In the summer of 2005, we found
our boat. 27' long and 14 feet wide, she's a British designed and built
Catalac 27(sold in Europe as a
Catalac 8M. A true catamaran motor sailor, built in Christchurch
England in 1985.
She's a
one owner boat, weighs 3 1/2 tons and is a Bermuda rigged catamaran. Catalacs
have a reputation for their strength and durability. Before the company went out
of business, over 600 boats were built. They have solid fiberglass V-shaped
hulls with internal low aspect ratio keels, with built in buoyancy compartments
forward (they float upside down). The cruiser design has a full-ridged foredeck
and a wide (huge) aft cockpit with wraparound seating, storage lockers forward
on deck and aft (really deep -- 5 FT) under seating in cockpit. She has two
opening hatches and six opening cabin windows all with removable screens. The
master stateroom is a double berth and is accessed in the forward Starboard
hull. Our galley is Starboard amidships. The head has a shower and is forward in
the Port hull. Navigation station is in Port hull amidships with a Settee/single
berth, and the salon table converts into a king size berth. (Catalac
model info is
here). And of course twin Yanmar diesel engines.
There
aren't more than 40 Catalac 27's (8M) in the USA, and many were
sailed here from England, which is quite a feat for such a small vessel. I
became interested in her after reading up on the
Queen's Birthday Storm disaster
where a Catalac survived 100 knot winds and 30 meter seas without
dismasting in a storm where every monohull was dismasted and lives were lost.
Catalac Catamarans were designed to sail the North Sea and are heavily
constructed. It would be fair to say that they just don't build them like this
anymore. What totally blew me away was that the boat had more interior room than
my buddy's 38' Morgan. I felt like I just entered Dr. Who's TARDIS. It also was a huge 'plus' that I found that she spent most of her life
out of the water, and has been owned by the same family for 20 years. You see, I
figure that if a guy keeps a boat that long .... there's a reason. I have
no idea why he decided to name her Catalpa, but it probably had something to do
with that age old boat naming superstition of a 7 letter name with three "A's"
in it bringing good fortune. Why else would a guy name his boat after a tree? Of
course, over time the name has grown on me, and I've decided not to change
it. (Besides, I can use all the Luck I can get!)
Her
previous owner was an avid sailor. He was Canadian, but kept the boat in Florida
from which he sailed her to the Islands and to Cuba on a regular basis (Yes,
Canadians can do that). There was an old Bahamas cruising guide in the Nav
Station which has course headings and waypoints penciled in throughout the
Bahamas. Unfortunately the previous owner passed away in December 2004 at the
ripe age of 85. I've been told that he sailed her right up until the end. I can
only hope I'm as fortunate and that she serves me as well. When she came on the
market, I leaped at the chance to own her, knowing full well that bringing her
home to east central Florida was going to be a challenge. As it
turned out, I would say that 'challenge' wasn't the right word. Calling it an
adventure sounds sexy, but in retrospect "Ordeal" is a lot closer to the
truth.
The Trip Home
When I
completed the transaction and took ownership of the boat, it was time to bring
her home. I accepted my brother's gracious offer to give me a hand, and crew
her. In retrospect, I don't think he fully appreciated the max speed under power
of 6 knots we achieved with Catalpa, as he has a solid power boat background.
I still picture him
shoving the throttles to their stops, with a quizzical look on his face when she
didn't go any faster (wadda ya mean she doesn't plane?). At any rate, the trip
began in mid August, at Glades Boat Storage in La Bell, FL. La Bell is in south
central Florida, on the Okeechobee canal about 1/2 way between Lake Okeechobee
and Fort Meyers. The plan was to launch the boat and head east, motoring on the
canal, through lake Okeechobee, onto the St. Lucie river, arriving at the Port
St. Lucie Lock in 48 hours, and then a casual sail home the next day on the
Intracoastal Waterway. Sounds simple, right?
Well,
it wasn't so easy. For the record, I did read the Coast Guard's "Notice to
Mariners" before we left, but how was I to know that periodic water releases
from a dangerously high Lake Okeechobee translates into a 10 knot current on our
bow? (It wasn't my fault, honest!) So, after 3 days of traveling in miserable
Florida August weather, with 104 degree temperatures with 100% humidity and a
broken refrigerator, a load of bad diesel fuel, clogged fuel filters, zillions
of mosquitoes and 10 knot currents at times on our bow, I'm afraid that
tempers were flaring by the time we reached the St. Lucie lock in Stuart, FL.
