Sailing a Cat in The Grenadines-- April 27 - May 7 -- Part I

We cruised for eleven days in St Vincents and the Grenadines with Bennett and Harriet. The cat was the girls' idea -- an experiment. They were enthused about the no-heeling reputation of catamarans. The glasses won't tip over! Everything does not have to be secured in the cabin! These were the attractions of a cat to our women. This post describes the boat and its sailing characteristics; Part II will describe the fun we had. So if you are one of the readers who does not like the sailing aspects, just skip to the next posting, soon.

Ours was a Lagoon 39 of 2016, named "Azurro II" owned by French people with a Vincentian courtesy flag.

It was a generous sized boat for only two couples because it was designed for four. Unlike Long Island Sound, the prevalence of cats in the Vincentian waters was remarkable -- in one port, including us, there were nine cats and only three monohulls. And in looking around, we noticed that Azurro II was one of the smaller cats out there.

We arrived after a long day of travel at nine pm, got settled aboard and slept at the dock of the well sheltered Blue Lagoon Marina in the south coast of St. Vincents, the largest and capital island of the archipelago nation of St. Vincents and the Grenadines. The boat had  slightly smaller cabins in the forward part of each of its hulls, which we used for storage, and quite large ones aft. Large enough that we slept, pullman style, athwart ships, what with no material heeling. In each hull the cabins were separated by a passageway inboard and a head with shower and sink.  These bedroom sections were six steps down from the central ridging portion of the boat which had a large table, nav desk and galley, forward, and another large table on the outdoor covered patio deck aft. The indoor and outdoor sections of the upper deck were separated by a large sliding door and window and we closed them, and locked them, only when leaving the boat. The interior wood was blond and nice looking, but the cabin sole was a dark plastic type material that has several lighter blotches where prior sailors has apparently used bleach to get up dirt. Up another four steps was the helm station, to starboard, covered by a canvas bimini of its own, with steering and engine controls, a large new B&G Multi 'Function Display and two winches, one electrified, from which all lines for both sails could be handled. The boat was equipped with everything one might need (except dinghy lights). Though young, the boat already showed signs of wear: dents and scrapes that result from use and are characteristic of chartered vessels that are used by many people, not their owners, and some of whom have skill

shortages. In fact, while we did no material harm we had never sailed a cat and experienced a learning curve.

Before we could get underway we had three tasks to accomplish. First the girls took a cab to the market for provisioning. While they were away, Marlin gave us guys a thorough tour of the boat showing us where everything was, e.g. boathook, first aid kit, dinghy anchor,  keys, flashlight, tool kit, etc. There is so much storage space that one must remember which large cabinet has each item. The tool kit, with its often used pliers, sat in the kneewell of the interior navigation station. Marlin told us how to turn on and off each switch, and which ones not to touch. He turned on the two engines and the electronics. He lowered the dink from its davits and turned on its outboard. The third task was the chart briefing by Raymond who outlined the favorite destinations and the distances between them, described in hours not nautical miles. Lene and I had been through these waters in 2011, twice: first southbound toward neighboring Grenada in the spring and again northbound in the fall. We had ideas about which ports to visit and the one to avoid (Mustique -- an overpriced exclusive Disneyland style island). In fact, I had laid out our entire draft itinerary months ago and sent it to our companions; I love cruise planning.

Finally about noon, Mike, our pilot, raised the main and piloted us out through the single red and green day marks at the sides of the channel between the reefs that protect Blue Lagoon and then left in the dink he had brought along. Regrettably, none of our coaches knew how to get the data out of the MFD. It provides lots of info to those who know which buttons to push. And there was no manual for its use. We have learned Raytheon's system but not B&G's. We used it, but without finding the "find boat" button or putting in a waypoint and getting course and time or distance to it.

