Multihulls Today, Spring 2023

Cover shot: A Lagoon 40 lying at anchor.

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In-Boom Mainsail Furling Pros and Cons

IN MOST MODERN CATAMARAN DESIGNS, A LARGE, fully battened mainsail has always been the primary driver while the jib balances the sail plan and aids when going to weather. Large fully battened mainsails are heavy and hard to hoist, reef and furl, and this problem only gets exacerbated on cats with flying bridges. The boom on these boats is eight feet above the flying bridge and up to 20 feet above the main deck.

Sensible owners have turned to their riggers and sailmakers to solve this problem and in a lot of instances the solution has been to replace the traditional mainsail system with in-boom furling and reefing. So, what are the pros and cons of converting a cruising cat to an in-boom system?

Pros: An in-boom mainsail with full battens can have the same high roach and powerful shape as a traditional mainsail so no power is lost. Without lazy jacks, the sail can be raised much more easily. Also, if the in-boom system fails, you can still raise and lower the sail, so that does not change. The real benefit comes from the ability to reef without a tangle of reefing lines and to any depth you desire. And, when you furl the sail, you roll it up into the boom with an electric winch, without the need to flake it and tidy up the reefing lines.

Cons: In-boom systems and mast tracks are more complicated than traditional slab-reefed mains so the risk of mechanical problems is greater. In order to get the sail to roll and unroll around the boom’s mandrel, the angle of the boom to the mast has to be exact. This is where owners have problems since it is hard to adjust the boom vang exactly while sailing, particularly if you are using the vang to affect sail trim. A rigid vang that is not adjustable solves this issue but leaves you without a vang for sail trim.

On balance, converting a cat with a flying bridge (or any cat) to an in-boom mainsail system does solve the problem of working with a heavy mainsail that is high off the deck, and that’s a good thing. In our experience, knowledgeable skippers really like in-boom furling, while inexperienced skippers often have to climb a steep learning curve to master the technology.

Editor and Publisher

George Day

Ph: 401-847-7612

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george@bwsailing.com

Bill Biewenga

Contributing Editors

Rebecca Childress

John Neal

Sandy Parks

Art Director

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Fax: 401-845-8580

sandy@bwsailing.com

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Tom Casey

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Blue Water Sailing ISSN: 1091-1979

FILM Aura 51 Smart Electric

The Importance of First Aid

by Allie Ickles

WHEN OUT AT SEA, MEDICAL EMERGENCIES can happen at any time, and access to professional medical care may not be readily available. Knowing basic first aid skills can mean the difference between a quick recovery and a serious injury or illness. It’s important to take a first aid course before setting sail, and to refresh your skills periodically.

In an emergency, the first few minutes are critical, and knowing how to respond can make all the difference. A good first aid kit is an essential item to have on board. It should contain everything you need to handle most medical emergencies that may arise while cruising.

MEDICAL KITS FOR CRUISING SAILORS

When putting together a medical kit for cruising, it’s important to consider the type of sailing you will be doing, the number of people on board, and the potential medical issues that may arise. Here are some essential items that should be included in a comprehensive medical kit:

1. Basic First Aid Supplies: Adhesive bandages, gauze pads, tape, antiseptic wipes, and scissors are all essential first aid supplies that should be included.

2. Medications: Seasickness medication, pain relievers, and antihistamines should be included in your medical kit. You may also want to include prescription medications if necessary.

3. Emergency Medical Equipment: A thermometer, blood pressure cuff, and stethoscope are important tools to have on board for monitoring vital signs. A portable defibrillator can be a lifesaver in the event of a cardiac emergency.

4. Splinting Materials: In the event of a broken bone, it’s important to have materials to immobilize the limb. Splinting materials such as SAM splints or inflatable splints should be included in your medical kit.

5. Wound Care: In addition to basic first aid supplies, wound care supplies such as irriga-

tion syringes, sterile saline, and wound closure strips should be included.

6. Eye Care: Eye wash solution and an eye cup should be included in your medical kit in case of eye irritation or injury.

7. Suturing Kit: If you are traveling to remote areas where professional medical care is not readily available, a suturing kit can be a lifesaver in the event of a deep cut.

8. Emergency Blankets: In the event of hypothermia or shock, an emergency blanket can help regulate body temperature and prevent further complications.

9. Reference Material: A first aid manual or quick reference guide can be a helpful resource in the event of an emergency.

10. Personal Information: It’s important to have personal medical information for each person on board, including allergies, medications, and medical history.

