Latest News from Woods Designs

(scroll down to see the very latest news!)

As you will discover, this website is now very large and it may take you time to find what you are looking for. But please persevere and in particular please read the FAQ's and Forum pages as you will probably find the answers to any questions you may have there.

The Year Reviews are also worth reading as they contain details of boat launchings and all the still relevant "Latest news" reports for that year, while there is also lots of good stuff in the Articles and Boat Tests pages.

Other sites may claim to be the most informative multihull site, but I think once you've read through this one you will agree that this one gives you the most information about the design and sailing of multihulls.

If you are new to catamarans and want a general introduction then I suggest that you should read THIS ARTICLE first. Below the Latest News is a section on general design comments that gets regularly updated

There are now over 30 youtube videos scattered around this site. If you want to save time you can see a list of them all if you search youtube for www.sailingcatamarans.com

If you plan to buy, or have bought, download plans then you should also check the Plan Updates page in case there are any for your boat.

Also please make sure that you order using the right order form. Use the Shopping Cart for download plans and the Order Form for paper plans and videos.

If you still have questions then please email us and we will try and help.

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Jan - March 2010

As always, things are pretty quiet at the beginning of the year with few boat launchings or builders reports.

Rajen keeps me updated regularly with his Romany (below) being professionally built in India. It's taking a bit longer than he hoped, but then all boats do.

In Italy Mariana Sanchez Penino has been sailing his Shadow, the wooden version of the Strider Club

Also recently launched, but not yet rigged, is Isaac's Gypsy in Vigo, Spain

I like getting photos of boats in build as well as sailing but it doesn't actually happen very often. In fact neither of the two above builders ever contacted me after buying the plans until now. The up side is that it shows that my plans are detailed enough for home builders to finish their boat without help.

We spent November 2009 to March 2010 sailing our Romany in Florida and the Bahamas. Although we spent some time in the Abacos, as we had done the year before, we also sailed south through the Exumas to the tropic line at Georgetown. You can see more on the 2009 year review page.

This was our fourth visit to the Bahamas and unfortunately, due probably to a combination of El Nino, solar activity and climate change, the weather there was the worst ever recorded, with almost constant gales and lots of rain. On the few nice days there was usually little wind (the calm before the next storm). If this weather pattern continues then the Bahamas will no longer be such an attractive cruising ground for "snowbirds".

So we spent a lot of time at anchor or on a mooring. As a result I talked boats to lots of fellow cruisers, many of whom (especially those older sailors no longer as fit as they once were) said they should have bought a smaller, simpler boat.

We had a busy March. After a couple of months with just Jetti for company, my sister flew out from the UK for her annual sailing trip. Sadly most of the time the weather kept us at anchor, but she still managed to swim everyday, something she doesn't do at home in Liverpool!

Then no sooner had she left than Jeff and Heather, Romany builders from Minneapolis, USA flew in to sail Romany back to Florida with us. We had never met before so this was one time when Romany's split accommodation layout really proved its worth. We all had privacy and in fact didn't really notice they were on board.

Neither Jeff nor Heather (above) had ever sailed a catamaran before (so I thought they were quite brave to start building one) and became excited on their first day when in light winds we sailed at a steady 8 knots. Later, after Jeff had helmed across the Gulf Stream and touched 12 knots under double reefed main and the genoa rolled away, 8 knots seemed really passe. You can read more of their view of the trip here

http://zambonidriver.com/category/boat-building-updates/

Regulars to the site will know we have had Romany on the market for a couple of months. It has now been sold to Chris and Carol, plus Kelly and Shane, who will be live-aboard cruisers following a similar route to us, sailing up to Annapolis for the summer and then south to the Florida Keys, the Bahamas and beyond. We wish them safe, enjoyable sailing.

Of course selling Romany doesn't mean we are boatless! Indeed it just means I can soon start (yet) another project.

But first I have to finish our Skoota power cat. This has had an embarrassing long gestation time, so to speed it's completion we had Andrew Slow build its second hull. It was a bit of a surprise to see how he delivered it, but at least he proved it's light and strong and, with both hulls and the cuddy now complete, we should be motoring around this summer.

Of course one reason for the delay in completing Skoota is that the Strike 18 distracted me. Plans were finished late last year and sales are now going well, and just as important, we will soon be sailing our own Strike again. We now have a newer mainsail (from a Trac 16) which not only is much fuller than the original but also has a square top giving more area. We also bought a used screecher, plus furling gear, so sailing performance should be much improved, maybe we'll even race it. More news and videos will no doubt appear through the year.

I have also been working on the Strike 16 plans. This uses a 14ft beach cat (eg Pixie, Quattro 14) for outriggers and, like the 18, has a windscreen to raise the boom. Plans should be available by mid summer.

The Strike 14 is the smallest in my trimaran range. Maybe it's simplest to say it is a "home builders Weta" or a "Stealth with training wheels". But, however you like to think of it, I consider it a "geriatric dinghy". My concept all along has been to design a boat that is as fast and fun as a modern skiff, yet easy for less agile sailors to sail, maybe even for those who are disabled. The Strike 14 has a bigger rig than the Weta, so should be faster and, with the outriggers mounted further forward, be less prone to nose diving.

