Hi everyone,
I have a really strange question for you all, but it is really as serious as it gets...

I'd like to build a Farrier trimaran in the future, probably the new F-22 or an F-82 type. Major problem is that my wife and I went out on an F-82 some years ago and it scared her. Not the wind, not the spray, not the speed, it was a very very gentle day. No, what scared her was the view of the water rushing by under the nets! The ironic thing is that this is what I love most :-( To think she didn't get scared when handling the Jib on our old 20' monomaran skidding around in a swell (while I practically needed a champagne cork... for undisclosed purposes).

She is afraid of heights, and for her a chair is a high place...

I'm thinking that, because she can handle jibbing a leaner at 45 degrees, where the foothold is the opposite bench and the rail or posts are digging into your back, there must be a way for her to get used to the nets on a much more stable trimaran, or perhaps a cat?

Is there anyone out there who has experience with this kind of thing? I'm afraid that if I just take her out on any old rented boat, she might freak out permanently and our chances of sailing together would be blown.

There's just no way I'm ever going back to a monoslug, much less build one. The trimarans are my favourites because of the easy and fast trailerability, though a cruising cat (not a giant roomaran) would appear more stable.

Please help, any suggestions are welcome.

[Edited for wrong type designation]

Try getting tramps for the F made out of the mesh that some of our cat tramps are made out of. I know I can't see through the one on the I20.

You could also get vinyl tramps made.

My wife hated my "leaner". Every time it healed she thought it was going to tip over, but loved the trimaran, although she would never sit outside of the main hull ****. She liked that it did not heel so much and it had the nets to catch her if she did lose her ballance. Perhaps you could have her stay in the main **** and teach her to steer or trim from there, while you get the fun of sitting out on the tramp.

Or get solid vinyl type tramps, like the old Hobie tramps, that she can't see through.

I'm no psyco-analyst, but it sounds more like she has a fear of suspended surfaces - which is really a trust issue...how does she feel when climbing a regular household staircase compared to climbing an open mesh stair case that you can see through the foot pads (like in a spiral stair case or some utility applications)?

Jake, she's also afraid of open mesh type stairs or walkways.

What Jake said was exactly my first thought, too.

As he said, it sounds more like a trust problem than a height problem. I have no fear of heights at all, and it does not bother me to go up a mast to fix something -- but I am VERY uncomfortable with open net trampolines where you can see the water going by underneath. I guess it makes me feel very vulnerable, like at any moment the trampoline might break and I will fall through it.

I guess that is why I don't like trimarans that have trampolines between the main hull and the amas. And I don't like big cats that have netting between the bows instead of hard deck.

The suggestions for a dense mesh or vinyl for the trampolines might help her problem. Plus the idea of keeping her in the main hull, which is the same as being on a monohull.

Hi DennisMe,

Since you plan to build your own boat the simple answer is to make a hard surface deck between hulls rather than have any kind of net. If you need to have the fold-up features typical of Corsairs perhaps you can get Ian Farrier to design a hard deck that would work and be approved for the boat of your choice. As Mary Wells can attest, they started out with hard decks on Shark catamarans and have them to this day and they fold for trailering - maybe you should just start out with a Shark!

The Reynolds 33 that I have been racing has a black mesh tramp that you cannot see through but those boats are about $185K now so it might be out of your budget range. Still that material should be readily available for whatever boat you want to use it on.

Alternatively, and "thinking outside the box", perhaps the simplest and cheapest solution is to have her optometrist produce glasses that will not allow her to look down!! Sort of like the blinders that horses wear but on the bottom instead of the sides. Could cause some accidents so have her put them on only after getting on the boat!

Good luck!

OK,
thanks for your feed back. I guess there are some options. The opaque nets sound feasible on any tri or cat. Maybe not ideal for the forward nets though. Then keeping her in the center hull of a tri... I suppose that means having everything lead back to the ****. Again, that's not a problem for a self built boat.
I guess we'll just have to rent and see after all though. Building a boat only to find out she doesn't trust it is a tough call.

Dennis