Christmas in Puerto Morelos

My family decided to spend Christmas in Puerto Morelos Mexico this year. Puerto Morelos is a short drive South of Cancun. There were 12 of us in all. Rather then spend a bunch of money on gifts we spent it on travel expenses and excursions. Puerto Morelos is a family friendly town and was not overrun with Tourists. It is much less expensive then Cancun and not so crowded.

We stayed at the Posada El Moro. It may be the best deal in town for the money. It was no 5 star resort by any means, but for location and staff I give it a 10. It has a pool with a shallow area for kids. It is less then a block away from the center of this family friendly town and has free Internet Access in the hotel lobby for its guests. There is some construction going on and they have some kinks to work out with the hot water heater and AC unit in the room we were in, but over all it was a pleasant stay.

One day on my way out to a local dive spot, I spotted a large 50 foot Catamaran moored behind the protected reef near the peer at the center of town. I imagined what it would be like to stay on the Catamaran VS the Hotel we were at. Especially on the 5th or 6th day without a TV, a fridge and sometimes hot water. It was windy so there may be some mild waves slapping and a bit of motion. I am curious what a night in those conditions would be like. I suppose as you get used to it you would be rocked to sleep. Unfortunately for me after the 5th or 6th night at the hotel I began to miss the comforts of home. I am confident a properly outfitted cruising Catamaran would eliminate the desire to go home.

Since I am still a long way from retirement but still strongly desire to spend a lot of time on a Catamaran I will require full functional while at sea. What I will be seeking in a Cat is a mobile office. Since I primarily work from home I could conceivably work from a properly configured Cat. As long as I have a strong Internet connection I could theoretically work wirelessly from the back porch of the Cat sipping coffee in the morning enjoying a new and amazing each day. During breaks for lunch I could drop a line in the water and maybe catch something for lunch or take a dip to cool off. Some day….. Some day…..  Still dreaming.

Hybrid Catamaran and Hydrofoil Speed Record

One of the major reasons I have become fascinated with Sailing is the fact that I can theoretically get from point A to B without using Fuel. Initially I thought about buying a yacht, but I know I wouldn’t want to take it out due to the huge cost of fuel. Even if I can afford the fuel, it still bugs me to know with each passing mile I am burning expensive fuel not to mention the smell, impact to the environment and the noise. I know someday I can afford the boat, but can I happily afford the maintenance and fuel that it takes to fully enjoy it. This why I get so excited when I read about new technologies that harness the Sun, wind, water etc to help power the craft.

I just heard about the new Island Pilot DSe Hybrid Catamaran. It takes advantage of two hulls rather then one which is a must for me and it runs on solar power. It is a step in the right direction. They claim it can go for 4 hours with 0 emissions at a speed of 7knots. Although that is not fast enough for my taste you can run the generator and go 13knots burning diesel. Still not ideal for me but I know things can only improve. I still like the idea of letting the wind do most of the work. The Island Pilot option would take some of the fun out of it for me.

CNET Car Tech recently reported that the Internal Combustion engine is on the way out, but that batteries are still the weak link. They need to be lighter and more efficient. Apparently the new Chevrolet Volt only has a range of 40 miles. But I am optimistic and look forward to the future. The more products that jump on the bandwagon to reduce our dependence on Oil and do it cleanly that happier we all will be.

Have you seen this yet? For the performance minded sailor you have to check out this You Tube video. The title is Hydrofoil Speed record. The craft is apparently sailing along at 54 Mph. If my French is correct they claim a top speed of 47.2 knots per hour. The hydrofoil is just floating over the waves. It is amazing. The next step is flying. Check it out. Here is the Image Gallery for the craft.

Newly Discovered Catamaran Manufacturers

Wow. It’s been a month and a half since my last post. Lets just say life throws curve balls at you once and a while. My desire and dreams have not changed although the time frame to make my dreams a reality seems very far in the distant future. This doesn’t stop me from learning and researching though. I came across some new Catamaran manufacturers that I thought I should pass on. They are new to me anyway. Enjoy!

The Boat System Prometh looks very interesting but the website is all in French from what I can tell so I didn’t spend much time there. They build their boats in Aluminum and some models appear to have dagger boards.

I was impressed by the performance stats of the Tournier Marine Catamarans. They appear to be great performers. The accommodations appear practical, functional and durable rather then posh, delicate and expensive. For the Freydis 46 and 50 cruising models, they advertise a speed of 7.5 knots with a wind speed of 10 knots. For the 50 footer, the Aluminum rotary mast is required to achieve this speed VS the carbon rotary mast. The amount of bridge deck clearance appears to be more then adequate for serious ocean cruising conditions. The photo shown here suggests you might be able to use the underside as a parking garage for a small fishing vessel or two. I would sure love to take a closer look at this line of Cats.

Schionning Marine sells catamaran kits. One of the Cat’s in their line, the G-Force 1400 boasts a top sailing speed of over 25 knots. They also sell the Waterline performance/cruising catamarans. They come in several sizes from 38 to 57 feet. They have the Cosmos cats more suited to cruising and their new Wilderness X Series with 6 different models to choose from.

I keep finding more and more catamaran manufacturers out there. I can only hope that supply is going up which will bring prices down. Unfortunately as supply goes up I suspect demand is also going up. Perhaps more and more boating enthusiasts are switching from power boating to sailing due to the increase in fuel prices.