Herd Your Cat

If your catamaran’s two fuel systems are isolated, you’re not taking full advantage of having redundant tanks. With a KTI fuel filtration and management system, you can use either tank with either motor to keep your fuel clean and motors running smoothly. It also allows you to easily transfer fuel from tank-to-tank as needed. Since dirty fuel is the most common cause of diesel engine shut-down, this gives you that extra peace-of-mind needed to confidently operate your cat in almost any location or weather condition.

Remote Warning Panel With Alarm Mute (Shown with optional

CONCLUSION

Having a well-stocked medical kit on board is essential for cruising sailors. While it’s important to have basic first aid skills, having the right supplies on hand can mean the difference between a minor injury and a serious medical emergency. When putting together a medical kit, it’s important to consider the type of sailing you will be doing, the number

of people on board, and potential medical issues that may arise. By being prepared, you can enjoy your sailing adventures with greater peace of mind.

VARIPROP

Feathering Prop. Low drag, adjustable pitch, outstanding reverse.

MOONLIGHT HATCHES

High quality hatches & portlights. Flush, compact, smooth design.

Passage Report - Nautitech 47 Catamaran

“After sailing around 6000 miles now with our Hydrovane, I just wanted to drop you a line to congratulate you on what a great piece of kit it really is. Rarely have I bought something in this Marine industry that simply does exactly what it’s meant to and performs so well ... It’s absolutely brilliant and I haven’t found a condition it won’t steer the boat in yet!”

Manta 42 Project

Our rigging department installed a new Schaefer Gamma Boom on this Manta 42 that makes regular runs from the east coast of Florida to the Bahamas. We then built a new jib for the existing camber boom and new full batten mainsail for the rollerfurling boom. Our extensive experience with offshore catamarans and with furling booms provided our customer with a great integrated system.

Photo: Billy Black

WE HEAR FROM MANY OF OUR FRIENDS IN the multihulls segment of the boating market that about half of new catamaran buyers are in fact buying their first cruising boat. That means that many of them are new to sailing or powerboating and do not have the skills yet to really enjoy the cruising lifestyle.

There are many ways to learn the skills you need to be a happy and successful cruiser. You can hire a professional captain to sail with you on your own boat for a week or two. You can charter a boat with a paid skipper and pick his or her brains while enjoying a week in the Caribbean or elsewhere. Or, you can go to a reputable sailing school and work your way through skill levels from beginner to advanced.

If you haven’t bought your cat yet, then attending a sailing school is the best bet. Two of our favorite schools offer beginner and advanced courses in sailing, maneuvering and cruising multihulls that will really get you started and underway in multihulls. The Offshore Sailing School and the Blue Water Sailing School offer advanced multihulls courses and are two of only a few schools that do so. Both are based in Florida and both have bases in the Virgin Islands and in the Northeast.

OFFSHORE SAILING SCHOOL

The Offshore Sailing School was founded by Steve and Doris Colgate and is one of America’s oldest sailing schools. The curriculum used at OSS is the U.S. Sailing certified program. For those seeking proficiency in catamarans, OSS offers their basic Fast Track Learn

to Cruise courses in one of their 40 or 48 foot cats in both Florida and the Virgin Islands .

Fast Track to Cruising is a great way to build basic sailing and cruising skills. In fact, my wife Rosa took this course the winter before we set off to sail around the world. It worked.

But OSS also has a unique Family Cruising Package that allows a family of up to four

to learn multihull cruising together. This program will truly get your family into the swing of cat cruising and with all family members building skills together you’ll know that when your time comes to take the next step, buying your own cat, you all will be up to speed together.

Once you have developed cat cruising skills, you can then move on to the Fast Track to Coastal Passagemaking that entails an eightday coastal cruising adventure but not too far offshore. You will hone your navigational skills and learn how to hand, reef and steer in a range of wind and sea states. The final step for those who want to eventually sail over the horizon and go long range cruising is the Fast Track to Offshore Passagemaking course that takes you on a 10-day blue water, offshore adventure that entails four days of course work and hands on learning followed by six

days of actual offshore passage making out of sight of land. You will certainly get your sea legs on this final course.

BLUE WATER SAILING SCHOOL

The BWSS was founded and is run by David Pyle with the main base in Ft. Lauderdale and satellite bases in Newport, RI and the Virgin Islands. Pyle was a pioneer in catamaran training and offers a couple of courses focused purely on cats that can really jump start your progress to self-sufficiency aboard your own cat or while chartering.

The BWSS is a top rated American Sailing Association affiliated school and has been named ASA school of the year several times. And, they are one of only a few ASA schools to offer the specialized catamaran cruising and offshore sailing courses.

To begin, you can take the Course A Plus Catamaran course in either Ft. Lauderdale of the Virgins. The course entails a week of liv-

Blue Water Sailing School;

ing aboard, studying, hands on learning and actual cruising. This intense course takes you through four levels of the ASA certifications from Basic Sailing, Coastal Cruising, Bareboat Chartering and Cruising Catamaran.

