Another reason to keep on shunting, Ben, is to keep the open part of the saloon dry when it is raining. This is an interesting feature sailing in a region like the lowlands with an average of close to 10% chance of rain.

Luc

--- In harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au, "bjarthur123" <bjarthur123@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> my original motivation to suggest tacking and gybing was not that shunting is hard, but rather that i think shunting would be slower. correct me if i'm wrong here-- VMG is NEGATIVE during a shunt, no? that's not the case with tacking/gybing, unless you go into irons of course.
>
> my tacking experience with catamarans is that ones that go to weather well rarely get into irons. seems to me then if one designed a proa that optimized windward ability, then getting into irons wouldn't be a problem, and so tacking would be faster than shunting.
>
> moreover, windward ability aligns well with my taste in boating: going downwind is much more pleasant than going upwind. trading downwind performance for upwind performance during the design process means you'll minimize the unpleasant TIME (not distance) spent going upwind on a roundtrip course. plus the safety benefit of getting away from lee shores.
>