Cool. That looks like you could make pretty good progress with a
person on each hull, at least in light winds.
At 14 m and 5,000 kg, that's a pretty light catamaran.
Though I'll bet they'd rather be rowing a Visionarry Sport with
its lower windage, 15m length, and 2,200 to 3,700 kg weight (can't
tell if Big Wave Rider's displacement is lightship or not).
Right now I'm in the middle of building a 26' St. Pierre plywood
dory, and you can bet it will have a stowable rig and oars with
oarlocks. Maybe it won't be a speed demon, but it's always nice to
have options when the motor quits. Or if the motor and wind both
decide take a vacation at the same time.
- Mike
on 1:47 of the video on http://www.threepeaks.org.au/ shows for a sec large catamaran rowing standing up. Luc
--- In harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au, Mike Crawford <mcrawf@...> wrote:
>
>
> I got a Norseboat 17 for just those reasons. Two good oars, a nice
> rig with a good SA/D, salty lines, and a mast I can raise and lower on
> the water (or at least drop the mainsail into the cockpit simply by
> releasing two halyards).
>
> Who needs an outboard!
>
> Then:
>
> 1) I had to row into 25 knots of wind when I found I couldn't make any
> headway or tack because the former owner had raked the centerboard back,
> moving the CLR so far aft that the boat wouldn't come about (I found
> this out a few weeks later). The only thing that saved me was a meager
> trolling motor built into the early models. That plus frenzied rowing.
>
> 2) Five miles out the wind died earlier than usual, and earlier than
> predicted, and I had to row against the ebb tide for over two hours.
>
> 3) When going out to meet my wife on an island, I had to head out
> against six knots of wind and 1 1/2 knots of tide coming in to the
> inlet. With the rig up, the 17'-er could only make about 50' to 100'
> per tack across the 1/4-mile inlet. There wasn't enough flow over the
> centerboard to make a good foil to resist leeway, particularly because
> most of the wind was up high and the sail wasn't. But with the sail
> down, there was so much windage that, going against the current and the
> wind, I made 1' to 2' per stroke. It took me all afternoon to get out
> there.
>
>
> There's something to be said for being able to pull a cord and just
> get home if the wind or the tide would make skulling either difficult or
> impossible. Or alternately, for arriving back at the mooring without
> being covered with sweat and mosquitoes. Not that one wouldn't want a
> redundant human-powered alternative.
>
> Granted, I've got a current in my harbor, and a long way out to open
> water, so I'm biased. But I've still grown to appreciate not having to
> power a craft on my own.
>
> - Mike
>
>