If you were a visitor to Earth and found yourself sailing a run-of-the-mill cruising catamaran for the first time it would be easy to conclude that sailing upwind is not…
catamaran
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 5: sailing a cat downwind – with Nigel Irens
Generally speaking, the risk of getting into trouble in a catamaran when sailing downwind is greater than when sailing upwind. This is fundamentally owing to the fact that when heading…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 6: Coping with heavy weather – with Nigel Irens
When discussing how to handle heavy weather in a catamaran we have to accept that there is no one solution that works for all catamarans as the strategy will be…
Nautitech Open 40 boat test – this cat will make you purr
Space, stability, performance and even safety, if you’re a monohull sailor you will be familiar with the key points of the arguments that multihull advocates present for having two hulls…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 7: should the worst happen – with Nigel Irens
Different strategies for keeping a catamaran safe from the risk of capsize have been discussed in other features in this series, but we do need to look more closely at…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 8: the future of catamaran cruising – with Nigel Irens
Most of the features in our Catamaran Sailing Techniques series have been aimed at aspiring newcomers to catamaran cruising looking for a bit of help in getting going – even…
Why multihulls are becoming ever more popular for cruising
“Actually, there’s an awful lot of space on offer, isn’t there?” you might say after a quick look aboard a modern cruising catamaran at the boat show. “How nice to…
GC32: A profile of the cat that learned to fly at 30 knots
First published February 2015. “Hike her down, guys, and we’ll get her up,” called our helmsman Paul Campbell-James to the five crew of the GC32 Richard Mille. As our backsides…
Gunboat G4: the first flying cruising yacht could hit 40 knots. “It’s the baddest-ass coastal cruiser ever”
Meet the G4. This is Gunboat’s catchy name for a frighteningly fast new 40-foot weapon due to launch in early 2015. It is proof that the America’s Cup foiling effect…