While revisiting this thread, I feel compelled to reply to each and all of you catsailors. I must, however, first reply to Keith, who has struck a chord with me. I was a solo sailor on a Hobie 18.

When you look at a modern catamaran you see such things as a Marstom 20 that sports a good sized mainsail and then has a great, big downwind sail. The Hobie 18, while adequately powered-up for a crew of two, has a very nice upwind power to weight ratio in moderate air for a solo sailor. Then downind, it can really "burn the coal" when the huge genoa is deployed. This is sailing the cat in its 'factory, stock' configuration. (circa 1978-ish)

The most pleasant day (of my cat-sailing life) involved a Hobie 18 and a windy day that disallowed me from flying my jib (genoa, nearly a "reacher" by today's standards) on the upwind runs. But when the downwind leg came to be, I was able to unfurl that great, big genoa and sail the downwind leg as if I was flying an asymetrical spinnaker!

I really think that we are going to see a future in cat-sailing that involves two sails; the mainsail and the downwind reacher. Hooray for the Hobie 18 for being on the forefront of the 'wave' of catsailing for the new melinium. (disclaimer: I don't sail a Hobie, don't give a care if Hobiecat ever succeeds or fails, nor do I care who builds the best catamaran, as long as I own one of them) (best equals 'the best cat for me')

My best suggestion for those who experiment with "main alone:" Try to relize and remember that you are sailing much higher (closer to the wind) than you would be sailing if you would have had a jib. Also, remember the huge amount of weather helm; when you tack, turn as far away from the wind as you can. When the rig 'powers up', you will naturally come back up, close to weather. Resist the tendancy for the boat to 'round up' to the wind!


The catamaran sailing community is moving through a change of sailing techniques. Jibs are being replaced by spinnakers, hooters, reachers, screachers, gennikers, and many other "off the wind sails." It is time that a lot of cat sailors will learn the new techniques that are associated with the new rigs. It is time to learn the new, and faster, sailing styles, or else... go fly a kite.

GARY