At the end of your week, you will be proficient in handling a cruising cat under power, will know how to raise, lower and trim sails and how to moor to a dock and deploy and lie to an anchor. This is the fastest way to build the basic skills needed to cruise a modern catamaran.

For the next step, BWSS takes you right offshore with the Course C+ Cat: Advanced Catamaran Skipper. This week-long, live-aboard course aboard a modern cat takes you from Ft. Lauderdale across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas and back. It involves navigating the mighty Stream, overnight passages, long days at sea and the opportunity to visit some exotic Bahamian anchorages.

Along the way you will earn certification in

Coastal Navigation, Advanced Coast Cruising, and Cruising Catamaran. Coupled with the A Plus program, in two weeks of onboard learning you will have earned the tools to become a competent multihull sailor and cruiser.

And, because you are on the boat day and night with others going through the same learning process, you have the ability to share thoughts on everything from the best cat for you and your family, how to equip a cruising cat, where to cruise and how to prepare yourself and crew for the challenges and pleasures of the cruising life.

Both OSS and BWSS are leaders in the sailing school fraternity and have taught thousands of new sailors how to become old salts and happy cruisers. Click on the links below for more information.

Offshore Sailing School.

Blue Water Sailing School.

CRUISING THE MEDITERRANEAN CAN BE BUMPY

Part Two: Surviving a gale in the Tyrrhenian Sea off Italy aboard Sacre Bleu

by Jim Toomey

AS WE SAILED SOUTHEAST ALONG THE Italian coast, the sky grew more overcast, the headwinds stronger, the waves taller and the water shallower. This last trend, the shallowing water, was the most worrisome. If water is shallow enough and swells are big enough, waves roll over and break. Sailing in breaking waves is an entirely different exercise from sailing in sea swells. When swells roll across the open sea, their energy is oriented up and down. Steering a sailboat through big swells can be like slalom skiing. It can even be fun. However, when a wave breaks, its energy is redirected into a lateral force that pushes boats around like toys. The ski slope turns into a minefield. In daylight, it’s stressful; at night, it’s terrifying.

By midday, our progress had slowed to a crawl. We turned on the second en-

gine in hopes that we could still make Rome before sunset. The wind was now 20 knots in our face, the seas were 10 feet, the skies were a solid gray, and the water had shallowed to 30 feet. We instructed the kids to stay in their cabins to minimize their chances of getting hurt, or worse, falling overboard. Madeleine simply transported her project —kirigami, drawing, homeschooling—to her cabin. William, on the other hand, was immobilized by rough seas and would lie on his bed with a bowl by his side. Staying inside maximized both their chances of getting seasick, but we preferred cleaning up that mess to setting a broken arm. In the stress of managing a sailboat in a storm, the last thing we needed was an injury. Catastrophes are frequently the end result of a series of cascading problems: the weather deteriorates, the ship is

Sacre Bleu in Montenegro

not battened down, a crewmember gets hurt, another crewmember assists—leaving less crew for boat management—the skipper is multitasking, and suddenly the boat runs aground. In heavy weather sailing, it’s critical to recognize the start of a cascade and shut it down immediately.

I peeked at the cruising guide for Italy and saw that sunset was at 8:06 p.m. It was four in the afternoon, so we had four more hours to cover 18 nautical miles before darkness set in. Progressing at four knots, we would get to Rome at dusk, on a low tide, making the shallower water at the harbor entrance more likely to produce large, possibly breaking waves.

Rome’s ancient port off the Tiber River, Ostia Antica, where her mighty navy took shelter from the same kind of Mediterranean storms we faced tonight, was silted in centuries ago. The modern Porto Turistico di Roma was built in 2001 next to the mouth of the Tiber. Consisting of a semicircle of boulders enclosing a basin with room for 800 boats, the new marina was dropped directly on the beach, just an

arrow shot from the ancient port. Arriving vessels enter through a 100-foot-wide opening in the breakwater.

At about six o’clock, the harbor entrance appeared off our port bow. The depth sounder read just 25 feet, and the swells around us were collapsing into piles of white foam. We worried that the water was already too shallow and dared not get any closer. The winds had now backed around to the west, blowing straight onto shore and hurling big waves onto the breakwater. We hailed the harbormaster on the radio and heard nothing but static, so we inched closer for better reception. I grabbed the binoculars, drew a bead on the entrance of the port, and what I saw made my stomach sink. All around the breakwater, white explosions shot 30 feet into the sky before being quickly carried away by the wind.

