Catamaran - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A catamaran is a type of multihull

Multihull

A multihull is a ship, vessel, craft or boat with more than one hull.-Description:Multihulls include: Proas, which have two differently shaped or sized hulls with lateral symmetry; catamarans, which have two hulls with longitudinal symmetry; and trimarans, which have a main hull in the center and...

ed boat or ship consisting of two hull

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

s, or vaka

Vaka (sailing)

The vaka is the main hull of a multihull vessel.-Origin and use of the term:The term vaka is used in the Polynesian, Malay and Micronesian languages for a 'canoe', 'ship' or 'boat.' Other parts of a traditional vaka can include the aka and ama .A proa consists of a vaka, the main canoe-like...

s, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of aka

Aka (sailing)

The aka of a multihull sailboat is a member of the framework that connects the hull to the ama . The term aka originated with the proa, but is also applied to modern trimarans....

s. Catamarans can be sail- or engine-powered.

Catamarans are a relatively recent introduction to the design of boats for both leisure and sport sailing, although they have been used since time immemorial among the paravas

Paravas

Parava or Paravar , also known as Parathavar , Bharathar , Bharathakula Pandyar or Bharathakula Kshathriyar is a caste in southern India that in ancient times were subordinate Tamil chiefs and coastal fishermen, as well as, according at least to one modern writer, "ferocious...

, a fishing community in the southern coast of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India, and independently in Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

, where Polynesian

Polynesian culture

Polynesian culture refers to the indigenous peoples' culture of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. Chronologically, the development of Polynesian culture can be divided into four different historical eras:...

catamarans and outrigger canoe

Outrigger canoe

The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull...

s allowed seafaring Polynesians

Polynesians

The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...

to settle the world's most far-flung islands.

In recreational sailing, catamarans, and multihulls in general, had been met by a degree of skepticism from Western sailors accustomed to more "traditional" monohull

Monohull

rightA monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another.-Fundamental concept:...

designs, mainly because multihulls were based on, to them, completely alien and strange concepts, with balance based on geometry rather than weight distribution. However, the catamaran has arguably become the best design for fast ferries, because their speed, stability and large capacity are valuable.

Multihull component terms

There are three terms that describe the components of modern multihulls. The term vaka, like the related terms aka and ama

Ama (sailing)

The term ama is a word in the Polynesian and Micronesian languages to describe the outrigger part of a canoe to provide stability. Today, among the various Polynesian countries, the word ama is often used together with the word vaka or waka or va'a , cognate words in various Polynesian languages...

, come from the Malay

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

and Micronesian language group

Malayo-Polynesian languages

The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. These are widely dispersed throughout the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia...

terms for parts of the outrigger canoe

Outrigger canoe

The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull...

, and vaka can be roughly translated as canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

or main hull.

Aka
Aka (sailing)
The aka of a multihull sailboat is a member of the framework that connects the hull to the ama . The term aka originated with the proa, but is also applied to modern trimarans....

– The aka of a multihull sailboat is a member of the framework that connects the hull to the ama(s) (outrigger). The term aka originated with the proa, but is also applied to modern trimarans.
Ama
Ama (sailing)
The term ama is a word in the Polynesian and Micronesian languages to describe the outrigger part of a canoe to provide stability. Today, among the various Polynesian countries, the word ama is often used together with the word vaka or waka or va'a , cognate words in various Polynesian languages...

– The term ama comes from the proa. The vaka
Vaka (sailing)
The vaka is the main hull of a multihull vessel.-Origin and use of the term:The term vaka is used in the Polynesian, Malay and Micronesian languages for a 'canoe', 'ship' or 'boat.' Other parts of a traditional vaka can include the aka and ama .A proa consists of a vaka, the main canoe-like...

is the main hull, the ama is the outrigger, and the aka or iako (Hawaiian) is the support connecting the two (not three) hulls. The term ama and aka have been widely applied to modern trimarans.
Vaka
Vaka (sailing)
The vaka is the main hull of a multihull vessel.-Origin and use of the term:The term vaka is used in the Polynesian, Malay and Micronesian languages for a 'canoe', 'ship' or 'boat.' Other parts of a traditional vaka can include the aka and ama .A proa consists of a vaka, the main canoe-like...

