num masts, luffspars on jibs, and full-length main battens, all adds up to 

 speed. 



"But cats do not plane' by getting on top of the water in the same sense 

 as planing monohuUs. They lack the supporting surface of beam and flat 

 hull sections. Thus there is no 'hump speed' where the boat's own bow wave 

 must be surmounted. Instead, they are more like destroyers, very narrow in 

 relation to their length, consequently easily driven and of low wave-making 

 resistance. 



"How fast will catamarans sail, and how may they be rated in competition 

 against conventional craft? There seems little doubt that a good cat under 

 favorable conditions can travel at approximately five times the square root 

 of her waterline length, as opposed to about 1.3 in a displacement hull. In 

 other words, a 16-foot catamaran should be capable of sailing at 20 knots. 

 At the same time, a nonplaning boat of the same size would be plugging 

 along at 5.2 knots. Thus, even adding the length of the two hulls together 

 and caUing a 20-foot cat 40 feet long for rating purposes would not over- 

 come the difference in speed, lending some credence to the remark of an 

 enthusiast: 'You can't establish a formula to match an oxcart and a Ferrari. 

 Cats will have to race as a separate class.' 



"The regatta did not prove all catamaran designers had achieved the 

 breakthrough, and there is danger the market will be flooded with basically 

 bad boats, both sail and power. As Roland Prout has written, 'There is more 

 to catamaran design than twin hulls.' This was proved in the majority of 

 races, when the catamarans divided into two widely separated groups, so far 

 apart it was hard to believe they had started together. Of eight twin-hulled 

 craft, four were consistently in the leading division; the remaining four were 

 mostly back in the ruck. . . . 



"No one who watched catamarans knifing through Biscayne Bay will 

 question that sailing one is the nearest earthbound approach to jet flying- 

 silent, responsive to the touch and with a feeling of exhilaration only the 

 sensation of extreme speed can bring. A new dimension has been added to 

 small-boating." 



Since the One-of-a-Kind Regatta, racing by catamaran classes and be- 

 tween catamarans of different , types has developed rapidly. For instance, 

 we have seen a 1962 "Catamaran Racing Schedule for the Eastern Part of 

 North America" which lists sixteen events from May to September and from 

 Quincy Bay, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C.— plus a regatta on Lake 

 St. Louis, in Quebec, Canada. A North American Catamaran Championship 

 (300 sq. ft. sail area) was scheduled for August 19-21 at the Beverly Yacht 

 Club (Marion, Mass.), to be followed by "Trials for the British Challenge 

 Re-Match (300 sq. ft. S.A.)." The catamarans have arrived. 



302 INTRODUCTION 