After a few more tries on the radio, the harbormaster finally answered our call. In broken English, he told us the port was closed and gave us peremptory instructions to stay away from the harbor entrance. Once again, we were caught in a decaying situation—sun setting, wind strengthening, seas building—with no Plan B. We had only one direction to run, north, away from the storm, so we frantically studied the chart, hoping to see an alternate port somewhere, anywhere. Five, ten, fifteen miles, and still the chart revealed nothing. We finally saw Santa Marinella, our only alternative, 26 miles away. At five knots, it would take us five

more hours if all went well, and things were not going well.

We turned north, putting the wind and waves directly on our beam. The waves smashed into our port side as if we were a seawall, rolling us and pushing us sideways. From the flybridge, behind the protection of clear plastic and canvas, I scanned the darkness and worried about rogue waves lurking in the distance. How far would we roll over if one hit us? With capsizing on my mind, I called the kids out of their cabins and up onto the bridge deck. I was breaking our golden rule about keeping them inside during night passages, but I was more concerned about how we might reach them in their cabins if a large wave were to flip the boat. We intentionally did not clip our safety harnesses into the jack lines because being clipped onto the deck is also a problem if the boat turns turtle and the top becomes the bottom.

With the right combination of sail, wind, and waves, nearly any sailboat can get knocked down. As a boy sailing a Hobie Cat on the Chesapeake Bay, capsizing was an everyday event. Before we settled on buying a big catamaran, I read everything I could about their chances of capsizing. With high performance catamarans like those in the America’s Cup, or even some high-end recreational catamarans, capsizing is possible if the helmsman is not careful. With recreational cats like ours, the rig is not strong

enough to flip the boat over on its side under sail. The boat is too heavy, and the mast and rigging would simply break. Large side waves generally will not capsize a recreational cat because the keels are shallow, and the boat will slip sideways rather than dig into the water and flip over the way a high-performance catamaran with deep keels might. That night off Rome, motoring with no sails up, we knew the chances of capsizing were remote, but with every wave that slammed into our hull, the possibility still terrified us.

In the dark, raging seascape I could make out much larger waves rising up and breaking into mountains of white foam. I said to Valerie, “If one of those waves breaks over us, we’re screwed.” As the words left my mouth, a wall of water emerged from the darkness and crashed over the boat, burying the forward deck in white foam and green water. Sacre Bleu rolled slightly to starboard and slipped sideways with a shudder. It was at that moment, oddly enough, that I stopped worrying. Neptune had given us everything he had, and all he got from us was a little roll. Although we were going to be spending another damp, windy, cold night at the helm, I took comfort in knowing that we were going to make it.

The rest of the rollercoaster ride up the coast was stressful but manageable. All through the storm, up on the flybridge, the kids were quiet as a picture. They had not seen mom and dad quite so anxious before, and they were feeling it themselves.

We reached the shelter of the port of Santa Marinella, at the foot of imposing Castello Odescalchi di Santa Marinella,

at midnight and tucked in among a mix of small fishing and recreational boats. Unlike most of our ports of call, Santa Marinella had no mega-yachts, or many yachts at all. Designed to accommodate workboats coming and going in all weather conditions, it was a haven on this night because its breakwater was oriented in such a way that entering vessels could find protection behind a large seawall before the trickier part of negotiating the port’s narrow entry.

Wet, cold and exhausted, we were too worked up to go to sleep right away. Feeling like we had just walked away from a plane crash, Valerie and I stayed up a while longer talking about what we had just experienced. Too tired to take her raincoat off, hair in a tangle, Valerie settled into the settee and admitted that there were moments when she was scared. If she was, she didn’t show it. Despite the fear and frustrations of our long day, we retired that night better sailors, and, in a strange way, that made it one of the best days of the cruise. We had been tested by conditions that were far more challenging than any we had encountered before, but our five months of cruising had prepared us. We were on a learning curve that was steep enough to be challenging, but not so steep that we were going to fall off.

Author and noted cartoonist, Jim Toomey, with his wife Valerie and their two children, took a long sabbatical aboard Sacre Bleu and chronicled their adventures in the book Family Afloat. The book is available on Amazon Prime here.

You can read more about the Toomey’s cruising adventures here.

Jim Toomey is an internationally published humor writer and syndicated cartoonist best known as the creator of the popular comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon, published daily in over 150 newspapers, including The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune.

Valerie Toomey moved to the U.S. from her native France twenty-five years ago. Since then, she has worked in international shipping, run a children’s boutique, and for the past ten years worked in the boating industry, currently as a yacht broker for Atlantic Cruising Yachts.

