Course Prerequisites: 101 - Basic Keelboat Sailing, 103 - Coastal Cruising & 104 - Bareboat Chartering Certification. Note: These three courses must be taken aboard a monohull.
General Description: Having mastered the art of sailing a monohull yacht, you've decided you want to broaden your horizons and learn to sail a cat!
This is an advanced course for sailors with prior cruising experience. Catamaran sailing comes with its own skill set and many of the skills you have already learned will be put to good use while others will be noticeably different! You will learn all that is required to act as skipper or crew (by day) aboard a 30' to 50' cruising catamaran.
Curriculum - Theory
- Identify and name parts of the catamaran and its hardware
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to operating a multihull sailboat.
- Describe the weight carrying characteristics of 30' to 50' cruising multihulls and how weight distribution affects safety and performance.
- Describe the differences in performance between catamarans and monohulls of about the same size.
- Identify differences in ships systems between multihulls and monohulls.
- Describe shoal draft and its effect on planning ahead and sailing.
- Describe the danger of capsizing, how to recognize the danger and how to prevent it.
- Discuss the characteristics of a multihull that determines windage and the effects of windage on course and speed. recognize the danger and how to prevent it.
- Discuss how multihull design affects turning radius.
- Discuss the various sail combinations and how they affect the balance of a catamaran.
- Describe the method of tying a multihull securely to a dock in areas of varying tidal range.
Curriculum - Practical
- Cast off and safely leave a dock with at least two different wind directions relative to the bow (i.e., wind across the stern and wind across the beam).
- Stop the bow of the boat within four feet of a marker while maneuvering under power. Perform the exercise upwind, downwind and with the wind across the beam.
- Maneuver the boat under power in a confined space, noting the effects of the wind and current.
- Maneuver the boat within 2 feet of, and parallel to a dock. Define and carry out a bail-out plan.
- Turn the boat in the tightest possible circle to determine its turning radius. Twin screw boats will perform the exercise with screws turning in opposite directions and again with screws turning in the same direction.
- Steer a straight course of at least 10 boat lengths in reverse using moderate speed.
- Steer a catamaran using an emergency steering device.
- Sail an ordered compass course for 5 minutes without varying more than 10 degrees from the heading.
- Sail a figure 8 course between two buoys noting acceleration/deceleration times and momentum during turns.
- Demonstrate a skippers actions and commands while under sail from the time a member of the crew falls overboard without warning until the crew is safely recovered.
- Use proper anchoring techniques to anchor using the following methods: Two anchors off the bow or stern (Bahamian style), single bow anchor and bridle, single bow anchor and stern to the beach (Med style), bow to permanent mooring with bridle (if available), beaching with consideration of daggerboard/centerboard, rudder, and hull mounted electronics. (optional)
These are only "some" of the things you will learn during the catamaran certification course.
If you have previous multihull sailing experience prior to taking this course, you should be able to complete the course in three to four days, depending upon your skill level. If you have no multihull experience, plan a one week charter to complete your course.
We'd like to take sailing lessons! What do we need to do?
