MULTIPLE СНОIСЕ

GETTING A MULTIHULL READY FOR A BIG BLUEWATER ADVENTURE REQUIRES THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT CHOICE AND SPEC LEVEL. WE GET REAL-LIFE ADVICE ON HOW TO PRIORITISE

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If you’re contemplating buying a multihull for bluewater cruising, be it a new one or a brokerage yacht, what equipment and spec should you be thinking about? The choices you make could determine much of your experience along the way, from comfort at sea to safety, but you don’t want costs to mount up unnecessarily. Where’s the right place to draw the line? 

For this feature, we consulted two very experienced bluewater sailors with oceans of multihull miles behind them, catamaran owner Chet Chauhan and coach Nikki Henderson, for advice and guidance.

Here, they look at what they consider the most important priorities, from downwind sail choices to energy requirements – and not neglecting essentials such as a robust workhorse tender.

It is aimed squarely at speccing a multihull, but many of their recommendations would be applicable to bluewater yachts of any type.

SAIL CHOICES AND RIGGING OPTIONS

Nearly all blue water catamarans will come with slab reefing, which is simple and durable. Make this system work as efficiently as possible. Check what your mainsail car system is, and possibly upgrade the cars to ones with roller bearings to reduce friction. The smoother the mainsail can drop, the better.

Fit downhaul lines for each reef on the luff to make downwind reefing easier. Ideally, run these back to the same winch station as the reefing lines and halyard. On that note, the ability to reef from one place is important. Running back and forth from port to starboard to control reefing lines and halyards is not practical and increases the risk of a slip or a fall. Check that the winch layout allows that.