(To my high octane friends: you might have trouble with your gag reflex while I ask these questions, but humor me!) As a more recent convert to two hulls I am curious-I know there is a continuum here-what portion of beach cat sailors are what you might call "high octane", pedal to the metal sailors looking for the edge; and what portion are more laid back, maybe like a cruising beach cat? Maybe you can think of a scale with units: from 1 to 10 (apply unit here-whitecaps? octane(1-100)? screams? damons?) and venture a guess how many sailors you know fit into which group.
And secondly, after my experience with a simpler rig, I wonder how many people have a boat sitting around too much of the time and would go sailing more often if the set up was fast, easy, single-handed, and they had a higher degree of control over sail power level? (see disclaimer below)
My brief sampling of comments on preferences I found. Please forgive if out of context to shorten:
"And pedal to the metal it is......I won't go out if the wind is less than 10 knots, the need for speed on a catamaran is addictive,..."
"Now the "rush" is back, wind blowing 20-25 knots, trapped out on the side of one hull, 4'-5' off the water, tiller extension in one hand, mainsheet in the other, leeward hull almost buried under water, just waiting for a gust to heel the boat over harder...." [Robert - turbohobo]
"...at 6'8" crawling under the H16 boom got old"
"the H18 is a lot more boat to handle in 20-25 knots solo. A lot of fun with 2 people...
...not a pure adreneline junky anymore" [Scott - smfinley]
"My "ideal sailing wind guidelines":
00-02: swim
03-06: kayaks with sail rig
07-12: daysailor or "light" catamaran sailing
16-20: "fun" catamaran sailing
21-26: "wild" catamaran sailing
27-35: sailboard time!" [Doug-p182-590]
Where I live: I learned to sail on a monohull moored in the Columbia River in Portland. We didn't get out often enough, and I was frustrated by not having the boat in my driveway to work on, but mostly I enjoyed it-just get me out on the water with the ones I love! The killer for me was when I heard my kids say, "Well, it's kind of fun, but it's kind of slow." The moorage felt REALLY expensive for the value that moment! That boat went out. So what to get that is faster and I can park at my house and trailer with the family car? I was looking for a Hobie and none showed up, then I got a good deal on a Tornado. A lot of boat, and definitely fast.
Due to circumstances I only got it out a couple times, but the set up time was a real pain, so I looked for a way to get on the water easier and quicker, preferably single handed. After some research I noticed an A-frame mast with a different rig, such as a crab claw could work. I am an engineer, so Marchaj's book "Sail Performance" was an interesting read. He did wind tunnel testing and found the crab claw to be great stuff, though in practice real people haven't been able to reproduce his results. I did my own wind tunnel testing on a 1/6 scale sail, and got really good performance numbers between a close reach and a far reach, but could not get his numbers to windward.
I designed, built and bolted my A-frame mast and crab claw rig to a Hobie I found that lacked some rigging. You can see it in the Crab Claw Rig folder in the Technical photo album. Without rushing my set up time is just under 6 minutes single handed, not including untying the trailer straps or launching, so I am happy with that. I can set it up in the launch line when my son is at the wheel. I can instantly reef the sail to a fraction of full power, and since I have no desire to dump it that is really handy. I often reef on gybes so they are really smooth. My wife even offered to go out with me if she could control the reef line!
I am still learning how to get the most out of the rig, but even with three people and winds mostly 5-10 kts it was a fun outing (unless you are high octane
) . A little video clip is in the Download section and YouTube:http://www.thebeachcats.c…-viewdownload-cid-2.html
It's not quite as fast as a standard rig, though in light air the other day I reefed a little for some sail shape and did very respectably next to my friend's Hobie 16. With some sail shape I pointed pretty well too, inside ~40 degrees apparent wind. I need to get a GPS for a speedometer, but with only two on board and 10-15 mph winds we were leaving a nice wake both upwind and downwind.
Disclaimer: This has become a long epistle, but I am trying to get a feel for the level of interest in this rig. After good personal results and positive feedback from others I am considering marketing this directly to cat owners (Damon graciously said it was OK to ask). It can ship UPS or FEDEX, assembles in a couple hours and bolts on the frame without drilling new holes. The base presently fits an H16, but with a new base it could fit almost any sail boat.
What do you think?
Thanks
