RE: 78' Aluminium Sailing Catamaran for Science, Technology Testing & Research
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This is such a fascinating cat! I'm truly in awe of the function of the A-shape mast! The observation platforms are such an ingenious design!
I've only had sailing experience with single-mast monohaul vessels, so this beast you have is like a sci-fi concept to me.
- I'm still trying to understand how it performs under sails?
- Do you deploy one at a time?
- Are they intended for mainly auxiliary use?
- And I see a photo of both sails unfurled, was that for demonstration purpose, or do you actually deploy both in certain situations?
Anyway, please keep posting, and spare no details - I'm very curious about this project.
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I am a fast sailing catamaran in beam reach & downwind conditions. I was recently clocked at 13.4 knots (5 min sustained) under my 270 sqm asymmetric spinnaker. At present I only have headsails (270 sqm asymm, 170 sqm gennaker & 70 sqm storm/stay sail) so I don't sail much upwind.
For upwind I use my electric motor and diesel for longer distances or heavy conditions.
I may get a mainsail in the future to improve my upwind performance.
Normally the headsails are deployed one at a time but it is possible to wing on wing as you saw in the photos. I'm not yet sure whether it provides better VMG than reaching with the spinnaker. But it looks cool.
Check out my earlier posts for more details.