With the ORMA 60 and MOD70 trimaran classes successfully killed off, you would have thought that French multihull sailors might do the sensible thing and consolidate their efforts in a…
multihulls
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 2: Handling under power – with Nigel Irens
As you may be one day, we were new to the catamaran we were offered for this mission so we spent a good half hour in fairly open water practising…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 3: Anchoring and picking up a mooring – with Nigel Irens
Among the plus sides of cruising in a catamaran is that inherent shallow draught offers access to plenty of sheltered and attractive anchorages that are not available to deeper-keeled yachts.…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 4: Sailing a cat upwind – with Nigel Irens
If you were a visitor to Earth and found yourself sailing a run-of-the-mill cruising catamaran for the first time it would be easy to conclude that sailing upwind is not…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 5: sailing a cat downwind – with Nigel Irens
Generally speaking, the risk of getting into trouble in a catamaran when sailing downwind is greater than when sailing upwind. This is fundamentally owing to the fact that when heading…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 6: Coping with heavy weather – with Nigel Irens
When discussing how to handle heavy weather in a catamaran we have to accept that there is no one solution that works for all catamarans as the strategy will be…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 7: should the worst happen – with Nigel Irens
Different strategies for keeping a catamaran safe from the risk of capsize have been discussed in other features in this series, but we do need to look more closely at…
Catamaran Sailing Techniques Part 8: the future of catamaran cruising – with Nigel Irens
Most of the features in our Catamaran Sailing Techniques series have been aimed at aspiring newcomers to catamaran cruising looking for a bit of help in getting going – even…
The Gunboat 55 Video – full footage of our test aboard the coolest new fast cat available
The Gunboat 55 takes cool to a whole new level. She is a curvaceous yet fiery, muscular yet elegant design, drawn by the godfather of lightweight multihulls, Nigel Irens. And…
Broadblue Rapier 550 boat test – Are you ready for a 54ft catamaran that steers like a car?
Marty McFly, Michael J Fox’s lead character in the 1980s film Back to the Future, breaks into a wild electric guitar solo while playing a Chuck Berry number during a…