Mono or Cat

[henryvand]

My wife and I are planning a bareboat charter in the BVI''s this winter. We currently sail a B331 and since this boat is common in the charter fleets it would be an easy choice however we are interested in trying one of the smaller catamarans to see how they compare. I would appreciate hearing from other monohull sailers who have chartered cats. Did you enjoy the experience or did you miss the familiar feel of your monohull?

[halcyon13]

Until last sping, all my sailing experience had been on monos, including charters and my current boat is an O''Day 26. I was very skeptical of cats, but I had a group of 4 couples who wanted to do the BVIs last spring.
We bare chartered a 38'' Lagoon through a broker (Cruzan Yacht Charters) who booked us with BVI Charters in Tortola. It was great. The best advantage I found was in the socializing area. Instead of crawling over one another, even in cockpits of boats up to about 40'', we found the walkout from the galley to be very accomodating, even with a group our size.
The claims about speed are justified, but the motion claims need some qualification. There is, indeed, virtually no heel, even at the high speeds we attained. However, there was more pitch and yaw in some points of sail that left one or two of our crew "adjusting" on the first day.
In addition to its other advantages, the manueverability under power is remarkable (steers like a catapillar). On the downside, tacking is less than precise, so leave yourself plenty of sea room.
Overall, I would highly recommend a cat for charter. We are going to the Grenadines next spring and we intend to get another 38-42 cat.
Good luck.