I recently heard from a very experienced cat sailor/racer that it was his experience that flying a spi in 15 kts singlehandedly on a cat with "planing" wave piercing hulls caused the bows to bury and made the cat difficult to control even though the boat's handling characteristics in all other conditions was great. In contrast, he said that flying a spi in similar winds singlehandedly on a different cat with "plowing" wave piercing hulls the bows didn't bury as much. He summarized his comment by saying something like "spi + planing wave piercing hulls don't mix!". Clearly this is one experienced guy who likes to push the limits, but it would be nice to know that if the wind builds that you could still control your cat while flying a chute. This was the first time I had heard this issue raised in this way and stated so clearly.
My questions are: 1) Has anyone else seen this? Cat and windspeed? 2) Has anyone seen this on cats with "plowing" hulls? Cat and windspeed? 3) Why does this happen to "planing" and not to "plowing" hulls? 4) If others have observed this, how is it influenced by boat weight and hull length (and why) - ie, would the same phenomenon be seen on A-cats, FXOne, and planing F16's such as Stealth/Blade (but not seen on I17 and T4.9)? 5) In picking a new boat, how important is this issue?