– A proa
Proa
A proa, also seen as prau, perahu, and prahu, is a type of multihull sailing vessel.While the word perahu and proa are generic terms meaning boat their native language, proa in Western languages has come to describe a vessel consisting of two unequal length parallel hulls...

consists of a vaka, the main canoe-like hull; an ama, the outrigger; and akas, the poles connecting the ama to the vaka.

Catamarans and trimaran
Trimaran
A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...

s share the same terminology, with a vaka, ama, and aka.

Semantically, the catamaran is a pair of Vaka held together by Aka, whereas the trimaran

Trimaran

A trimaran is a multihulled boat consisting of a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls , attached to the main hull with lateral struts...

is a central Vaka, with Ama on each side, attached by Aka.

The above section reflects American usage. In the UK these terms are seldom used.

In Hawaiian the main difference is the main hull or canoe is a Wa'a pronounced like va ah. There is no plural in Hawaiian and so a double canoe, or two canoes joined together by Aka is a Wa'a Wa'a. An area in lower Puna

Puna, Hawaii

Puna is one of the nine districts in Hawaii County, Big Island, Hawaii. The District of Puna is located on the easternmost portion of the island and shares borders to the north with the District of South Hilo and a border to the west with the District of Kaū...

is called Wa'a Wa'a. A comprehensive list of Hawaiian words for a boat is published by the Polynesian Voyaging Society

Polynesian Voyaging Society

The Polynesian Voyaging Society is a non-profit research and educational corporation based in Honolulu, Hawaii. PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging methods...

History

The larger Hellenistic polyremes ("sixteens", "twenties", "thirties" and one "forty") were most likely double-hulled catamarans. Two such super-galleys built by the Ptolemaic

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...

king Ptolemy IV (221–205 BC) have come down to us by name, the Thalamegos
Thalamegos
Thalamegos was a , high, two-story Nile river palace barge. The huge twin-hulled catamaran was commissioned by Hellenistic king Ptolemy IV Philopator for himself and his wife Arsinoe III ca. 200 BCE....

and the Tessarakonteres
Tessarakonteres
The tessarakonteres , or simply "forty" was a very large galley built in the Hellenistic period. The name "forty" refers to the number of rowers on each column of oars that propelled it...

. Catamarans were also used by Greeks engineers under Ptolemy II (283–246 BC) as obelisk carriers:
Early modern Europe

Early modern Europe

Early modern Europe is the term used by historians to refer to a period in the history of Europe which spanned the centuries between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century...

's first documented catamaran was designed by the polymath and Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

member William Petty

William Petty

Sir William Petty FRS was an English economist, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to survey the land that was to be confiscated and given to Cromwell's soldiers...

in 1662. It was designed to sail faster, in shallower waters, with less wind & crew than other vessels of the time, but the unusual design met with scepticism and was not a commercial success.

While the English adventurer and buccaneer

Buccaneer

The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...

William Dampier

William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...

was traveling around the world in search of business opportunities, he found himself on the southeastern coast of India, in Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...

. He was the first to write in English about a kind of vessel he observed there. It was little more than a raft

Raft

A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull...

made of logs.

The vessels described by Dampier are still in use today on the coast of Tamil Nadu, in Southeastern India. "kattu maram", as noted in the Preview of this article, literally means logs tied together. Today's kattumarams may have up to four logs tied together in a shallow arc to make a raft. The logs are usually from a local, fibrous palm tree. Typically the raft is untied and logs are scattered to dry out before reuse.

Although the name came from Tamil, the modern catamaran came from the South Pacific

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

. English visitors applied the Tamil name catamaran to the swift, stable sail and paddle boats made out of two widely separated logs and used by Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

n natives to get from one island to another.

The design remained relatively unknown in the West for almost another 200 years, until an American, Nathanael Herreshoff

Nathanael Herreshoff

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff I , was an American naval architect-mechanical engineer. "Captain Nat," as he was known, revolutionized yacht design, and produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893–1920....

