency in a few places so only the A-cat could have a change at beating us upwind but this would impact negatively on the doublehander performance

We decide en group to have good performance both ways and not make one extremely good. We ended up with an equal to F18 doublehander performance and 90's generation A-cat performance in the singlehander setup. Although it must be said that our spinnaker will take back what we lost and more when racing A-cats on the downwind legs.

This was a very acceptable compromise to us and apparently to several others as well.

The other reason I choose F16 was WEIGHT.

I really like F18's and the F18 class but I was really tired of logging some 180 kg (397) pounds around. F16 all up including everything weight of 107 kg = 236 lbs sounded alot better. Especially when you are sailing it singlehanded a significant amount of the time.

Besides nothing is more fun then playing Goliath on a smaller baots amidst the larger F18, F20's and other big shots.

Wouter

G-Cat 5.7 (#109). Have had it for 20 years. It was cheap, has been fun to sail and it is relatively fast, plus the front trampoline makes it an excellent day sailer with friends.

They never caught on, so now it is a conversation starter whereer I take it.

hello,
2 questions. what school do you go to and will we get to read this paper? We have been hearing about it for months now.

i sail a modified hobie 18sx because it was free to bring home(but $3000 to fix up), and because they are good in the ocean in strong wind. also cats are an excellent prop for meeting women. there are many guys here with all the props but very few with a cat. now i don't need to meet women because i'm married though. my wife used to go out in the big stuff with me at first, but now that she has sailed the protected, and whale populated west side with me, she doesn't like sailing the big stuff so much. Granted the channel between Kapalua and Molokai is plenty rough most days, but i would want a new mast and rigging to ply those waters. Preferably one that is smaller than normal.

Why sail a beach cat...

Very high speed to cost ratio. You meet great people from all walks of life who share your passion. Excitement and adventure from distance racing or cruising along the coast. The sensation of balancing a cat on one hull whilst flying a spinnaker in high wind is very exhilarating - it gives me a buzz like tree skiing, rock climbing or riding a mountain bike down a steep trail. Of course if you get any of these things wrong you become a human piñata - but then we take these risks not to leave life but to stop life leaving us!

Chris.

We never refer to it as "sailing a cat"!! we think of a mono hull as sailing, a cat we refer to as "flying"
Darryl