More details on both of these boats are on the New Designs page.

I had just finished building the prototype for the Strike 18 design when I heard from Joe Farinaccio. He writes about small tris at SmallTrimarans.com and asked if he could interview me about the Strike 18

So you might also like to look here http://www.smalltrimarans.com/book/More-Small-Trimarans-Book.html as it features a chapter on the Strike 18 and more photos than seen on this site.

May 2010

After returning to our summer house in Canada we spent a week refitting our Strike 18. A new mainsail and bowsprit for the screecher were top of the list, while we also fitted the much-needed trampolines and a bracket for a 2hp outboard. We launched on May 12th.

Unfolding and bolting the outriggers in place took literally a couple of minutes (no need to touch the trampolines). Then it is as easy to rig as a beach cat, so two men could be sailing in 1/2 hour. We take a bit longer, as we use the boom to raise the mast, that way it can be done easily by one person. Even so we were afloat and sailing in less than an hour, and on only our second go at rigging the boat. If we trailed regularly we'd get better and faster.

A 2hp outboard is all you need, our GPS showed a cruising speed of 5.1 knots, so clearly it has ample horsepower. More videos and photos from the recent BCMS meeting (see below, sailing at a steady 9-11 knots) will be posted shortly. The video was taken by Tim Poustie from Flying Kiwi, a 35ft open deck racing catamaran, sailing only a little bit faster than Strike

Flying Kiwi, below just after overtaking Strike.

The video below was taken on two earlier sails. The first sail in light winds shows the screecher in use. When unfurled our speed increased from 2.5 to 4.5 knots, not bad, because as you can see there was hardly any wind. Oh, and spot the seal!

The second sequence was just before the BCMS race, 11.6 knots was our highest speed with two on board. The wind slowly moderated during the race, allowing Flying Kiwi to pull ahead. But we still overtook a Beneteau 36 to windward. Of course once we had done so it rolled up its sails and started motoring, but we find most monohulls do that after being overtaken to windward by a multihull.

June - July 2010

I flew back to the UK for a few weeks, partly for work, partly for family commitments. The first time I have been in the UK during the summer for 8 years. I had forgotten how nice it is in warm, not to say hot, weather! While there I sailed on Backlash, a 25year old Banshee, from Plymouth to the Scillies. Backlash is a veteran of two Round Britain races, an Azores race and is the first catamaran ever to complete the famous Fastnet race.

Sadly there was little wind and most of the trip was motor sailing. A complete contrast from the year before when over 19 knots was recorded on Backlash's gps.

The Scillies were great as always. I last visited for Christmas 2001, see my Articles page. Back then of course I was the only yacht. In midsummer it is very different, and a real bun fight ensures every evening as moorings are in short supply and the holding often poor if one tries to anchor.

The Scillies comprise dozens of small islands, some with attractive cottages and white sand beaches, so just like the Bahamas - only the rocks and tidal range were different.

While in the UK I received an email from Captain Wong, currently building a Gypsy, see his excellent web site (link on my Owners Web page). It contained the log of a 450 mile trip by the new owners of his old Strider, Phil Tinker and his wife KC. I have posted it in the Cruising section of my Articles pages. The trip was made noteworthy because the combined age of the crew was 126, see below.

Meantime, on the other side of the world, the Dutch Sagitta Glatisant is busy cruising the Azores. Although Marc's blog is in Dutch (see the Owners Websites page for the link) using the translation feature of Google I read this:

"And that was already the fifth day at sea. Tonight I saw that we were halfway. We have logged a total of 825 miles in 104 hours!" Not bad for a 30ft cruising catamaran crossing an ocean

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It is very early days yet, so plans won't be available for some time and certainly not until the Strike 16 plans are finished (nearly done now) and the Skoota launched and sailing. But here are three new designs currently lurking near the back of the screen.

The first is Acorn, a 21ft stitch and glue minimum fast cruiser that has been kicking around for nearly 20 years. The rig shown is the optional racing rig. Some parts, eg boards, rudders, spars, can come from large beach cats (ie Tornado sized).

The second is a 34ft cruiser, something between a Romany and Flica. Many people (like myself) don't need the space of a Flica and want better performance. Which is why I like the Romany design. But many women want an "inside toilet" and basically more comfort. So this design is a cross between the two boats. The hulls are essentially Romany hulls, but with a bit more freeboard. The bridgedeck cabin is Romany styled and a minimum size to get a saloon and space to access the hulls.

And the third is a 30ft design somewhere between Eclipse and Sagitta. Basically a Sagitta with standing headroom, a longer cabin and a smaller cockpit. Plans will be for foam sandwich construction only and may also become a new production boat.

These designs would process faster with a couple of orders, so plan prices will be kept low for those prepared to pay now and then wait for plans. Contact me for more details.

