good video showing A cat action here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lPv4sxay_g&feature=related

lot's of solo wildthing

how many of you do it and on what kind of cats?

should i be trying to do it solo on my 5.2 sloop?

I do on the F16. Usually in the 6-15 kn wind range. Over 15 the chances of swimming increase rapidly.

Speaking for myself, you have to anticipate gusts and start turning down before you lose control. It's kind of an all or nothing thing. Maintain control or go swimming.

Being catapaulted THROUGH the mainsail is the price of being aggressive during the learning process. I've avoided this so far but Robi and Tback may be able to tell you a little more !

You will have a hard time getting that jib trimmed properly without a crew. You need to barberhaul that jib out to make it fly properly. But by all means, go for it. It is great fun and definately a large part of the fun of catamaran sailing.

You are able and proficient at righting your cat solo I hope. That is a pre-requisite! You will capsize unless you are a natural

What is solo wildthing?

Hard to go through from the low side!

flying the hull downwind, often while sitting on the low side...
really exciting with a spinnaker

Ah gotcha, what advantage does this have? I take it you do this in lighter winds when you're trying to get the windward hull up out of the water a bit?

yes...or in heavy air when you are trying to capsize

"Wildthing" is flying a hull downwind. It is an essential racing technique for modern cats- A class, F18, F16 etc.

Beginning at around 6knots of wind, bringing the weather hull out of the water when sailing downwind, results in an amazing increase in boat speed.

Typically, start out well forward, almost hugging the mast. As the wind increases, move back; as the wind continues to build, move to the high side.

When the NACRA 5.2 first came out it had only 1 trap wire. In light air my crew use to hook up on the leeward side and hang out. Great for light winds. Need to be really nimble to stay out of the water. Some times we would both be on the low side. Single handed you can be on the low side now called wild thing. You may go over but with learning to hold the mainsheet, tiller, and crawl like an alligator and the ability to do all at once you will be ok. The 5.2 is easy to right solo but better yet it turns on a dime with 9 cents change and you can steer out of most of the puffs while you crawl for higher ground.

When the NACRA 5.2 first came out it had only 1 trap wire. In light air my crew use to hook up on the leeward side and hang out. Great for light winds. Need to be really nimble to stay out of the water. Some times we would both be on the low side. Single handed you can be on the low side now called wild thing. You may go over but with learning to hold the mainsheet, tiller, and crawl like an alligator and the ability to do all at once you will be ok. The 5.2 is easy to right solo but better yet it turns on a dime with 9 cents change and you can steer out of most of the puffs while you crawl for higher ground. Combine that with a modified roll tack and you got it made!

Wild thing is NOT sitting on the leaward side; it is simply flying the windward hull down wind.

I cannot remember who first came up with it; might have been Mitch.

The think the wild thing was an Aussie thing and has been around for some time this is from the internet from the AHPC web site on tuning

Medium Winds : 10 - 15 knots.
Ideal "Wild Thing" wind range.

Luff Tension - just remove the wrinkles down the luff.
Mast rotation - 80deg.
Mainsheet - firm to hard, ease the mainsheet in the gusts to control the power in the sail.
Foot - 100 - 150mm camber in foot
Traveler - set traveler 100mm. up from inner gunwale.
Steer down in the gusts and up in the lulls.
Move your weight back and to leeward to help lift the windward hull. The crew should be sitting on the leeward hull and the skipper on the windward hull. This also keeps the bow up and makes the boat easier to steer.
Jib barber haul - 400 from fully pulled on.
Jib sheet - firm to keep telltales flowing.


I don't see what is wild about just flying the windward hull downwind on a modern cat (a hobie 16 or aquacat that would be a little wild), until you add the extra FU factor of a body on the leaward side now you are asking for trouble and getting wild.

When the wind is strong/gusty, "going wild" is the easiest way I know to go into low earth orbit. It can happen very quickly.

What, exactly is the "FU factor"?????

FU factor - Old nautical term.

We all been there or at least I have it starts with the exclamatory form of the word "OH ----" usually followed one of two single words; one is slang for having sex and the other is to defecate / or a rapid session of a long string of words spoken in high squeaking sucking voice that do not make sense at all.

F is for the "F" word, G-Rated version is fouled, in past or present form U is for up.

Pete you mean kind of like being along for a ride with James Bond in his Aston Martin DB5 then getting ejected?

I’ve been lucky sailing only the Nacra 5.2, G-Cat 5.7, and a hand-full of Super Cats I’ve never really been pitch poled that much, cart wheeled – yes.

Mike

Something like that!

Well that explains it nicely. Thank you.

wildthing is great fun, but you have to make sure your sailing efficentley and falling in as little as possible.

Don't sit on the leward side as a helm. On the leward side you will be uncomfortable as you are always worrying about going in which in turn means you wont be trimming your sails as well as you could and you wont hav eyour head out the boat enough.

Sit on the windward side (to windward of the mast, most often on the tramp) as far forward as possible and in control.

Dont try and wildthing too early, u'll just end up reaching everywhere.

When you do start flying a hull pull the travler up a bit as the apparent comes forward, make sure you can fully steer, trim the main slightly, easeing a bit in gusts to give the boat forward momentum not just hull flying, try and keep the hull low just a few inches to a foot of the water as that is the most efficent height.

I used the wild thing solo on my Nacra 5.2 to great success on my last race. I had about 1Km when I turned downwind to catch a 5.8 and was not gaining substantially with me on the windward side. Straddling the tramp center bar I was able to stay in control by shifting my weight (apart from from a couple of sharp turns and emergency mainsheet releases which must have looked scary from shore). It wasn't exactly "comfortable", but who cares, I was racing and obviously catching up twice as fast as before! It was fun, more adrenaline that watching and waiting.