a recommendation from someone who had. She turned out to be useful 

 chiefly as a swimming float which moved slowly under favorable condi- 

 tions and which my daughters enjoyed more than I did. Her centerboard 

 box between the hulls dragged; her hulls were too wide and had square 

 sections which neither sliced well through the water nor planed; she was 

 too heavy and while we didn't engage in formal races, every boat we met 

 beat us. Once, a borrowing friend tipped her over. I was lucky to sell her at 

 not too big a loss and fortunately haven't seen since the man who bought 

 her. So I learned that there is also a wrong kind of catamaran. 



I have been told, on excellent authority, of at least seven catamaran 

 classes which have not been successful. The margin between success and 

 failure in catamaran design is sometimes a narrow one. To quote an article 

 in Tiger Tails, official publication of the Tiger Cat Association: "All good 

 catamarans satisfy all five of these basic requirements : ( i ) Proper hull 

 shape; (2) proper size; (3) proper lateral plane; (4) proper sailpower; 

 (5) light weight. Fail to satisfy any one of these requirements, and you'll 

 have a 'dog' instead of a 'cat.'" 



A great deal has been learned about catamarans since my experience 

 in 1950. Apparently, I had the right idea but the wrong boat. As Bob 

 Bavier pointed out in Yachting (May 1959), properly designed catamarans 

 have some points in common with the fastest of the single-hull planing 

 types. These include particularly the following: 



( 1 ) Narrow hull. The two types of boats which made the best showing 

 against the catamarans in the One-of-a-Kind Regatta were the International 

 Decked Sailing Canoe and the Inland Lake Scows. The former has a very 

 narrow hull which is kept upright by the man on the sliding seat. The scows 

 have in effect a narrow hull when they heel. 



(2) Power. The catamarans, sailing canoes, and scows all acquire power 

 by enabling the crew to get up to windward and hold the sails up to the 

 wind. So does a planing hull with a man on the (ffying) trapeze. 



(3) J^ight weight. A common characteristic of most of the fastest boats, 

 catamarans and otherwise, is their light weight. 



Carleton Mitchell describes so well why catamarans suddenly began to 

 "click" that I should like to quote from some of his remarks* made shortly 

 after the One-of-a-Kind Regatta: 



"If there is a secret to the sudden transformation of this ancient type into 

 an unbeatable craft both to windward and leeward, it probably lies in the 

 combination of lighter weight and improved stability, lessened wetted sur- 

 face, and the ability to add lateral plane by means of centerboards. This, 

 plus rigs and sails almost aerodynamically perfect, including pivoted alumi- 



"* "The Cat Leads a Revolution," by Carleton Mitchell, Sports Illustrated, March 9, 1959. 



INTRODUCTION 3OI 