Unbeknownst to us, Mike had put the second reef in the main for our first passage. I believe that he had intended to put in only the first reef but the labels on the clutches for the two reefing lines were reversed! We did have the first reef in most of the days we sailed. I had the helm for most of the time and found that observation of the main sail trim from the helm was quite difficult. I had to put the boat on auto and come down and aft to see that sail's trim. I never found the adjustable outhaul for the main; maybe there is none
.

The reefing lines were fitted with sleeves of the outer layer of braided line, probably to prevent excess tightening. The effect was that the second reef line hung loose when the sail was furled, in a big loop at the aft end of the boom. And the boom runs quite a bit aft of the hard dodger/patio roof

high above that deck. The loop snagged the flagpole once, but worse, it got wrapped around the boom. That prevented raising the main to its full first-reefed height. I used the boat hook in one hand, holding onto the boat with the other while Lene held onto me for safety while I groped with the boat hook and unhooked the tangle while bouncing in the seas. Also, because the aft end of the boom extends so far aft of the boat, instead of a back stay there are two strong rubber covered stays running from the mast head, one to each quarter. Off the wind, one of these stays was pressed against the main, creasing its belly

The final problem with the main was that we were never able to close its stack pack. We were able to mash the sail into the stack pack somewhat but not to close it. This was not a problem for us, but it permitted the intense Caribbean sun to gradually destroy the owner's sail. We could never reach the zipper atop the aft end of the boom.

As for the jib, it was a self tacking one as seen in the photo above, like aboard ILENE, but it has no secondary jib sheets to pull the clew forward and down to obtain a better trim downwind. One day the pin in the shackle that attaches the jibsheet/outhaul to the clew of the jib fell out! These things can happen if the rigging is not frequently and closely observed. Fortunately, the pin was captured by the open shackle and did not dive overboard. We were able to furl the sail and tie a line around it (Azurro II had several spare lines; some chartered boats have not an inch of it!) and made the reattachment once on a sheltered mooring. The only mistake in that regard, which we pointed out to the charter company, was that we reattached it 180 degrees wrong, resulting in a twist in the line. Another time we tightened the furling line too tight on the electric winch and got a wrap. What to do? The only thing I could think of was to cut the knot at the top of the furling drum. This shortened the line by five inches, which was immaterial given its extra length.

All told, the boat seemed slow, given the strong winds we had, though on the return we did see a few minutes of 7.4 knots one day. I will attribute some of the slowness to my lack of familiarity with the fine points of sailing a cat.

The charter company twice sent out its contracted mechanic on Union Island, Laurenz.

First to fix the refrigerator door hinge which had been broken off and check the batteries which he said were OK as long as we ran one of the engines two hours twice per day. But it was Bennett who figured out, when despite the solar panels wed had to turn off the refrigerator at night to keep the "low voltage" alarm from buzzing. Lorenz second trip it was to clean the carburetor of the dinghy engine which was shutting itself down at the most inconvenient times.
The company also "ate" the fuel cost, almost $200 US, for 20 gallons, which the charter broker had not told us about. We can't complain about Dream Charters.

OK; but how did the experiment turn out? Well the Admiral's conclusion was "I'd rather be sailing our boat."  I agree and considered that comment to be a successful conclusion of the experiment. Our monohull digs in and heels a bit, but due to its heavy low pendulous keel it then rides through and over the waves rather smoothly. A cat is a big rectangle, 39 feet long and perhaps 24 feet wide. As advertised, even without a keel, a cat does not heel much, due to its huge beam. It can't press its leeward hull down into the water far enough to get much of a heel.

But instead, the waves pick up one corner of the rectangle at a time and then drop that corner to pick up another. So there is considerable irregular random rocking motion, particularly when the wind and waves are abeam. And the helm is much higher than on a sloop; my eyes are maybe 12 feet above the water.

The rocking and rolling is magnified at that height. Another effect of the extra height above sea level of the helmsperson's eyes is to diminish the pleasurable illusion of speed. In not too many other vehicles does going seven knots, about eight miles an hour, feel fast. From the height of the cat it seems less fast at the same speed.