SAILING WHARRAM CATAMARANS IN SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS

[Don Brazier]

Hi Everyone

I have written an article about handling Wharram Catamarans in severe weather conditions. The article covers such techniques as running off, towing drogues, lying a hull, heaving to, and lying to a parachute sea anchor. It provides examples of a number of Wharram sailors experiences. 

I have learnt much from this research and hope that it will be a catalyst for further discussion on this forum so that we can all continue to benefit from others experiences. 

I would like to thank all those who have contributed. 

The article is published online and can be viewed here.

Don Brazier

New Zealand Wharram Agent

[Robert Hughes]

A very interesting piece of work.  Thanks for sharing it with us!

[kim whitmyre]

Don,

Thanks for your efforts; I definitely don't want to re-invent the "wheel" should I ever find myself in 50' seas! ;~)

[paul anderson]

Why thank you Don. A lot of work and a great resource.

[Demi & Dirk]

A second yacht (First 40.7) capsized at crossing the Atlantic back to Europe, last week:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/18/four-british-yachtsm...

All the best wishes to APATIKI

Demi&Dirk

[Marty Peters]

Fantastic article, thanks for doing the research and sharing this.
I can definitely relate to stopping the boat from surfing, it can be exhilarating if under control, but my experience is that it can get out of hand very quickly with the boat accelerating to crazy speeds if not careful. While sailing from cabadelo in brazil to Tobago we experienced many days of wind speeds in excess of 35-40 knots and waves/ swells of 4-6m with quite steep faces. It was mostly downwind with seas on the stbd quarter and at times boat speeds were greater than 12-14 knots when surfing. We felt the wind was manageable but it's then the combination of fast boat speed and the big waves and swells that get you as the boat just picks up on the waves and takes off.. The acceleration is unbelievable. We reduced sail until bare poles and this slowed us to 4-6 knots and was very comfortable, next stage would have been to deploy drougue lines, then parachute anchor but it never came to that as we had plenty of sea room and we were easily able to stear our intended course on autopilot.

Good luck to Apatiki on your crossing, seems there has been quite a few incidents on this route so far this year, so stay safe and best wishes from Spiral Tribe.

[Stewart Coates]

Hi Don, we haven't met but I wanted to thank you for compiling this awesome, free, publication. It played a part of my involvement with the Tiki 38 Luckyfish and continues to inspire other Wharram wannabees. Thanks !