Moving from Mono to Multi beginners (training?)

[newbie_sail]

Hello!
My partner and I did our RYA competent crew and day skipper training in Devon UK over the pandemic. I'm competent crew and he is skipper.
We completed our first solo sailing trip on a charter in the Saronic Islands of Greece last September and learnt sooo much and had a blast! We charted a 37ft Beneteau Oceania monohull and found the conditions of no tide and fairly gentle winds to be ideal for us as beginners.
We are planning on returning to the same group of islands in September this year, but this time my partner wants to charter a Lagoon40 Catamaran and bring his parents..
He as skipper and myself as crew have no experience on a Catamaran. My question I would like advice on is is it worth us doing a weekend charter in the UK with a skipper to learn our way with the Catamaran? Or does monohull knowledge (remembering we're still fairly green) transfer quite well to a Cat?
Many thanks for your suggestions!

[Tin Tin]

Your mono experience is plenty, if anything charter cat sailing is easier. The only real issue will be pointing and tacking, don't expect to point nearly as high and you will get the hang of tacking pretty quickly, and on a charter cruise you can always start an engine, don't be too proud. Also the boat will be affected more by wind when docking / mooring but has two engines that will cope with most issues, it is not really that hard if you have had previous boat handling experience. It gets a bit trickier in high winds. Let common sense prevail. Hopefully your charter cat comes with a decent anchor, we chartered a Lagoon 380 in Croatia, its main anchor was a cheap Danforth and next to useless for a boat with high windage (compared to a 37ft mono).

[Chotu]

The biggest difficulty I had when I moved from a lifetime of monohulls to a mediocre performance cat (which is what caused me to build the current cat) was tacking.

A less than performance cat wants to stall out when you’re in lighter winds and close hauled and try to tack.

The secret here is to steer to leeward 10-20 degrees first, build up a good amount of boat speed, then tack. If you get that down, the rest is mostly the same on those types of cats.

[Peeew]

Might be worth reading a training manual for cat certification from one of the schools. They do have some differences in docking and handling once winds pick up.

[chris mac]

It depends on the individual. For me the experience transfered well. My wife benefited from hiring a captain for a day. It all depends on how you both learn best.
If you are in doubt, hire a captain for the first day, or half day, to get a better understanding of how the cat handles. You can usually extend the contract if you feel it necessary.

[clakiep]

If You are looking for serious sailing even in stronger winds and gusts, I would recomend to practice a bit on a Hobbie Cat or similar, and do some purpose capsising and pitch - poling, just to get the feel of it. I capsised only once on my first 4 x 2 meter cat, and then sailed thousands of miles on multihulls, also on a very light 44' catamaran I built for myself. Knocking wood, of course !

Capt. Claus - ocean tramp of the eighties

[meirriba]

No need for a week of training.
1. Lesser pointing upwind
2. If sea with high waves, cat tends to pound (no keel to dampen motion) so need to slow down.
3. Reefing done by tabled numbers suggested by manufacturer/charter staff as boat does not heel much (or at all)
4. Anchoring out, you must use a bridle otherwise boat yaws extremely. Drop anchor, release rode to wanted length, attach bridle out of anchor roller, releae more rode until tension is on the bridle.
5. Beware of leeway when backing into a berth Med style uf in cross wind (high topsides). Boat goes back crabwise (once again, no keel) but straight as you use engines to comoensate falling bow.

[donradcliffe]

A bit of practice on how to maneuver with two engines would be good.

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by newbie_sail

Hello!
My partner and I did our RYA competent crew and day skipper training in Devon UK over the pandemic. I'm competent crew and he is skipper.
We completed our first solo sailing trip on a charter in the Saronic Islands of Greece last September and learnt sooo much and had a blast! We charted a 37ft Beneteau Oceania monohull and found the conditions of no tide and fairly gentle winds to be ideal for us as beginners.
We are planning on returning to the same group of islands in September this year, but this time my partner wants to charter a Lagoon40 Catamaran and bring his parents..
He as skipper and myself as crew have no experience on a Catamaran. My question I would like advice on is is it worth us doing a weekend charter in the UK with a skipper to learn our way with the Catamaran? Or does monohull knowledge (remembering we're still fairly green) transfer quite well to a Cat?
Many thanks for your suggestions!

Hire the skipper for a week. If I'm understanding your post, you and your partner don't have a lot of sailing experience overall. There is a lot you still need to learn, especially as it relates to handling the boat in tight quarters, docking in a crowded marina or minimally sized slip, particularly in the Med as it may require backing into a slip while deploying a mooring or anchor line from the bow. Windage of the much higher hull coupled with no deep keel can present challenges as can current. With two engines the cat will be much easier to maneuver IF you understand how using counter directional thrust works. If you haven't had any experience in this area you can get into some challenging situations. It's not hard to learn but it doesn't come naturally for everyone without practice.

If you hire a skipper you also have the luxury of letting him/her do the work when you want to spend some time with your partner and in-laws.

The hired skipper will also have much better knowledge of the area, where the best anchorages are, where it's least crowded and what are "must-sees".

Lastly, being captain of the boat and responsible for all souls onboard while keeping an eye out for weather, planning routes, navigating safely, anchoring, mooring, docking and all the while wanting to interact with those on board can be very demanding, most especially when it's all new.

Be safe, have fun.

[caradow]

Owned many boats had a 44 ft cat for almost 5 years. How back to a mono but would own a cat again if I live that long and have the money to pay for the kind of cat I would want.
There are differences as previously pointed out so will not repeat however it is very important to know you sail a monohull by feel and in a cat pay close attention to wind velocity and reef early. A cat does not give you the same warnings as in a mono. You don't want to get caught wishing you had reefed. It can be a problem. As far as controlling the boat in tight places I personally prefer a cat with two engines which makes it a lot easier in my opinion.