Wave Slap on a Catamaran

I recently posted a question on an active yahoo live aboard community group called Captain’s & Admiral’s Café. As a subscriber to this very active group I was receiving lots of posts but none were on the topic of cruising Catamarans. So I asked for some Catamaran related experiences from the members and I received several opinions.

The 1st advice I read was to go to the Toast Floats. I read “That which doesn’t kill us” and loved it. Although it talks about things that break I am jealous and I can’t wait to be that person fixing that which is broken. It appears there is much more to read and learn from this family living aboard their Lagoon 380 catamaran named Don Quixote. The blog contributor describes his cat as a slow starter houseboat. Check it out.

Someone also mentioned TeamHudson and their excellent adventure. So far I have just skimmed this blog, but from what I can tell he is just like me only quite a few steps ahead. He began his blog before buying his cat and is now living on his cat with his family. Again, I am jealous and inspired to keep dreaming and to find a way to make this dream a reality. His blog covers many topics from Environment, fishing, moving aboard, financing and sharks to list a few.

The one comment that stood out as a possible deal breaker was the issue of Wave Slap. It started with some comments about a Catana owner that complained of wave slap on a recent passage. Wave slap is what occurs when heading into steep waves and is more prevalent on cats with low bridge deck clearance. The wave crashes underneath the bridge deck and can make for some uncomfortable passage making. See the photo of the Catana shown to the right. The bridge deck clearance is good in some places but not all, so perhaps the design although maximizing interior space, contributes to wave slap. There is no doubt wave slap is a concern, but so is healing over at a 45% angle in a monohull.

I was concerned and was happy to hear from the owner of a Fountaine Pajot Athena 38. His thoughts were just what I needed to hear and as I expected. His thought was “All designs have their unique design effects” and that wave slap is an issue and just that. With over 2000 miles on his boat he claims only 200 or so were miles that may have included some wave slap. He mentioned one trip that was particularly bad. “Slogging into 8ft swells sucked and was noisy with the slap issue “ but he also said there aren’t many boats that would have been any more fun in those conditions. He also said if needed the boat was doing fine and he could have kept going, but instead changed course to resolve the issue. He still prefers his Cat and said “All and all the positives far out weigh the negatives for my family.”.

Another family chimed in that switched from a Morgan 41 classic to a Manta 42 Mk IV and said there are ups and downs, but they are very happy with the switch.

"We’ve had no problem at all getting used to our new huge salon, cockpit, washer/dryer, water maker, genset… the list goes on and on."

They did bring up some important information surround rig fatigue.

"Since cats don’t heel the standing rigging is tensioned far more often than a mono hull so rigging needs to be replaced way more often. Most experts I know say 5 years max. The good thing is that we have a lot less wire so it only costs about $1500.".

They are happy with their Manta and recommended them as a great company to deal with.

La Paz Mexico

It’s been a while since my last post. I was in La Paz Mexico on a 7 day trip. 5 days of the trip was devoted to Fly Fishing. The photo to the right was taken at Sunrise aboard our Panga. Although the trip was dedicated to fishing, I wished I were staying on a Cat. I imagined what it would be like. Someday I plan to turn imagination into reality. You can read more about my trip to La Paz on my Adventure Blog here. Since it is not related to Catamarans and Sailing I keep a separate blog.

I wished I had brought snorkeling gear on this trip. Although we stayed in La Paz, we fished an hour from the hotel in an area I believe they called Las Arenas. While fishing was slow one day we searched for a spot to fish and the captain of the Panga we were on drove right by a rocky point that was loaded with what seemed like an unlimited variety of fish. The water was as clear as day. It was so clear I felt like the prop was going to drag the rocks below. I am sure it was plenty deep. My only concern however is that I know there are Hammer Head and possible Mako’s that cruise the area, so I don’t know how safe it would be to dive there. The Mant Rays were plentiful as well and were taking flight all over the place. Although it is rare, they can be deadly as well. I recommend asking some of the locals if it is safe.

The local fisherman apparently do a good job of thinning the shark population. They have Shark buoys all over the place. The shark buoys’ are anchored to the ground. They will tie large hooks with Bonita or whatever bait they have to these shark buoy’s and then come back the next day to see if they caught anything. Not very sporting and I bet there is little to no regulations on how many they can harvest. We saw the fisherman go from buoy to buoy checking the lines. I didn’t see a whole lot of shark caught each day, so I guess that means sharks are not thick in the area. From what I have heard the future of fishing in this and other area’s of Baja doesn’t look good. I guess there are big boats netting up all the fish. At least us fly fisherman released the majority of our catch.

From what I have heard, La Paz is a popular sailing destination. I know I plan to sail there someday. I did see a nice Catamaran cruise by our hotel as well as several other sailboats and watercraft. We stayed at the La Concha Beach Resort in La Paz. The hotel is in-between two of the Marina’s. The Marina de La Paz and the Marina Costa Baja. I watched several sailboats cruise by the hotel through the channel. The Marina Costa Baja is home to one of the Moorings Charter locations. Here is a map of downtown La Paz which shows the location of Marina de La Paz , Immigration, Port Authority and more. I ran across a story by Mitch Mandell who tells of his time sailing a catamaran in La Paz here if you are interested.

Please feel free to reply to any of these posts or send me an email with any catamaran related news or general Sailing information. I am always looking for new information. My last post on May 20th I wrote about the Admiral Yachts Catamaran. I was unable to find the stats for the cat. I guess Alan Geeling read my post and was nice enough to give me the missing stats. I have updated the Catamaran statistics and performance potential rankings table if you are interested. Check them out here. Thanks for the info Alan.