, began to build catamaran boats of his own design in 1877 (US Pat. No. 189,459), namely 'Amaryllis', which immediately showed her superior performance capabilities, at her maiden regatta (The Centennial Regatta held on June 22, 1876, off the New York Yacht Club's Staten Island station). It was this same event, after being protested by the losers, where Catamarans, as a design, were barred from all the regular classes and they remained barred until the 1970s.

This ban relegated the catamaran to being a mere novelty boat design until 1947. In 1947, surfing legend, Woodbridge "Woody" Brown

Woody Brown (surfer and catamaran inventor)

Woody "Spider" Brown was a surfer and designer notable for introducing modern surfing to America and for the invention of the modern catamaran.-Early life:...

and Alfred Kumalae designed and built the first modern ocean-going catamaran, Manu Kai, in Hawaii. Their young assistant was Rudy Choy, who later founded the design firm Choy/Seaman/Kumalae (C/S/K, 1957) and became a fountainhead for the catamaran movement. The Prout Brothers, Roland and Francis, experimented with catamarans in 1949 and converted their 1935 boat factory in Canvey Island

Canvey Island

Canvey Island is a civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary in England. It is separated from the mainland of south Essex by a network of creeks...

, Essex (England), to catamaran production in 1954. Their Shearwater catamarans won races easily against the monohulls.

The speed and stability of these catamarans soon made them a popular pleasure craft, with their popularity really taking off in Europe, and was followed soon thereafter in America. Currently, most individually owned catamarans are built in France, South Africa, and Australia.

In the mid-twentieth century, the catamaran inspired an even more popular sailboat, the Beach Cat. In California, a maker of surfboard

Surfboard

A surfboard is an elongated platform used in the sport of surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding a breaking wave...

s, Hobie Alter produced the 250-pound Hobie Cat 14

Hobie cat

A Hobie Cat is a small sailing catamaran manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company. Begun as a manufacturer of surf boards in the late 1950s, Hobie began manufacturing catamaran sailboats in the late 1960s and has become the largest manufacturer of small catamarans in the world...

in 1967, and two years later the larger and even more successful Hobie 16

Hobie 16

See Also: Hobie 16 subsection of Hobie cat entryThe ISAF International Class Hobie 16 is a popular catamaran manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company for racing and day sailing...

. That boat remains in production, with more than 100,000 made in the past three decades.

The Tornado catamaran

Tornado (sailboat)

The Tornado is an two person multihull class recognised as an International Class by the International Sailing Federation. It was used for the Olympic Catamaran discpline for over 30 years.-Background:...

was an Olympic class sailing catamaran, with a crew of two. It has been in the Olympic Games since 1976. It was designed in 1967 by Rodney March of Brightlingsea, England, with help from Terry Pierce, and Reg White, specifically for the purpose of becoming the Olympic catamaran. At the IYRU Olympic Catamaran Trials, it easily defeated the other challengers.

Other important builders of catamarans are Austal and Incat

International Catamarans

Incat is a manufacturer of large HSC catamarans, based in the Derwent Park suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia founded by Bob Clifford. The company builds large commercial and military vessels that use aluminium construction, wave-piercing and water-jet technology...

, both of Australia and best known for building large catamarans both as civilian ferries

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

and as naval

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

vessels.

Variations

Two main types of catamaran exist: the regular catamaran and the open catamaran, which features a trampoline between the hulls instead of plating.

The normal catamaran multihull, powered or not, consists of two Amas separated by two Akas, which may suspend a platform or trampoline between them. They can be of various sizes and recently, have become very large.

Pontoon boat or hydroairy ship

The hydroairy ship appears to be nothing more than an upgraded and enlarged pontoon boat

Pontoon (boat)

A pontoon is a flotation device with buoyancy sufficient to float itself as well as a heavy load. A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on pontoons to float. Pontoons may be used on boats, rafts, barges, docks, floatplanes or seaplanes. Pontoons may support a platform, creating a raft. A...

with a formed and shaped underplatform. The general architecture is identical, consisting of two flotation chambers, for the Ama

Ama (sailing)

s, joined by a load carrying platform, which carries the superstructure.

Invented in 1952 by a Minnesota farmer, in the rural town of Richmond, MN. Ambrose Weeres had an idea that if you put a wooden deck on top of two columns of steel barrels welded together end to end, you would have a sturdy deck that would be more stable on a lake than a conventional boat. This was Ambrose Weeres, walking the same idea paths as the early Polynesians, while proving that the ideas behind the multihull

Multihull

are not all that counter-intuitive.

