How fast does a catamaran

Log in or Sign up. Boat Design Net. Recently I was asked by a friend, contemplating the purchase of a cruising cat, what average speed did I use for calculating passage times. The answer of 5 to 6 Knots Was not what they wanted to hear for a I know my boat is not slow, as I come from a racing background and race the boat regularly. With all the "optomistic" speeds reported in sailing magazines I can understand why novices think a cruising cat should be able to average maybe twice this.

Sure, when conditions have been perfect we've completed nm in daylight hours, but your never going to maintain this for a cruising season. For a predominantly downwind race in fresh conditions fresh enough for two large cats to capsize the average speed for the 14 finishers was approx 10 knots, for an average boat length of approximately 12 meters.

So if "joe crusiser ",with the wife , kiddies, and all their cruising crap, plus a strong desire to get to the destination in one piece can average half this for a complete cruising season ,their probably doing well.

What passage averages do the experience multihull cruisers out there work on when planning a voyage 6 months hence. Bruce Woods , Nov 27, Short fat cats slow. Long slim cats fast. Look at Gunboats 62 and Pericles , Nov 28, Regards from Jeff. Good Morning He may not get too much sleep but he will definitely be jetting. This excludes surfing and it is for a multi. A mono will never break the 1. I don't care how slim or trim it is advertised. It is designed to displace period. I have never seen better than 1.

That's my opinion and it is subject to the freak moments when the rule and my observation can be broken but those times are not consistent or often. JCD , Nov 28, Slow is the way to go Hello Bruce, Your speeds are a little less than what I plan on. I usually think about East Coast Australia - usually sailing downwind We have done less and more over the day usually daylight coastal hops Our best run ever was miles from Coffs to Southport in 16 hours.

It doesn't take long before you realise that getting there happy and easily is better than getting there earlier and frazzled. I cruised a Twiggy tri for a few years and we used to fang everywhere at first - but we got tired and bummed out. I am a racer too but even my thirst for performance gave way to desire for peace and comfort. Before people get excited about speeds on test sails they have to remember that most cruising boats are sailed under autopilot by shorthanded crews.

What they can achieve in ideal conditions on a short sail with lots of people on board is vastly different from what cruisers sail at. Kankama a 38ft strip plank Chamberlin got passed by about 3 cruising boats in 3 seasons cruising. That was when we had no kite up so there aren't that many fast boats whizzing around.

A fast looking long cat with a big rig will probably go around with smaller sails and fewer extras than a smaller boat. The contrary thing about talking too much about extra performance is that it costs so much. A carbon 60ft cat will go twice as fast as a simple 35footer. It will cost maybe ten to thirty times as much so you have to stay at work for a much longer time to get one if you get one at all The fastest cat is a simple one that gets you out there a season or two earlier or out there at all.

The speed data published in recent times justifying one particular design over another needs to be placed in context, especially for those ineperienced folk buying a cruising multihull for the first time.

Bruce Woods , Nov 30, This is still worth noting, as catamarans are specifically designed to use the phenomenon of hydrodynamic lift to gain speed and efficiency. A trimaran is a catamaran with an additional hull in the center. Trimarans are usually less common than catamarans, but they have some of the same design benefits as other multi-hull sailboats. At first glance, it would seem logical that trimarans are slower than catamarans. After all, they have an extra hull in the center, which likely increases weight and drag.

However, there are more important factors at play here. Trimarans are almost universally faster than catamarans. This has to do with weight distribution. Trimarans center their weight over the middle hull, using the outer hulls primarily for stability.

This allows them to reap the benefits of a catamaran while increasing the efficiency of the wind power it captures. Catamarans are popular for racing. There are several world records held by catamarans and numerous production boats with especially impressive speed-to-size ratios. Here are a few of the fastest racing and production catamarans ever built.

The Vestas Sailrocket is a specialized racing boat designed only for speed. The vessel, which earned the world sailboat speed record in , has a modest to square feet of sail. Nonetheless, it managed to achieve a remarkable top speed of Soon, a team of Swiss engineers will release their own version designed to beat the knot speed record. Their vessel, which is a hydrofoil, will attempt to hit an incredible target speed of about 80 knots.

But what about production catamarans? How do they stack up, and how fast can they go? French boat builder Outremer Catamarans builds some of the fastest production catamarans ever built.

This high-end cruising cat is known for its almost outrageous speed capabilities. In ideal conditions, owners of the Outremer 51 have reported speeds exceeding 20 knots for extended periods. Plus, the genius design of the Outremer 51 allows it to be crewed by just two people. But how do Outremer catamarans achieve such high speeds?

The hulls are sleek and narrow and designed to cut through the water with minimal drag. From the bow, the Outremer 51 hulls look paper-thin. They increase in width gradually, which eliminates areas of sudden drag. Its low-buoyancy bows reduce drag and blast through waves instead of riding over them.

I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. All while having a blast, snorkeling, hiking and exploring exclusive bays.

If you need any further information, want to check availability or discuss anything to do with our courses — then please get in touch. Are you interested in an experience more than a course? An adventure, not a lesson? Contact us today. Windvaning is when the larger mainsail on a catamaran tries to turn the boat back into the wind. When gybing on a monohull, you must be very careful of an accidental gybe, and so you gybe much more slowly.

On a catamaran you can use the increased speed to your advantage and maintain speed while gybing to help depower the main. On a catamaran, because they do not heel, you have to be very careful in terms of when to reef the massive main. Typically, you will throw in the first reef at knots of wind speed depending on the size of your vessel and put in a second reef as the wind get closer to kts Most aspects of sailing a catamaran are very similar to a monohull, and so making the transition to a sailing catamaran is usually not that challenging of a process!

Why are Catamarans Popular? Much more space on a catamaran! Catamarans are far more stable than monohulls so they do not heel when sailing, and are less prone to rocking when at anchor. Making for a much more comfortable boat! Catamarans have a shallow draft which allows them to enter shallower areas. In the South Pacific, most lagoons are feet deep. This is too shallow for monohulls to enter, but a catamaran can easily enter these lagoons.

Speed: Often, especially downwind, catamarans are faster than monohulls More light and airy living area. On a catamaran, the living space is usually up in the middle of the boat, built on the bridge deck whereas in a monohull you go down into the hull where it is darker and feels less open.

More storage space and room for extra systems like air conditioning, water makers, generators, larger fridges and freezers, etc… Again, having room for all these amenities makes for more comfortable living.