Managing a Med Mooring

THE FIRST TIME I CRUISED THE MED , Med-mooring, mooring stern-to with an anchor off the bow, seemed foreign and difficult compared to just anchoring. But, many Med harbors are tight and often crowded with cruising and fishing boats so stern-to mooring against a stone quay provides a space-efficient, stable configuration that also provides an easier way to get ashore.

MAKING THE MOORING

Entering a harbor, we scout the mooring area in preparation for the approach and soon figure out where we intend to tie up. We begin the approach by lining up the boat and beginning to back toward a space between other boats already moored to the quay.

The first thing to do is prepare the stern lines to cast ashore by having them neatly coiled and free of lifelines and rigging.

Adapted from an article by Diane Gorch

Here’s a hands-on description of how to moor stern-to-a-quay Mediterranean style

If the stern lines are very long or heavy, it is useful to carefully coil each line into two coils. When it’s time to cast the line to a waiting dockhand or fellow sailor, cast both coils at the same time; they will be easier to throw and easy to catch. The dockhand then passes the line through a mooring ring on the quay and back to the boat. We repeat on the other side, and adjust and cleat them off on the boat. Later, when we depart, we simply pull the lines through the rings and back to the boat as we go.

Some harbors have fixed moorings, a permanently-set anchor, weight or chain with a stout rode to which a smaller leader line, or lazy line, is attached, which is secured to the dock. You pull up the lazy line to retrieve the fixed mooring

line, leading it forward, outboard of all the standing rigging, and take a wrap around the bow cleat. There, I ease it as necessary while keeping it taut, and secure it when the stern lines are adjusted to the proper length and cleated off. The proper length, of course, allows for us to get ashore, either by means of a passerelle or gangplank, or by a long step from the stern to the quayside. It should also preserve enough distance to prevent a surge from smashing the stern against the dock. This means that having the mooring line as taut as possible is a necessity. Once the stern lines are where you want them, you can use the engine to pull forward to help when tightening the mooring line. Fixed moorings are always a welcome sight,

and their presence is indicated in most cruising guides of the Mediterranean. Some harbors, however, do not have fixed moorings. Instead, we must drop the anchor to secure our bow. Once we identify the area we intend to moor, we check the depth in the area where he intended to drop the anchor to determine how far off the quay we want to drop the hook and how much scope we will need as we pay out chain while we back into our section of the quay.

It is important to get the anchor down to the bottom quickly, as often the harbors are deep and the boat is continuously moving toward the mooring space. In order to get the anchor on the bottom quickly, I release the windlass brake with the manual lever, and let it fall, fast but controlled, until it reaches bottom. Having easily visible, colored marks to measure your anchor chain makes this easy.

Once the anchor is on the bottom, I use the brake on the gypsy to lay out chain manually at a pace that matches the boat’s sternward progress. Keeping a little tension on the chain will help to get it set but don’t drag it backwards with you or you’ll have to go back out into the harbor and re-deploy it. Having enough scope is important in Med mooring as it is in conventional anchoring. A scope of at least five to one is usually sufficient.

We toss the stern lines to waiting hands ashore, and I get back to the bow to tighten up the anchor chain with the windlass once the stern is secured. In this way we can learn whether the anchor is set properly, as well as make sure that it’s tight enough to prevent surge damage. Finally, we rig the anchor snubber.

CHAIN TANGLES

Often, the smaller harbors are crowded in summer and anchor chain tangles are

a problem. As yachts come in to moor, they often cannot avoid laying out chain over the top of the rodes of boats already at the quay. Whenever a boat departs, a chain tangle occasionally means several boats have to unmoor, haul in their anchors and then remoor.

To untangle your own chain without others having to unmoor, get a rope under the chain hat is lying on top of your chain. Lift up the fouling chain as much as possible and cleat off the lift line; then, raise your own anchor underneath it, guiding the chains with a boat hook as needed. Once your anchor is up, release the chain that was tangling yours and motor your boat clear.

RAFTING UP IN CROWDED HARBORS

In some small harbors, it may also be necessary when the spaces at the quay are taken for boats to raft up in a second, third or even fourth row out from the quay. Late comers will hail those at the quay for permission to back their sterns between two bows and after droping their anchor will back in and make fast the bows of two boats. And, the inside boats then become the only pathway for outer crews to get ashore. This usually is not a problem.

Med mooring is a communal way to moor boats in small harbors. You get to know your neighbors and often will learn of great new villages to visit and harbors to moor in. Also, carrying a passerelle or stern gangplank will make life stern to the quay much better.