These sorts of boats are cheap and easy to make, require no ballast, and thus have good performance. Although this design is almost exclusively restricted to power boats, it is still essentially a catamaran. No displacement is lost towards ballast, therefore yielding huge operational efficiencies.

SWATH

The Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) is a hull form used for vessels that require a ship of a certain size to handle in rough seas as well as a much larger vessel. An added benefit is a high proportion of deck area for their displacement—in other words, large without being heavy. The SWATH form was invented by Canadian Frederick G. Creed

Frederick G. Creed

Frederick George Creed was a Canadian inventor, who worked in the field of telecommunications, and played an early role in the development of SWATH vessels, The CCGS Frederick G...

, who presented his idea in 1938 and was later awarded a British patent for it in 1946. It was first used in the 1960s and 1970s as an evolution of catamaran design for use as oceanographic research vessels or submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

rescue ships.

Catamarans provide large, broad decks, but have much higher water resistance than monohulls of comparable size . To reduce some of that resistance (the part that generates waves), as much displacement volume as possible is moved to the lower hull and the waterline cross-section is narrowed sharply, creating the distinctive pair of bulbous hulls below the waterline and the narrow struts supporting the upper hull. This design means that the ship's floatation runs mostly under the waves, like a submarine (the smooth ride of a sub was the inspiration for the design). The result is that a fairly small ship can run very steadily in rough seas. A 50-meter ship can operate at near full power in nearly any direction in waves as high as 12 meters

The S.W.A.T.H. theory was further developed by Dr Thomas G. Lang, inventor of improvements to the semi-submerged ship (S3) in about 1968. Basically, a SWATH vessel consists of two parallel torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

like hulls attached to which are two or more streamlined struts which pierce the water surface and support an above water platform. The US Navy commissioned the construction of a SWATH ship called the 'Kaimalino' to prove the theory as part of their ship research program. The Kaimalino has been operating successfully in the rough seas off the Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an islands since 1975.

Catamaran Sailing

Small recreational catamarans are typically designed to be launched and landed from a beach. They will come to rest on their keels without heeling over like a monohull. Additionally, their rudders can be retracted to the depth of their keels, which protects the fragile rudders from damage when the vessel is run aground.

Larger Catamarans make good cruising and long distance boats: The Race

The Race (yachting race)

The Race was a round-the-world sailing race starting in Barcelona, Spain on December 31, 2000. It was the first ever non-stop, no-rules, no-limits, round-the-world sailing event, with a $2 million US prize...

(around the world, in 2001) was won by the giant catamaran Club Med skippered by Grant Dalton

Grant Dalton

-Background:Grant Dalton is a professional sailor who started sailing at the age 8 in the P Class and soon started racing as a member of Maraeti Beach Boating Club...

. It went round the earth in 62 days at an average speed of eighteen knots.

Although the principles of sailing are the same for both catamarans and monohulls, there are some "peculiarities" to sailing catamarans. For example:

Catamarans can be harder to tack
Tack (sailing)
Tack is a term used in sailing that has different meanings in different contexts, variously a part of a sail, and an alignment with the wind. When using the latter sense, the maneuver of turning between starboard and port tack is either tacking or jibing....

if they don't have dagger boards or centre boards. All sailboats must resist lateral movement in order to sail in directions other than downwind
Points of sail
Points of sail describes a sailing boat's course in relation to the wind direction.There is a distinction between the port tack and the starboard tack. If the wind is coming from anywhere on the port side, the boat is on port tack. Likewise if the wind is coming from the starboard side, the boat...

