Danny,

I disagree - yes, we go from a greater speed to a lesser speed than mono's when tacking, but we accelerate much faster. In heavy air and flying a hull if we nail a tack, we can barely switch sides fast enough. Secondly, while I am poor at predicting shifts I am convinced that the key to succesfully working a catamaran upwind is proper forcast of the shifts. If you wait until you are affected by the shift you will have already gone through half of it by the time you can react. Ahhh, the pains of speed!