C omplete Seamanship for Cruisers

Part 2: Best practices at sea

by John Neal

AT SEA

Basic seamanship follows protocols and rules born from tradition. Competency, organization and prudent decision making along with a continual awareness of safety generally creates a happy ship with minimal drama. Often an errant event can snowball into something more serious so trial and error may not be the best method of learning for the beginning sailor. Slowly build your skills realizing that everyone learns differently; for example, some people are tactile learners, learning by repetition while others are conceptual learners, learning easily by studying diagrams or instructions.

Establish a watch schedule. Many cruising couples alternate three-hour watches at night and sharing watches during daylight hours. Standing watch in a sheltered location in the cockpit rather than below increases overall situational awareness. Hourly log entries with position, course, speed, log, wind speed and direction and barometric pressure are an important part of watch duties along with plotting your position on a paper chart

at least every four to six hours. Don’t rely solely on electronic charts as some reefs and rocks may not be displayed.

Avoid seasickness and keep everyone involved with shipboard life. Try to maintain a civilized routine, even in rough weather, with set mealtimes together. Maintain hydration and encourage crew to keep the boat clean and tidy. Monitor battery voltage, charging when necessary and inspect rigging and sails daily for signs of wear or anything amiss. Consider checking in with a radio/weather net with your daily position report. This often relieves anxiety for those new to passage making.

Ensure that everyone understands the watch instructions and have them written in the log book. Maintain leadership, responsibility and open communication. Encouraging communication of problems promptly is an excellent way of avoiding misunderstandings.

Sail your boat to the conditions. Modern sailboats sail best at moderate angles of heel, not with the rail under water due

to the boat being over canvassed. Caution should be taken with multihulls to not over stress the rig or sails. This is frequently a problem for inexperienced sailors and it pays to be conservative until you understand how much speed your crew and boat can handle. The best time to reef or reduce sail is when you first think about it as waiting to see if conditions worsen increases strain on the crew and equipment. We often discover that after reducing sail, when it was borderline whether or not an additional reef was required, boat speed remains the same, leeway is reduced and the comfort level increases.

COLLISION AVOIDANCE

Modern ships may travel at speeds up to 25 knots so the time from first sighting a ship until potential collision may be under 10 minutes. Rule Five of the

International Regulations for preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) makes maintaining a watch a matter of law. This rule applies in any condition of visibility, and states, “Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and the risk of collision.”

The COLREGS clearly creates an obligation to maintain a continuous visual and audible watch for signs of other vessels and to use equipment such as radar and AIS to supplement those senses when the situation requires.

AIS (Automatic Identification System) is an excellent collision avoidance tool, but we’ve noticed that in the Pacific not all vessels required to be transmitting AIS

signals are doing so. In the Atlantic and Europe, it’s rare to encounter any vessel including yachts that are not transmitting AIS signals.

Never assume that a ship you sight has someone on watch or can see your vessel. Never assume that a ship can quickly alter course or stop, because they can’t. Never attempt to cross in front of a commercial vessel. It’s safer to make an easily visible major course change, passing astern of a ship. Don’t cross close astern of a fishing or towed vessel.

Be prepared to quickly take evasive action if a ship alters course towards you. While on passage, if you judge your course will take you within two miles of a ship in clear daylight weather, or within 2 to 4 miles at night or with reduced visibility, attempt to contact them on Channel 16, explaining your intentions. Keep radio communications short. Speak clearly and slowly, using single digits for positions and courses especially when advising vessels of your intentions or course change. In

international waters, English is rarely the watch keeper’s first language. Example: “Motor Vessel  Silver Star, Silver Star, this is the sailing vessel  Windsong, four point five miles on your starboard bow. Our position is … and I am slowing down so that you will pass ahead of me. Please reply on Channel 16”.

Broadcast Securité (see-cure-eh-tay) messages if sailing in heavy squalls with reduced visibility or if you are hove-to and have reduced maneuvering ability.

Monitor your radar and AIS continuously whenever you are within 100 miles of land or are experiencing reduced visibility. At night, when more than 100 miles offshore, turn the radar and AIS on for two minutes every hour to check for ships, squalls and land. The power consumption when doing this is negligible.

A masthead tricolor running light ensures maximum visibility and cannot be blocked by headsails or heeling and is essential to good seamanship when night sailing.

SQUALL AVOIDANCE

Several times in the tropics, we’ve experienced wind speed increasing from 12 knots to 60 knots in five minutes. Our most intense tropical squall occurred between New Zealand and Tahiti; the wind went from 5 knots to 80 knots and back to 5 knots in less than one hour. We saw the squall line approaching, dropped all sail and steered downwind in flat seas.

Keep a watch for squalls. If no one is on watch and you get hit by a squall you may discover your boat becomes quickly overpowered thus making it difficult to reduce sail. At night, squalls are generally visible as a dark cloud formation and on the radar usually display as a distinct mass.