and they do this by either the hull itself or else dagger boards or centre boards. Also, because catamarans are lighter in proportion to their sail size, they have less momentum to carry them through the turn when they are head to wind. Correct use of the jib sail (back-filling the jib to pull the bow around) is often essential in successfully completing a tack without ending up stuck in irons (pointing dead into the wind and sailing backwards, see: No-Go Zone).
They have a higher speed than monohulls of the same size due to the more needle-like hull shape having reduced hydrodynamic drag.
Catamarans are slower turning than monohulls as hull spacing is increased and hulls are narrowed to a more needle like shape.
Catamarans are less likely to capsize in the classic "beam-wise" manner but often have a tendency to pitchpole instead—where the leeward (downwind) bow sinks into the water and the boat 'trips' over forward, leading to a capsize. Other sources state that trimarans are more prone to "pitchpole", while catamarans can flip sideways. Either way, it is caused by sail overpowering (and not moving weight aft fast enough for smaller vessels). "Trim a monohull for the lull, ride the puff; trim a multihull for the puff, wait the lull"

Teaching for new sailors is usually carried out in monohulls as they are thought easier to learn to sail, a mixture of all the differences mentioned probably contributes to this.

Catamarans, and multihulls in general, are normally faster than single-hull boats for four reasons:

The major increase in speed over a monohull is due to the hull shape. A monohull with a traditional displacement hull has a quickly building hydrodynamic drag barrier which set the theoretical hull speed
Hull speed
Hull speed, sometimes referred to as displacement speed, is the speed of a boat at which the bow and stern waves interfere constructively, creating relatively large waves, and thus a relatively large value of wave drag...

based on square root of "length at waterline". Catamarans make use of needle like hulls which significantly reduce this source of friction.
Catamarans are typically lighter and thus have less displacement and drag. This is because they don't require a keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

counterweight since righting moment is derived from the spacing between multiple hulls.
Catamarans have a wider beam (the distance from one side of the boat to the other), which makes them more stable and therefore able to carry more sail area per unit of length than an equivalent monohull.
The greater stability means that the sail is more likely to stay upright in a gust, drawing more power than a monohull's sail which is more likely to heel (lean) over.

A catamaran is most likely to achieve its maximum speed when its forward motion is not unduly disturbed by wave action. This is achieved in waters where the wavelength of the waves is somewhat greater than the waterline length of the hulls, or it is achieved by the design piercing the waves. In either case pitching (rocking horse-like motion) is reduced. This has led to it being said that catamarans are especially favourable in coastal waters, where the often sheltered waters permit the boat to reach and maintain its maximum speed.

An example of a off the beach catamaran is the Australian designed Paper Tiger Catamaran

Paper Tiger (yacht)

The Paper Tiger catamaran is a class of yacht. There are Paper Tiger fleets around Australia and New Zealand. Regular State, National and International Championships are conducted.-Specifications:...

Passenger transport

An increasing trend is the deployment of a catamaran as a high speed ferry

Ferry

. The use of catamaran for high speed passenger transport was pioneered by Westermoen Hydrofoil

Westermoen Hydrofoil

Westermoen Hydrofoil was a shipyard located in Mandal, Norway, who has specialized in high speed craft, and pioneered many designs.The yard was established in 1961 by Toralf Westermoen, who had also started Westermoen Båtbyggeri og Mek Verksted...

in Mandal, Norway, who launched the Westamaran
Westamaran
The Westamaran is a pioneer type of passenger transport high speed catamarans developed by Westermoen Hydrofoil in 1973. The craft was highly successful, and introduced a new era of passenger transport along the Norwegian coast and elsewhere....

design in 1973. The Westamarans, and later designs, some of them consisting of a catamaran hull resting on an air cushion between the hulls, became dominant for all high speed connections along the Norwegian coast. They could achieve speeds comparable to the hydrofoil

Hydrofoil

A hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...

s that it replaced, and was much more tolerant of foul water and wave conditions.

The High-speed Stena HSS is the world's largest fast ferry, traveling at a speed of 46 mph, although it is capable of doing over 70 mph.

There is a list of catamaran ferry routes documenting the growing number of routes.

Powered catamarans

A recent development in catamaran design has been the introduction of the power catamaran. The 'power' version incorporates the best features of a motor yacht and combines it with the characteristics of a multihull.

Usually, the power catamaran is devoid of any sailing apparatus as demonstrated by one of the top-selling models in the United States, the Lagoon Power 43.
This vessel has now been introduced to a number of charter fleets in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean and is becoming an increasingly common sight.

Smaller powered catamarans are becoming quite common in the United States with several manufacturers producing quality boats. A small "cat" will almost certainly have 2 engines while a similar sized mono-hull would only one engine. All mid-size and larger cats will have 2 engines.

