Prout 31 upwind performance

[Factor]

Originally Posted by akprb

Performance upwind ain’t her cup of tea or most cats for that matter. (That will fire up the masses)

I pushed more than one mono up during Hamilton Island Race Week last week, and on a cruising cat, but one that is designed to sail.

On the OPs question, It just aint going to happen, laws of physics and all that, even though lagoon says mast aft is a great thing, it simply means the effort it dragging the boat to leeward as much as it is sending it forward.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by danielamartindm

I think it's safe to say that no one buys a cat for upwind performance. I don't enjoy beating my brains out anyway, and if I absolutely have to get to a given destination with the wind on my bow, I either wait for the wind to change or use the engines. When you can't sail very close to the wind, tacking results in a lot of extra miles, and time.

Depends on the cat, Until you sail a well designed cat you will probably make that mistake and thing that everything sails as badly =as lagoon, FP, Leopard

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by smj

A well designed daggerboard cat will have no problem sailing upwind.

None the less, trying to get upwind and upcurrent when the wind is light and the current strong is not going to be very successful in any boat, mono or cat. Some will do better than others, none will do very well in terms of VMG.

Patience and/or diesel are in order.

Jim

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by akprb

Performance upwind ain’t her cup of tea or most cats for that matter. (That will fire up the masses)

Most production cats, yes. But even then there are quite a few that sail to windward well.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

None the less, trying to get upwind and upcurrent when the wind is light and the current strong is not going to be very successful in any boat, mono or cat. Some will do better than others, none will do very well in terms of VMG.

Patience and/or diesel are in order.

Jim

Can't fault the logic.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Factor

I pushed more than one mono up during Hamilton Island Race Week last week, and on a cruising cat, but one that is designed to sail.

I'm curious - which boat model?

My experience with the Seawind 1000 was that new sails made a HUGE difference in pointing ability. We changed from four year old Dacron to Pentex laminate, and a main with a bit more roach. We outpointed a lot of the monohulls in bay races, but OTOH many of them were crap when it came to sail trim. (Eleven years racing Corsair tri's, we learned a little something!) Of the ones that so proudly outpointed us and made us bear off, some found we were ahead by the time the windward mark was rounded.

I don't have any experience competitively-sailing big heavy cats. My experience racing the Corsair 28R was it was pure sailing pleasure on all points of sail. Ian Farrier did a really good job designing that series of boat models. My Seawind 1000 responded very well to good sail trim. Test sail of the Seawind 1160 Lite in March showed remarkably good pointing ability - even better than my Seawind 1000. And the Lite we sailed had Dacron sails. Neil Tasker of Barracouta Sails, Australia is making the sails for our Lite new-build underway. We've pushed the sail area, nice high-aspect square top mainsail, and sail material will be Dimension Polyant GPL Lite Skin. Yeah, go ahead, someone tell me a real cruising boat doesn't need such sails. Fine, I guess I am a cruiser-racer.

[jvolpehoo]

"Use the engine" or wait for the wind and current to change seem to be the general consensus. Perhaps I'd do better investing in a backup engine mounted off center (The Prout Quest has a single underpowered yanmar with articulating drive leg.) Yes, I should get new main and stay sail and learn how to better trim them. Also the bottom may not be so clean and she's probably overweight with full water tanks etc. I don't see myself trying to alter the keels, I like the 2'8" draft and can clean the bottom myself on a beach.
Re: "firing up the masses," The multi vs mono banter is fun with people comparing who has the best dog but they are truly meant for different purposes. No single dog breed could satisfy all criteria. If you want to win a race you get the greyhound, if you want security you might get the pit bull. Although I stumbled into this particular cat I've been happy to learn of the many advantages it offers me and I'm OK with the sacrifices.
I can't tell you how many skippers have asked me how I get my woman to live aboard with me...OK, so the boat wont go upwind. The boat needs a lot of wind but flies on all other points of sail and I can easily access my yanmar from all sides up in the cockpit. This thread has exposed the most negative aspects I've found on the forums about a Prout Quest but they hardly outweigh the quality most important to me - safety. Prout owners should not lament the poor upwind performance. I've read that there were 2 Prout catamarans observing the deadly Fastnet race disaster and the Prout skippers experiencing the conditions described them as merely "beastly weather for sailing." In 12 ft seas on Lake Michigan for 36 hours this Prout was stable and balanced on all points of sail. So, I got a pitbull.

https://www.catsailor.com/forum/ubbt...-in-multihulls

[Training Wheels]

As long as you’re enjoying what you have, nothing else matters!