When you see a small squall approaching it’s wise to change course and avoid it if possible. If you can’t avoid a squall be prepared to quickly reduce sail. When about to en-

counter a powerful squall line or frontal passage, one frequently sees lightning at the leading edge and may possibly experience a blast of cold, damp air before wind speed increases. To lessen your exposure to these systems, reduce or drop sail and motor directly towards the area of least activity using radar as a tool.

John Neal operates Mahina Expeditions in the Pacific Northwest where he trains sailors in the art, science and traditions of offshore sailing. www.mahina.com

The Rapido 40 is a 20-Knot

Cruising Trimaran

If you feel the need for speed, a Rapido is the boat for you

by George Day

RAPIDO HAS BUILT AN AVID FOLLOWING amongst performance oriented cruisers even though the yard is small, it is in Viet Nam, and the boats are all-carbon and very high-tech. It doesn’t hurt that the famous YouTube Vloggers Riley and Elayna of Sailing La Vagabond, have opted to give up cruising in their Outremer catamaran and are building a Rapido 60 for themselves and their two boys.

I was able to see the first 40 at its US debut at the Miami show last winter and got to meet the builder Paul Koch. I had been eagerly looking forward to seeing this new Rapido as I had spent a bit of time checking out their website and watching videos. A cruising boat that can go 20 knots has a lot of appeal to me. Plus, the new 40 has folding amas so it will fit into a marina slip.

I was not disappointed. The 40’s cockpit is large and comfortable. The side trampolines give you a huge amount of space for relaxing. The foredeck is large enough to actually work on, unlike smaller trimarans.

Down below, the dinette is raised so you can get a great view while having a morning coffee or evening sundowner. Four adults can fit around the table. Across and on the same level is the galley, which is fitted out for preparing proper meals, with plenty of counter space, storage areas for dry good and pots and pans, and a good-size fridge-freezer.

Down two steps going forward, the head and shower are to port, with the shower occupying its own space, which keeps the head and sink dry.  The forward cabin has a queen-size V-berth with drawers under it, plus a hanging locker and more storage cabinets.

Aft of the saloon, though a low passageway or through a large hatch in the cockpit, there is another double cabin that will be fine for a couple and will be a natural play area for young crew. This is peace and quiet cabin or the playpen. The dinette can also fold down to make a double berth, and there is a single pilot berth aft to port, so, if you were so inclined, you actually sleep seven souls aboard.

The 40 is remarkably spacious and with the raised sole in the saloon, you feel fully engaged with the world around you and not the least claustrophobic. The huge windows and the amazing six-foot, sevenin headroom really aid in this pleasing

effect. The 40 I was on in Miami had a light colored interior and pale cushions, both of which add to the interior lightness and sense of space.

NO COMPROMISES

Paul Koch is a veteran high-tech yacht builder and has built scores of trimarans for Corsair in Viet Nam, where Rapido is also based. Koch’s vision for the Rapido brand is simply “no compromises.” The hulls and decks are epoxy infused carbon fiber laminates that Koch says are the most advanced yacht structures being built anywhere in the world.

The stiffness and weight reduction of carbon laminates over fiberglass truly

enhance the 40’s sail area-todisplacement ratio and thus the swiftness of the hulls.  To make the most of modern C-foil technology, the 40 has C-shaped dagger boats that curve under the ama and provide quite a lot of lift as the boat moves rapidly through the water. This reduces wetted surface and increases speed. The dagger boards also provide lift when sailing hard to windward so the 40 will point as high as a modern racing monohull and will likely be faster, all without crew crowded on the windward rail.

But, Koch didn’t stop there. Every laminated part on the boat is ultralight cored carbon laminate, including drawers, doors, bulkheads and interior structural pieces. All up, the 40 weighs around 12,000 pounds or a fraction of the displacement of a 40-foot monohull or catamaran.

Removing the central center board in favor of the C-shaped daggerboards frees up a lot of space in the saloon and this, too, adds to the sense of spaciousness.  The center hull has a very narrow profile at the waterline for reduced drag, but above the waterline the hull flares out dramatically to a chine and this, again, adds to interior volume without adding wetted surface or drag. Plus, the flared shape of the hull sides will deflect that fire hose of spray the boat creates when sailing at top speeds and thus will keep crew in the cockpit dry.

The carbon mast and boom offer a powerful sail plan with a slab-reefed mainsail and a self-tacking jib.  The rotating wing mast is a massive 63 feet off the water and is a spreader-less design as you would find on racing trimarans.

