How many cats have flipped ?

[KC375]

...

Oh, and Ran Tan ll losing her keel recently shows that a monohull can lose her keel and stay upright.[/QUOTE]


True, it depends on the cause of failure and conditions/usage at the time.


There is the amusing/terrifing charter yacht completed three sailing charters and over 100 miles before anyone noticed the keel fell off after she ran aground



To the inversion incidents like Drum, Cheeki Rafiki, Polina Star III

[44'cruisingcat]

An indication of how infrequently cruising cats capsize is in the thread about what it's like in an upturned cat. Nobody on this forum (of how many members?) could say.

[thinwater]

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by David M

I once saw a device advertised that will blow the mainsheet automatically at a preset angle of inclination. That might help to reduce the capsizes.

Reefing works much better..

[PatMc57]

Originally Posted by mabowers

Well that made coffee shoot out my nose, so thanks for that.

HA!! Me Too!!

[mikedefieslife]

There are a few mentions of hobbie cats and cats racing. I can't see how they are useful in anyway whatsoever. It's like asking how many rear wheel drive cars crash, then including go-karts, and racing cars. Lets stick to cruising catamarans.

Has anyone worked out the static or even the dynamic stability of their cat? Is it even listed in the specs?

From what i've seen the ratio of centre of effort to beam size is not linear. So raise the COE by 1 unit and the beam must be increased in by figure much greater than 1. You can only go so wide, so I suppose it is easier for manufacturers to either add weight low, or reduce the rig height.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by mabowers

Well that made coffee shoot out my nose, so thanks for that.

Later in the day for me, so it was a Sav Blanc.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

The second one wasn't actually crossing the bar. He was using what's known as the "fisherman's gutter", a shorter but much shallower route.

At night, at low tide. According to his report, a breaking wave caused his bows to hit bottom.

Not what Terry told me... he said he was on the GPS track for the normal bar crossing. You are correct in that he also said that his leeward bow struck the bottom in the trough between waves, whilst surfing at ~16 knots. Using the Fisherman's entrance in the dark would be kinda scary in dead calm waters, and these were not such!

The boat survived remarkably well. Essentially no structural damage, rig gone, engines still running when he got back "aboard", boat upside down, and they suffered no damage. That's remarkable (but I dunno why they were running!). But there was a lengthy refit required before they resumed cruising.

Last I heard from Terry the boat was gonna be for sale soon, up in SE Asia.

Jim

[Kenomac]

I don’t think cats tip over any more fequently than any other kind of boat, the problem lies in that they can’t right themselves when they do tip over, and then the story becomes newsworthy.

[44'cruisingcat]

Actually cat's tip over far less frequently.


http://www.multihulldynamics.com/new...p?articleID=11

[LeeV]

During 40 years of sailing, 99% of the cats that flipped were Hobie or similar cats. The remaining handful (I can recall about 3) were those that repeatedly come up when somebody asks if cats can flip.

Yes they can. Monos can sink, houses can disappear in a tornado or sinkhole and lightning can fry your @ss!

If we are wise and safe in whatever we sail, those numbers above may not increase by more than one or two in another 40 years!

Best regards,

[MartinR]

I am not sure how many have done this, but I am sure all of them can do it. If you drop them from 3', all of them land on their feet.

[LeeV]

Hehehe! I need more coffee!

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by hpeer

I suspect the point about some/many/charter cats being under canvassed or over weight lends to their “stability.” My observation was that it would be blowing pretty good, enough for our very heavy monohull to need a reef or two and the cats were sailing with a full press. They were often sailing faster than us, no big trick, but not much faster. So maybe that’s why they dont flip, under canvassed.

That is my thought as well.

1. A Cat needs less canvas to go fast since it's not dragging a ton of lead under the water.

2. The Cats I've seen that I would take to the ocean have small deel/dagger boards compared to boat size, and monohull keels, so would have less resistance to sideways motion if over powered.

3. I've looked at several Cats recently that the owner stated the mast size was reduced from original specs.

4. Cat mainsail generally has a larger Leech, which means it can be rigged to quickly dump wind by slacking the the boom.

After decades of considering, I'm leaning toward a cat myself. The prices are kind of crazy right now, but in a few years there should be a glut.

Greater beam stability, and more interior space, and my wife loves sitting on the trampoline has tipped me to the dark side.

Giving up some beam, and upwind speed for stability, and downwind performance is a compromise I'm willing to make.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

There are a few mentions of hobbie cats and cats racing. I can't see how they are useful in anyway whatsoever. It's like asking how many rear wheel drive cars crash, then including go-karts, and racing cars. Lets stick to cruising catamarans.

Problem is a large percentage of the pictures show high performance cats not your typical cruising cat.

So it's very relevant to the subject.

If you are talking about the typical conservative cruising cat operated by conservative cruisers, you won't find a lot of pictures.