I Have Found My Cat

[Gludy]

Having test sailed three boats of late I am in an airport in the USA returning from my trip and I have now ordered my new cat.

The last two cats I tested were both very good and performed very well in light winds - they were the Leopard 46 and the St Francis 50 - i have ordered the St Francis 50 and will be posting a video report of both the Leopard and The St Francis within a week.

The St Francis was the fastest of all the boats i have sailed in to date but the Leopard was not far behind. We were able to point 30 degrees apparent wind (on video) and we were sailing at about 0.5 knot under the true wind speed on broad reaches - also on video.

The St Francis costs about 50% more than the Leopard and we have only praise for the the Leopard and the way the test sail was handled - it seems to represent great value for money. We will be posting a video of both test sails.

Cheers for now!

[David M]

Congratulations on your new boat! I wish you many happy years. Where do you plan on going with your boat?

David

[imagine2frolic]

CONGRADULATIONS,

When is the new BABY due?:cubalibre

[David_Old_Jersey]

And I had put my money on you self building a Wharram

Anyway, looking forward to more details........

[fastcat435]

Congratulations with your new St.Francis 50 a fantastic boat build by a very good and knowledgeable builder. It must be a dream come true.
Happy Sailing

Gideon

[Talbot]

Congratulations on your choice. I am delighted you have found a boat that suits and hope this purchase goes much better than previous attempts.

Please keep us informed. (Photos etc)

If memory serves me correctly TCM chose the Leopard, purely because that was what was available at the time. (person from a different forum for those getting confused)

[pilot]

Congratulations to the new boat!
I had the chance to be on a St Francis 50. A real nice one!!
You will like it!!

[freetime]

Fun...Good Luck!

Where can i find their homepage...?

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by freetime

Fun...Good Luck!

Where can i find their homepage...?

Welcome to St Francis Marine | Home Page
Very nice cats
I own one that I am selling
greetings

[BigCat]

Specifications of the St Francis 50 Catamaran is the homepage for this boat. Cruising World has an article about it at:

Cruising World - St. Francis 50: The Livin' Is Easy

The payload is given as almost 10,000 pounds, but the manufacturer doesn't explain whether the 'displacement' is with some, all, or no payload aboard. I note that Cruising World gives a higher displacement than the manufacturer, which leads me to wonder if they have adjusted the displacement to include 1/2 of the payload, but I don't see any explanation.

Doing a little number crunching, you get a D/L of 118.5 at the 'displacement' given by the manufacturer, and a D/L 140 at the 'displacement' given by Cruising World. The sail area is conservative at 1100 sq. ft., which gives a SA/D ratio of 17.8 at the Cruising World's 'displacement.'

They tested it on a windy 30 knots day, and got up to 12.2 knots close reaching. Even at 30 knots they used the full genoa, in keeping with the boat's modest sail area. 12.2 knots is 1.78 times the square root of the waterline length of 47'.

[freetime]

A very nice catamaran.

Gludy: Kitchen up or down?

[freetime]

Originally Posted by fastcat435

Welcome to St Francis Marine | Home Page
Very nice cats
I own one that I am selling
greetings

In Holland or S.Africa? Age...?

[Gludy]

Just back and not slept yet but here is a quick update.

Galley up with another galley area down to offer extended cruise storage etc.

Current delivery is latest August - it may be possible to make it a fair way before that. We are flying out to SA to discuss and spec further shortly.

I have a video of this cat - even in 9 knots of wind it was doing 8.5 knots through the water. It is a very fast cat and has won a number of races etc.

I have just heard delivery skippers usually do 200 mile days and sometimes a 240 mile day.

I will pick it up in SA,

Not sure yet if we will bring her to the UK first then we will certainly cross the pond and just cruise where our fancy takes us.

TCM has a Privilege - nice boats bit I needed the saloon all round vision. The best for this was the Leopard but we have modified the Dt Francis a bit to suit my partner who is only 5 foot tall and will have excellent vision.

We will have the full works of options and additions.

Thanks for all the congratulations -I have no doubt about how well suited to us it is.

I will have many questions for the forum on the specing.

[fastcat435]

Originally Posted by freetime

In Holland or S.Africa? Age...?

4 years old 8000 NM a demonstrator and I supervised the build to keep her light
and in the Netherlands fully equipped not Spartan at all.

[Gludy]

Gideon
Your St Francis is the 48 and there are substantial differences between it and the St Francis 50.Never the less from my research the 48 is a well thought of boat and at the right price should easily sell.