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From: Ahmet (no email)
Date: Wed May 10 2006 - 11:31:17 EDT
Interestingly, if I interpret it right, the following article says that a catamaran shadowing the fastynet race capsized, and people died ***Ninety percent of the crews survived, and half of those lost were on a single boat shadowing the infamous 1979 Fastnet Race that claimed so many monohullers.*** From: old.cruisingworld.com/callcats.htm
Cat Facts About SafetyAfter some capsizes and notable structural failures in the 1960s and 1970s, it was only natural for people to doubt modern, western multihulls, even though well proven at sea for millennia. Today, several experimental righting systems have been tested, but few multihulls are fit with them and almost none are self-righting. However, it is extremely rare for a cruising boat to capsize, and even rarer for it to be sailed into a capsize. In addition, most are unsinkable, and most provide multiple collision-protection bulkheads. There is also evidence that sailing with minimal heel provides some added safety to the crew. Although statistics are sparse, a study of 35 publicized multihull capsizes between 1975 and 1985 contained only three cruisers, one anchored in a 170-knot hurricane. Ninety-one percent were racers, designed and sailed to the edge, and 60 percent occurred during racing or record attempts. A full 54 percent of the boats were eventually
salvaged, some floating for months before retrieval. Ninety percent of the crews survived, and half of those lost were on a single boat shadowing the infamous 1979 Fastnet Race that claimed so many monohullers. What percentage of sunken or even rolled monohulls and their crews survive? We just don't know. Designer Chris White also has studied statistics and can only conclude that, in recent decades, multihulls have proven to be up to 23 percent safer than monohulls, but again admits that the samples available are too small to make definitive conclusions. At worst, it appears that multihull capsizes are marginally more common than monohull sinkings, and in the cruising world are exceedingly less common. Like all vessels, the multihull must be prepared for the worst with a plan for making the hulls habitable upside down, including handholds under the wing, access hatches to allow entry and exit from the hulls, places for the crew to perch and sleep inside, and secured
stores, especially emergency equipment. So prepared, multihulls have proven to be exceedingly safe, making superb survival craft. Due to their wide beam, light multihulls actually provide a lot more righting moment, measured in foot pounds, than monohulls of similar length, but they reach maximum stability at low angles of heel (as soon as a cat's weather hull lifts from the water). Cruising cats should never be pushed to "fly" a hull, but storm forces may lift one. Maximum stability can be approximated by multiplying 1/2 of the centerline-to-centerline beam (or 75 percent of overall beam for narrow cruisers; up to 90 percent for wide racers) times the catamaran's displacement. Dynamic stability is more complex and is affected by factors such as the slope of large waves, but especially by the height of the boat's center of gravity. To maximize the angle at which the boat will reright, weight must be carried as low as possible.
wrote:
In a message dated 10/05/2006 13:30:05 GMT Daylight Time,
writes:
In my original post I asked about cats in heavy seas.
I'm new to this list, it was my first post and all I can say is WOW!
So many posts, so many opinions and much data given.
This group is a resource you can't get anywhere else Period.
Proud to be a member of this community...
Jason
he he oh to be so naive you did throw the cat in among the pigeons with
that first question :-) Gosh cant wait for your next one :-)
However there are many many good and active sailing groups online there is
even a few multihull ones ;-) if you are a twosome captains and admirals is a
good one too.
There is even a multihull gallery online (you need to apply to join and be
approved too) which i started - sadly i haven't posted to it for quite a few
months and have a few thousand mostly cat pictures that need posting there -
waiting till i upgrade my computer (should be within a few weeks) and organise
my thousands of pictures in some sensible and logical order - the work of a
lifetime :-(
regards
David
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