With apologies to......

Bardo · #1 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

all catamaran sailors. I just got back from my first 10 day BVI cruise, which was great (despite vile sea conditions at times). We chartered an Admiral 38, which did the trick as far as berthing, eating and hanging out is concerned, just fine. But as far as sailing qualities are concerned, I was deeply disappointed. Lack of cat experience will have played into it, I am sure, but all in all, I had little joy in the sailing portion of our trip. No visibility on the main sail at all, except for a small window that let me see base of the mast; inability to sail closer than 60 degrees to the wind on the starboard tack (as close as 30 on the port); very touchy on the tack (I did learn to back the head sail to help her through the wind {thanks Chuckles}); occasionally I had to motor through. No "feel" at all to the boat. As an RV with sails, the boat was good, and probably the best vehicle for the BVI family fun cruise. To her credit, she was pretty stable, which helped all hands keep their lunch where it belonged. And the twin deisels made maneuvering around the anchorages a pleasure. But forget the deep pleasure of manning the helm and driving upwind with the lee rail bubbling and green water sliding over the foredeck occasionally. Like any RV, the pleasure in a catamaran seems to be in having the comforts of home with you wherever you go, not in the journey getting there!

Zanshin · #2 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

Bardo - where were you when the waves hit and has sea-kindly was the motion on the cat?

Bardo · #3 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

Z,
I was actually on the broad reach from prickly Pear Island (off Virgin Gorda) to Jost Van Dyk. The wind went from 6 to 25 and the seas from 2 to 6+ in 5 minutes. Luckily we made JVD prior to the horrendous 12-18 foot seas which came up un the following 12 hours. We surfed into the first cove at JVD motor sailing to ensure steering authority. I have a couple of pics that I managed to snap between swells, which I will post tonight when I get them uploaded. I think they came out pretty well. On that point of sail the cat felt fine, except for the wild yaws that came with the corkscrewing seas. I lost helm authority once as we neard JVD, but luckily I had motored up when the seas got lively and was able to prevetn broaching. Needless to say we had not reefed prior to the wind kicking up. Other than that small excitement, it was pretty drab sailing IMHO. But still a GREAT trip.

xtatico1404 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

yes, the Caribbean was very tought this last week, with a peak on Wednesday. The north shore of Puerto Rico was 10-15 ft, with some areas reporting almost 20 ft waves. Surfers were having a hell of a good time, but we had to stay in port on a long weekend.

Zanshin · #5 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

xtat - That is too bad for the holidays. I love the action in the BVI when it seems that every power boat in PR is tied up along Virgin Gorda for Easter Weekend and I'm sure that didn't happen this time around due to the waves.

xtatico1404 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

I don't think there should have been many out there Zanshin, the seas were pretty rough. Although by Saturday things had calmed down quite a bit, but the long weekend was wasted. Sunday was really nice, and so is this week, but the long weekend....a total waste

FarCry · #7 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

While sailing for a couple of hours between Jost and St John on Easter I counted 37 boats with PR registration numbers heading west and most likely back to PR. They were running in the typical flotillas of 5-10 with the biggest boat out front breaking waves and the others packed in close behind.

Zanshin · #8 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

Last year I was stuck in the Virgin Gorda marina (rudderless) over Easter. I was surrounded by big powerboats from PR, each of them boasting more wattage in their speaker system than my alternator would be able to keep up with. But I had my little speakers playing an iPod selection "500 Greatest Rock & Roll songs of all time" that I had pilfered from either Billboard or Rolling Stone magazine and one guy came over and politely asked if I could turn my music up and they turned their boom boxes off. We got along well after that and I'm glad I had a stash of aspirin on board...

Bardo · #9 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

Surprisingly few PR boats during the week leading up to Easter, for all of the reasons previously stated. Lots of charters though. Finding a quiet anchorage was a challenge, although our desire to see the more remote areas helped us in that arena. Lots of folks were hopping from beach bar to beach bar.

chucklesR · #10 (**permalink**) 03-25-2008

Bardo,

Admiral's are heavy boats, and from the description you made of pointing ability (60 on stbd, 30 on port) obviously the rigging is not well tuned.
No catamaran with living accomodations is made for rails down sailing (well, except Gunboats and the like). Most of my monhull friends smile wistfully when we compare living accomodations in the cockpit of my boat over cocktails at sunset, or dance on the foredeck under the disco ball - and those same monohullers hate the feel of sailing her, even when I pass them like they were standing still. On Gemini's you sit on the coaming pretty much just like a pilothouse monohull. So, no appolozizes necessary, every boat is a compromise.
Multihullers choose compromise by sacrificing wet cold watches, cramped tilted, 'put up with it' life for bright airy accomodations and fast sailing

(and now the hate mail shall begin