The long bowsprit will be the tack down point for a Code Zero headsail, which may be the only downwind sail you will need for normal cruising. In fact, with the speed ranges shown on the boat’s designed polar curves, you will have the wind forward of the beam most of the time, even when beam or broad reaching. Frankly, I think you would rarely sail dead downwind as reaching will give the better speed and quickest angle to your downwind destination.

Finally, the 40 comes with two folding hull

versions that give the boat a 15-foot beam when folded up and thus the ability to moor in any conventional marina slip.

The new Rapido 40 is a very special new boat that offers maximum sailing performance in a package that is easy to sail, easy to move around and easy to live aboard and cruise. Because of its sailing ability, owners will sail more and motor less, so the 40 is also a very natural sailing craft and an eco-friendly vessel with a minimum carbon footprint – aside from all the carbon the hulls and rig. I could easily cruise far and wide in a Rapido 40 and I am sure Paul Koch and his team will find a large and ready market for the boat. The base price is about $675,000 and you can expect a well fitted out boat to come in at about $750,000. Read more here.

Nautitech 48 Blends Performance with Modern Style

THE FRENCH CATAMARAN BUILDER, Nautitech, has been in business for a generation and has an excellent reputation for building fast cruising cats. Under new ownership in the last few years, the company completely refreshed its line with sweet sailing and finely built production cats, starting with the Open 40 and then followed by the Open 44.

This year, the company is launching their new Nautitech 48 which has all the elements of its sisterships but with a more

modern look. Note the reverse curve the sheerlines and slightly reversed bows. And, without a flying bridge, the 48’s cabin and cockpit hardtop are sleek and streamlined.

Working closely with the Marc Lombard Design Group and the designer Christophe Chedal-Anglay, the in-house design team wanted to push the envelope for cats of this size, both in pure naval architecture and advanced sailing performance, but also in the 48’s ability to

be adapted to a significant degree to an owner’s special requirements.

NIMBLE AS A CAT

On the performance side of the equation, note that the hulls have full length chines above the waterline. This provides narrow and hydro-dynamic hulls with a minimum of wetted surface; that translates into speed through the water.

Forward, the trampolines are large to reduce weight and there is a sizeable bow sprit from which you can fly large downwind sails. The rig is tall and with a full-battened mainsail will be powerful on all angles of sail. The self-tacking jib will

provide close sailing angles and will be a breeze to handle when tacking up wind.

Aft, the 48 has twin helms set at the back of each hull so the helmsperson will have a good view of the sails and great visibility forward. This is a particularly French design feature since there is an ethos amongst French sailors that you should be out in the weather and experiencing the exhilarating sensation of sailing fast. Also, you simply can steer better from these helm positions, particularly in the confines of a marina.

The mainsheet on a performance catamaran is the primary sail trim driver so it is important to have it handy and easily adjusted from the helms. On the 48, the mainsheet will be double-ended so you can trim from both helms. Also, with the main traveler on the transom at the aft end of the cockpit, the ability to adjust the sheet car position and thus the twist in the mainsail is possible from both helms. In puffy conditions, you can play the traveler easily to reduce sail pressure and strain on the rig.

Nautitech certainly has staked out a position in the market as builders of good sailing production cats that do not carry the price tag of the more exotic carbonfiber and daggerboard breeds. For good sailors who are into cruising, this configuration makes a lot of sense.

LIVING ABOARD

As noted at the top, the 48 is a modular boat in that it has five different layouts that can be mixed-and-matched to get a boat that will be highly personalized. We’ve seen this in several production

monohulls but other than the semi-custom high-end cats out there the production builders have kept their options list fairly short.

The central concept in the interior design is to facilitate open air, one-level living. The large cockpit is basically an outdoor living and dining space under the protection of the full hard dodger. This then merges with the interior saloon with it’s galley, nav station, inside dinette and a raised bar counter. The combined spaces could host a party of 15 or so and will seat up to eight for meals.

While there is no standard version of the new design, many owners will opt for a three-cabin layout with the owner’s suite in the port hull and two cabins in the starboard hull. The master suite has the double berth aft with a vanity and storage amidships and a huge head forward. The head has twin sinks, a separate head compartment and an enclosed shower stall. This is a suite one could live in full time for many years.

In the starboard hull, there are several options that include what Nautitech calls their “Smart Room.” This space in the forward section of the hull can be set up as a workshop, or a home office with a single berth, or as a double guest cabin or even with upper and lower bunk beds.

For family cruising and for couples who like to sail with friends and entertain, the 48 has a layout that really works well and is the result of many years of design development. Altogether, the new Nautitech 48 is an attractive, stylish and fast addition to the catamaran cruising fleet and should prove very popular among discerning sailors. Read more here

For family cruising and for couples who like to sail with friends and entertain, the 48 has a layout that really works well

TheWorldAwaits

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