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Although some of my larger designs, like Gypsy and Romany, can easily be built in sections, the large bridgedeck cabin boats can cause problems if building away from the water. It is easiest to use foam sandwich rather than wood if building a boat in sections. Rather than make longitudinal joints (which always complicates joining beams) I now think it is easiest to make transverse joints.

In other words, build the complete boat and then cut it into three sections ACROSS the boat. Eg one cut between the aft cabin bulkhead and saloon seats, and another in the anchor lockers. These joints will be easy to remake and, just as important, to hide and will not cause any real structural problems. The resulting sections should then be able to be transported legally (with a wide load escort of course).

When I first started drawing strip plank cedar boats good quality western red cedar was readily available. Now it isn't, which means it can be very expensive. Fortunately it is possible to build the strip plank cedar boats using double diagonal plywood instead. The Merlin uses 2 layers of 3mm (1/8th in); larger boats use two layers of 4mm (3/16th in).

It is probably best to build the hard chine ply versions of Wizard and Sango rather than try to cold mould their hulls as they are very curved and using two layers of plywood will be tricky to do. The disadvantage of the cold moulded stringer/frame system is that you have the stringers and frames inside, rather than a clean interior. However there is probably a weight saving over strip cedar, especially on the smaller boats.

I have drawn removable hull cabins for the Wizard and Sango. A sketch is below.

The cabins are removed for trailing and fit one inside the other on the cockpit. The new cabins give more light and ventilation and increase headroom to 1.5m (5ft). Although designed for the hard chine version they can also be fitted to the original strip plank boat. You can see basic drawings HERE.

I am sure once you have got this far with building your boat this will be enough for you.

I have updated my article on rigs, essentially to say that I (or any good sailmaker) would be happy to draw a new mainsail for your boat with a more modern "squaretop" shape if you want better performance. Also please note that, except on the smallest boats, flat battens (as typically used on monohull fully battened sails) are NOT recommended on my catamarans. You should use rod or tapered fibreglass battens.

My boats have been designed for English Channel sailing. One thing that I have learnt from sailing all over the world (I have now sailed in over 40 countries) is that the average wind speed in other countries tends to be lower than in the UK.

For example, we have been sailing our Merlin in the Pacific NW nearly every weekend for the last 4 years. In all that time we have reefed it only once. Yet I remember a summer sailing a Strider in the UK where we had to reef EVERY time we went sailing. Not only that but the seas elsewhere tend to be less choppy, so boats pitch less. Conversely, boats designed outside northern Europe tend to pitch more. Thus my boats tend to be under-rigged, but sail smoother when compared to others.

So if you think your sailing conditions warrant a bigger rig then please let me know and I can draw a new sailplan for you. And furthermore, I design all my cabin boats - even the smallest ones - apart from the Strike that is - to be seaworthy enough to make long coastal passages, what in the UK we call "cross-Channel sailing".

I have personally sailed my own Wizard, for example, 120 miles from the UK to France more than once. That is twice the distance of Florida to the Bahamas, which is also a much easier crossing than across the English Channel - I sailed back from the Bahamas only recently so conditions in the Gulf Stream are fresh in my mind. And of course I have sailed a Strider Club singlehanded (in convoy with two others) from the UK 1400 miles to the USSR and back. And, over the years, dozens of trips from Plymouth to the Solent (about 120 miles of open sea) usually non stop and often singlehanded in Striders, Gwahir and Wizard.

I know there are many areas in the world where conditions are very benign (like much of the USA and Pacific NW for example) and there are other designs that would suit those conditions, but I don't design boats like that. I want to be confident that my designs are safe in bad weather. In Europe boats are divided into 4 categories, Category D boats are suitable for lakes, rivers and sheltered waters, Category C are "Coastal". All my cabin designs are considered at least Category C. Category B is "Offshore" and Category A is "Ocean".

As we all know, the world is currently going through a time of financial change. The good thing for many of you is that the GBP has devalued significantly in the last 12 months, by about 25% against the USD and Euro for example. So this could be the best time to buy plans!

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For new readers

When I am not in the UK office Mary Theobald is the person to contact. She has a great background in multihulls as she has been helping to run the brokerage side of the Multihull Centre (www.multihullcentre.co.uk) for many years and currently owns a 26ft catamaran.

Finally: Please note that we do not (yet) take American Express cards! We do take sterling cheques, but if you wish to send one please make the cheque payable to Woods Designs, not Richard Woods, thank you.

Many of you ask me for contact details of other builders. I'm sure you can understand why I am reluctant to give out customer's email addresses to strangers. So can you please use one of the forums and ask there for other builders to contact you direct. After all, that's one of the reasons for setting up the forums in the first place!

We really like the photos you send us of your boats either in build or sailing. Please keep them coming in, but when you email them please send them as JPEG's and send them at 72dpi resolution with a maximum width of 400 pixels. That size will fit neatly on the screen and saves both you and us email download times!! Thank you.

If you use XP or Vista you can resize pictures easily by using the free Windows Image Resizer add-on (see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) There are a few other useful freebies there as well.