I've got an older, heavier catamaran, a 15' Venture made by MacGregor in 1972. It has no daggerboards, and just doesn't point very well into the wind...seems to take forever to tack back to home shore. I don't have the option of buying a newer, better boat right now. Is there any way to add a daggerboard, or some other modification to improve its pointing ability? Is there a technique that will help?

The bad news is that getting good windward speed and height can be difficult. The good news is that it's mostly dependent on crew

Having good sails is neccesary, if they are really old, they are probably shot.
Unless you find a Venture 15 "guru" who can tell you what the optimum rig settings are, you can gain much by experimenting with mast rake, crew position and sail trim (most beginners dont sheet the sails hard enough). Time spent on the water, sailing your boat to windward, is the best way to learn how to make it fly.

If you have a boardless cat (it sounds like you do), it's generally better to foot off and keep your speed instead of pinching up.

The Venture Cat looks, and probably acts, a lot like a Hobie 16, so you might get more useful information from the Hobie 16 forum on this website.

As with many boardless boats, windward performance (pointing ability) is improved by raking the mast pretty far aft to move the center of effort aft and "load up" the rudders, making them act sort of like daggerboards.

And as with any catamaran, weight distribution of the person(s) on the boat is very important for performance, and it is even more critical on a boat like the Venture Cat that has a lot of "rocker." If you are sitting on the back of the boat, you are going to go very, very slow. Try to put your weight where it will keep the boat sitting on its lines as though there were nobody on the boat at all. Generally, this will be over the deepest part of the hull. On the Venture Cat in light air you may have to move a little forward and in heavy air you may have to move a little aft. But the objective is always generally the same, to keep the boat level fore and aft.

Mast rotation is important for high ponting. Without a limiter, most rotating masts will rotate something near 90*, which is too much for going upwind. Excess rotation leaves a hump on the leeward side of the sail which screws up the airflow. Adjust the rotation limiter for around 60-70* or add a rotation limiter to your rig if your boat is not so equipped.

Jimbo

Thanks, all. Those are all really good tips, and I'm going to try them.

I had a V 15 twenty years ago, I'll reinforce what's been said elsewhere on this thread. Move crew weight forward! Dragging the sterns in the water slows this boat mightily. If you're solo in light to moderate air you wanna be up against the shroud (sidestay), at least. Old sails are a killer, too baggy. Work out a way to sheet the jib further inboard, H16 use a track for the jib cleat to allow it to be moved toward the mast when pointing upwind. Mine had no mast rotation limiter, and it needs one. Look at a hobie and do something similar. Mine had flat plate aluminum rudders, consider scrapping them for a set off a more sophisticated boat. With mast rake and the corresponding loading of better rudders, you'll see a marked improvement. And in the end, it's a low tech knockoff of a H16, it'll never point as well as a similarly tuned better boat. Doesn't mean there's not room for improvement, and still plenty of fun to be had.

dave