Catamarans for Sale

Catamarans: everything you need to know

Catamarans are boats and yachts (propulsion by wind power, rarely engine only) with two hulls aligned in parallel. Both hulls are firmly connected to each other by cross beams and/or a bridge deck. Because of the low water resistance of the hulls, sailing catamarans (cats) are 100 percent faster or more than monohulls on broad reaches.

What is a catamaran?

Sailing catamarans – sailboats with two parallel hulls connected by cross beams – have been sailed for thousands of years. Polynesian peoples such as the Maori in particular used ocean-going twin-hull boats to explore and settle Pacific island groups that were sometimes thousands of nautical miles apart. In Indian and Indonesian waters, too, catamarans or similar boats (outrigger canoes) have always been sailed for fishing or for shorter trips between islands or along the coasts.
In Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, the catamaran principle only established itself as a boat type suitable for racing and cruising around the middle of the 20th century. Small beach catamarans (boats that can be pulled up onto the beach) such as Hobie Cats, whose speed – and therefore fun and sporting potential – soon won over many sailors, have shaped the following generations of water sports enthusiasts with their twin-hull principle ever since.

Two hulls, many types

Today, catamarans can be found in almost every sailboat category, from the fun inflatable boat catamaran to so-called Olympic catamarans (currently the foiling Nacra 17, which has replaced the Tornado on Olympic triangular courses), cruising catamarans in all sizes, equipment levels and performance classes, right through to offshore catamarans built exclusively for record attempts.
The most recent catamaran highlight came in 2006, when Bruno Peyron set the 24-hour world record of 628.5 nautical miles aboard the 37 m cat Orange II. Trimarans (three-hull boats) have since replaced catamarans as record chasers. Catamarans have also caused a stir several times in the America's Cup.

The cruising catamaran

Cruising catamarans are considered safe sailing yachts that stay relatively calm in a seaway and offer comparatively high speed potential. They usually provide significantly more space than monohull yachts of the same length: on the bridge deck – which generally extends across almost the entire beam of what is already a wide boat – relatively large areas are often habitable, sometimes spread over two levels (saloon, galley). In addition, the hulls of cruising catamarans can usually also be used as living or storage space, despite their proportionally narrow dimensions. They often house heads or cabins.

Sailing characteristics

Because of their usually very shallow draft, catamarans point relatively poorly upwind compared with a monohull boat. However, the boats (more than) make up for this with significantly higher speeds.

Racing and record-breaking catamarans are pushed to higher speeds by their skippers or helmsmen lifting the windward hull out of the water. In doing so, however, the catamaran can capsize. From a boat length of about seven meters, righting a catamaran without outside help (crane systems on specialized salvage boats) is barely possible.
Cruising catamarans almost never capsize, as they usually keep both hulls in the water.

The characteristics of a catamaran

• Two hulls mean less wetted hull surface combined with a relatively high sail area-to-displacement ratio = speed!
• Smaller beach catamarans stand out for their sporty pace. Their skippers need to be in good shape!
• Catamarans in development classes (such as the A-Cat) have always been pioneers in sailing technology.
• Cruising catamarans offer relatively generous space and safe, level sailing, even in a seaway (down with seasickness!)
• Together with trimarans, catamarans offer the theoretically and practically fastest way to move on and above the water.

Catamarans with foils

For several years now, some sport catamarans have been lifting not only the windward hull but also the leeward hull «above» the surface of the water. This has been made possible by the rapid technical development of foils. Foils are a kind of curved daggerboard that lifts the boat above a certain speed and lets both hulls «fly» above the surface of the water.

In principle, catamarans are handled differently from monohulls. If you are switching over – whether you race or cruise – it is a good idea to take appropriate skipper or helmsman training.