You
can sort of picture this trip like the movie 'Deliverance" except those wimps
didn't have alligators.
By the
way, I'm here to tell you that yes, it's possible to be at full speed and
actually travel backwards against a 10 knot current with a sail boat!! Catalpa
made the trip in fine shape, however my brother wasn't thrilled with the ordeal,
although I'm not sure if it was his heat exhaustion, the bee stings, the
mosquito bites (did I mention we traveled through what is basically the
Everglades? No?, well I sort of forgot to mention it to him as well), no cold
drinks (do Germans really drink warm beer?), or being on what's definitely "not
a powerboat", which contributed to his disposition.
Hurricane
Katrina
You
could say that we ran out of time or, you could say that my brother finally
jumped ship (boy do I hate it when they escape like that) and I had to leave the
boat at a public marina on the St. Lucie River, just west of the Port St. Lucie
Lock. This was about 75 miles south of my destination and 110 miles south of
where I live, but I figured I could find a new crew (it would be OK.. no Everglades this
time) and bring her the rest of the way home the following weekend. As
they say "the best laid plans of mice and men...". From out of nowhere, a
hurricane named Katrina decided to take aim at south Florida on it's way to
devastating New Orleans. This hurricane formed very suddenly directly over
the Bahamas, and gave almost no warning at all to eastern Florida. The National
Hurricane Center was now predicting that the center of Katrina was going to pass
about 30 miles south of where I had docked the boat!! Obviously, our plans had
to be changed.
My
girlfriend Linda and I knew we had to act quickly, and after hearing the
hurricane update, we decided we could make it out of the path of the storm, but
only if we acted immediately. The National Hurricane Center had predicted the
speed and course of the storm. I grabbed a map and calculated that if we
could get underway and head north on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) to a
protected anchorage about 40 miles north of Stuart, in Vero Beach by nightfall
we should be fine. I figured we could make it to our marina in Melbourne,
FL the following afternoon, just as Katrina came ashore. So, at dawn the
following morning we headed south directly into the path of the Hurricane.
As we
arrived at the marina, the winds were already clocking at 25 mph with 35 mph
gusts. There was a power problem at the marina and they took forever to settle
the bill, so we didn't untie the boat until noon. It took 30 minutes to
clear the Port St. Lucie lock, and another 3 hours before we made the turn onto
the ICW in Stuart Harbor because of a delay waiting for one of the bridges to
open for us. We said a prayer, and headed north on the ICW.
Conditions were what we expected. There was a small craft advisory posted, with
gusting winds and a violent chop. The ICW is a protected waterway, but even so,
in a short time 3-4 foot chop developed and the wind was from the NE, which was
almost on the bow. At least there wasn't any traffic as it looked like we
were the only boat on the water. I had the sails down and both diesels at
cruising speed. My GPS indicated we were making 6mph SOG but it was
already 3:30PM, and because of the delays, there was no way we would make it to
Vero Beach before nightfall. Unfortunately, we had run out of other
options. By 6:00PM, the rain squalls in the outer bands of the hurricane
began to catch us. Let me just say that you'd have to experience this to
appreciate it. Suddenly visibility is reduced to 50 yards, with rain
directly in our faces driven by 40 mph gusts. The boat is taking the chop
on the starboard bow with enough force to cover us in spray. It was
stimulating to say the least, and fatiguing, as hour after hour we plodded north
away from the approaching storm. We began switching helm duty as the day
wore on, as it didn't take long for conditions to take a toll on us.
We learned a valuable lesson about trying to outrun a hurricane in a sailboat!!
As
night fell, we were just short of Vero Beach, FL. It was pitch black, with
horizontal rain and winds gusting to 50 mph directly in our faces. With Linda at
the helm, we eased our way into the anchorage, with me using the GPS to guide us
from channel marker to marker using our 1,000,000 candle power spotlight to
identify them. Only a sailor knows what it's like to enter a strange anchorage
at night in adverse conditions. Let me say that the GPS made it possible
to safely arrive at the City dock at Vero Beach, where we tied up at the fuel
dock with doubled up dock lines and 4 fenders rigged as insurance. We were
utterly and completely exhausted. We barely had enough energy to take showers
before we collapsed and immediately fell asleep while the wind was howling
through our rigging.
