A Cat advice

The only guide to modern multihull sailing that I know of is the French sailing dvd’s:

http://www.multihulls-world.com/us/livres-262-the-catamaran-sailing-dvd.html

there are a few sequences talking with GASHBY and some clips of him on the A-Cat, but I don’t even remember if he gives any real tips. These dvds are applicable to all modern cats, but really not focused on the A-Cat in general.

I plan to re-watch these in about 2 months and I can see how much info is given to the A-Cat.

There are many A-Caters on this message board; you could probably get most questions answered here.

Matt

Try the USACA web site and go thru the blogs. If this doesn't get you anywhere send me a PM and I'll chop out some stuff I've tried to save over time. Ed

... I guess you are from the US? Why not having a look at the United States A-Class Catamaran Association at http://www.usaca.info ?
Have you sailed an A-cat before? I am owning a F18 and bought now an A-cat in addition. It's a pretty different subject - but lots of fun!

Baltic. Do you find that the A Cat improves your steering of the F18? Does the F18 help you in any way to sail ther A Cat better? Ed

Rumor has it that you in fact have one of those three sail thing a ma jig's... True??? (but of course you would only use the one sail yo know and that big pink one in the front!)

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread CC.

Mark, you are correct. The money has been put down. I'm hanging out some laundry this year.

Hmmm HIJACK.... excellent idea!!!

I have some advice:
Remember the rotator needs to be in different positions when sailing downwind vs upwind. Same generally true for downhaul and outhaul. Who knows though.... I could be wrong..
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I never sailed an A cat, but when I came from sloop to uni rig I found you must uncleat 2-3 feet of sheet as you go head to wind. May be different on an A cat because it is so light. 165 lbs vs 340 for my Hobie 17.

Doug

Uncleat ?

YOu cleat the sail upwind ?

Yes you do, BUT when you sail most heavier uni's, as you are sheet in tight going to weather with speed, As you start the tack, the second you go head to wind you MUST uncleat 2-3 feet of sheet and recleat it as you go to the other side and change the tiller or. Then as you go to a reach heading on new tack, SLOWLY begin sheeting in and heading up. If you DON'T you will go into irons. TRUST me I learned this the hard way. A cat my be different because it is so light?

Doug

It was more along the lines that you ever cleat the mainsail upwind. The only time I cleat if I don't have a spare hand while I am doing something else or when the the kite goes up <img src=

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Agree 100% you need to ease some sheet as you tack as the boat will slow down, and the apparent wind is changing.

I think you need to cleat in light to about 15, and sail by the telltales and the feel of the boat. Above 15 I agree or if there are a lot of puffs, but then you should be watching the water and be ready for them. In the light stuff I think it is more important to watch the telltales and the feel of the boat and keep movement and healing to a minimum.

Just my 2 cents,

Doug

Cleats? You got cleats? Isn't that what ratchet blocks are for?

Seriously, some A Cats dont use cleats, more manly.

Never been on an A. Guys around here won't let me try one. Would LOVE too!!

Doug

Doug, you should always be playing the mainsheet when going upwind-don't cleat it. An inch in or an inch out may make a noticable difference. I have my cleat angled so high that it is hard to cleat the sheet, and I only do so when going downwind or tacking. Don't cleat the sheet...

Totally with you on that Trey.

Our Marstrom A-Cat has one of those evil tramp centered main sheets that doesn't even let you cleat for the tacks. You have to hold onto the sheet and stay on the wire until well into the tack before swinging in like tarzan and trying to juggle unhooking, steering, rehooking while not letting the main sheet get away from you. Still a bit of a chinese fire drill for me.

On the F18 we only cleat the main just before tacking.

Chris.

Advice given to me by some sage A-Catters: practice the wild thing when ever possible to improve your technique, but be more conservative when making the transition from mild to wild when racing - they kept repeating 'a good mild is better than a bad wild'.

They don't use spins either, more girly ! <img src=

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Wouter

I have the cleat set up like Trey, sailing out of hand is in my opinion better than cleated which causes you steer more (especially when the breeze is gusty) and that is slow.
Smooth steering is very important. When sailing upwind you should be sheeted in as hard as possible, if you cannot then you do not have enough cunningham on. If you sheet out instead of using the cunningham you will not not be able to point as well as you could. At some point you cannot pull on the cunningham anymore and then you have to sheet out and bring in the rotation. Above 12 knots I have about 30° rotation. If you are racing ALWAYS try and sail in clear air, I would rather have a slightly worse start and have clear air than sit in someones exhaust for 5 minutes till I can finally tack away into clear breeze. Move forward and back on the trapeze to keep the boats trim optimal, I move about 30 to 40cm depending on the wind strength and waves. Downwind in marginal conditions is always difficult.

when in doubt, go deep

. You see people losing a lot of ground trying to go wild when the first boat with a lightweight skipper onboard gets a hull up and everyone else feels the pressure to follow suite. Here is an excellent article by Andrew Landenberger on sail/mast setup and design. I had to read it a few times, but the penny has dropped and it is very good to understand the relationship between mast and sail on an A Cat. http://www.landenberger-sailing.com/spip.php?article21

Good boatspeed will make you look like a tactical genius

regards fron Zurich

Daniel
SUI 198

Spins seem like a vacation cruise compared to the balancing act of the wild thing.

For good basic information, Bob Hodges has written at least one article on A-Cats

With a really bad wild, you are going really fast but you can never make C mark. (from personal experience)

can anyone care to share what a 'wild thing' is/means?
thanks

Ref: http://www.acay.com.au/~gonzo/tornado.htm scroll down to the

Wild thing

header.

Basically it's flying a hull downwind. There is a fine line between going too high and too low.

Wild Thing

is going high to gain speed, as the apparent winds moves forward, you can point lower. The ultimate goal is to be able to gain enough speed that you can point as low as you were pointing before heading up to gain speed. So... same angle, faster boat speed.

CC, some possibly useful articles linked to on our web site:-

http://www.mumblesyachtclub.co.uk/racing_articles.php

Here are some nice video shots of

wild thinging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhlC4QvpQhs

Daniel

Glenn HASHBY!!!!!?????? <img src=

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