The Swiss-registered catamaran Tûranor PlanetSolar

Tûranor PlanetSolar

Tûranor PlanetSolar, also known under the project name PlanetSolar, is an entirely solar powered boat that was launched on 31 March 2010. It was built by Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel, Germany, and was designed by LOMOcean Design, formerly known as Craig Loomes Design Group Ltd....

which was launched in March 2010, is the world's largests solar powered boat and is planned to circumnavigate

Circumnavigation

Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...

the globe.

Cruising sail cats

Below a minimum size, about 8 m (24 ft), the catamaran's hulls do not have enough volume to allow them to be used as living space. At the same time, the bridgedeck area isn't sufficiently sized to make effective live-aboard space either.

There are a lot of folks doing long-distance offshore cruising in monohull yachts of 9m (30 ft) and less. No responsible designer or multihull sailor would recommend this for a multihull. 12m (40 ft) is the minimum recommended LOA and 15m (50 ft) is preferred. This size allows adequate storage for necessary cruising equipment and still give you a good turn of speed in comfort and safety. ... If 15m (50 ft) sounds enormous, remember that the weight of a multihull, of this length, is probably not much more than half the weight of a monohull of the same length and it can be sailed with less crew effort.

While more popular in Europe and Australia, they are gaining popularity in the US as well. These boats can maintain a comfortable 300 nmpd (nautical miles per day) passage, with the racing versions recording well over 400 nmpd. In addition, they don't heel more than 10-12 degrees, even at full speed on a reach.

Catamaran Kits

One factor following the rise of popularity in Catamarans is the popularity of catamaran "kits". Most popular are materials such as woven fibreglass fabrics and foam, balsa or paper-honeycomb cores. These materials are pressed to create "panels" which are then often cut to specific shapes and parts for construction by amateurs or professionals.

Mega catamarans

One of the biggest developments over the last decade in the yachting arena has been the rise of the super catamaran: a multihull over 100 feet in length.

Various international manufacturers are leading the way in this area including Incat

INCAT

INCAT is a part of Tata Technologies Limited, a company in the Tata Group and operates in the field of Automotive Industry providing Engineering and Design solutions. The company took over a much larger player in the field namely INCAT, a Europe based company, in 2005...

, Blubay, Yapluka, Blue Coast Yachts, Sunreef Yachts, Lagoon and Privilege. Allures, a yacht-catamaran of more than 100 feet was launched in 2007 at Blubay Yachts, France and refitted by Coste Design&Partners. A catamaran of 150 feet in length is under construction at Derektor shipyards in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Coste Design&Partners are preparing a power yacht-catamaran of 203 feet. This project called Event Cat will be a luxury yacht dedicated to corporate and private events. Coste Design&Partners and the designer Jean-Jacques Coste are working on a full range of yachts-catamarans between 80 and more than 200 feet in length.

The emergence of the super or mega catamaran is a relatively new event akin to the rise of the mega or super yacht, used to describe the huge growth in luxurious, large motor yachts on the French Riviera and Floridian Coast.

One of the reasons for increased mega catamaran construction was "The Race

The Race (yachting race)

", a circumnavigation challenge which departed from Barcelona, Spain, on New Year's Eve, 2000. Because of the prize money and prestige associated with this event, four new catamarans (and two highly modified ones) over 100' in length were built to compete. The largest, "PlayStation"

Playstation (yacht)

PlayStation is one of several large catamarans created for the 2000 around the world race known as The Race. Like its competitors, PlayStation was created for sheer speed, pushing the state of the art in materials, construction, and operation...

, owned by Steve Fossett

Steve Fossett

James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon...

, was 125' long and had a mast which was 147' above the water. Virtually all of the new mega cats were built of pre-preg carbon fiber

Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber, carbon graphite or CF, is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber...

for strength and the lowest possible weight. Top speeds of these boats can approach 50 knots.

External links

Catamaran Sailing at TheBeachcats.com Site devoted to all types of small catamarans known as beachcats.
Multihulls World Catamarans aficionados magazine
Transporting A Catamaran Pictorial of transporting a 32 foot catamaran over land

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