We
were up before dawn, anxious to get underway as the winds were brisk and gusting
and the sky was black as night and seemed to have no intention of allowing the
sun to come up.. We hurriedly gobbled down a breakfast bar with a cup of black
coffee graciously offered by the guys at the City Dock, as we watched the
Hurricane update on their TV. There was a slight shift in Katrina's path to the
south during the night!! We were out of danger, but it was going to be a bumpy
ride home. We left the dock at 7:00AM and headed north, in 3-4 foot chop and 50
mph winds. Conditions improved as the day wore on, as we were heading north and
the hurricane was bending to the south. Every hour we put more and more distance
between us and the storm. We arrived at her new home in Melbourne, FL in
early afternoon without incident. I can honestly say that the boat was
level and stable the entire trip and overall she performed flawlessly. I
feel like I've made a good choice in selecting a catamaran. Especially selecting
a Catalac 8M!!
Time Passes
After 3 years of sailing (yes, my brother began
speaking to me again), we're slowly getting to know her quirks and her
strengths. In 10-15 knots of wind I regularly see 6-8 mph of boat speed, and
once or twice have touched 8 1/2 mph, in a puff. All speeds (SOG) measured
with my GPS.
Her best point of sailing is a broad reach with the 155
Genoa, but this sail is lacking for pointing. The genny reminds me of a modern
screacher. I've found that we lose about a knot in speed when switching to the
105 jib but it's worth it as it points very well. I can maintain speed right up
to 30 degrees apparent.
I find that it's faster Jibing than running. I know her 22
year old sails need replacing as the main is really stretched and baggy. It's
possible that with the right set of sails we could see slightly increased speeds
and more importantly, point higher. I continue to experiment with mast rake, and
rigging tension in my quest to find her "sweet spot".
The
stability of this boat under sail is amazing. It took a while to get used
to sailing completely flat. If you've never sailed a cruising catamaran,
you just have to try it.
Catalpa was designed as a small motor sailor. She
has twin Yanmar 1GM10, 9 hp diesels which are in great shape. These engines are
the smallest diesels Yanmar markets and have a reputation of running forever.
At cruising speed they use fuel at slightly more than 1 pint an hour. With twin
12 gallon fuel tanks, this works out to a power cruising range of 600 NM,
farther if you run on one engine which I commonly do when on flat water. These
diesels also allow tremendous maneuverability in crowded marinas. With the
engines spaced about 12 feet apart, and new Morse engine controls, this boat
turns on a dime. The only problems I've had with them are with the engines'
cooling system. The lagoon I sail in has a lot of silt in it which eventually
causes the water pump seals to fail.
As a footnote... When I first
purchased Catalpa there were no Catalacs in my sailing area. These days there
are now 4 Catalac Catamarans in these parts (that's 4% of the USA total in one
town), and I've seen a few more passing through. We must have looked very strong
sailing out there. As a matter of fact there are a
surprising number of Cats appearing as mono guys are finally getting the message
(smile).
They
say that the day you buy your boat and the day you sell her are the two happiest
days in a boaters life. After a couple of years, I have to tell you that I'm
having a ball. I think the only way I'll leave my catamaran, is when they bury
me!
Can you tell that we just love our Cat? -- Rick
(more photos at bottom of this page)
I thought a couple of photos of Catalpa's crew would be appropriate.
"Twenty years from now you will be
more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds
in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain
(an excerpt from the book)
by Charles Kanter
"Catalac catamarans, with over 600 units built and sailing, have probably
brought as many hours of happy, comfortable and safe boating to more people than
any other vessel. It is hard to find any comparable production vessel that has
so well achieved its design objectives. One that comes close is the monohull,
Morgan Out Island series, the most popular cruising boat ever."
Which Cruising Cats Hold Their Value?
by Charles Kanter
"Catalac,
Cherokee, Iroquois, and Prout are cruising catamaran names that live through the
decades. Bill Ware of 2Hulls brokerage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, says,
"Generally speaking, the English cats have the best resale value. They built the
most enduring catamarans in the world." Depending on condition, they can fetch
higher prices now than they did when they were new, even adjusted for inflation.
The Iroquois, designed by legendary Rod MacAlpine-Downey, is a high-quality,
fast-sailing, weatherly vessel with pivoting centerboards and kick-up rudders.
Catalacs, an 8 meter (27-foot), 9 meter (30-foot), 10 meter (34-foot) and 12
meter (41-foot), each rugged and with great carrying capacity, exceptional
layout and good handling, sail the other end of the performance spectrum, but
many have crossed the Atlantic..........."
Why a Catamaran?
Click
this link for a quick Comparison....
This article was written by
Phillip Berman
Catamaran Vs Monohull
Just the Boat
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