Catamaran Familiarisation Courses
These courses are available alongside RYA five day courses or over one or two days.

Power manoeuvres
Twin engine control, advice on different drives (eg, hydraulic or sonic legs and Outboards). Props ahead or astern of the rudders. There are differences in method between Catamarans and Mono’s. We also have different windage problems. 

Sail manoeuvres
Tacking methods,  Gybing methods, When to reef, Multihull stability. Handling in strong winds.   Cruising chute and asymmetric spinnaker technique. How to get the best out of different Catamaran Sail plans and rigs.

Anchoring and mooring techniques 
Considerably different with two hulls. Eg, Beaching or moving them ashore.

Strong wind technique
How to handle Catamarans in bad conditions, eg, Hove to, Streamlining warps/Parachutes, lying a hull, etc.

Lots of advice on types of cruising catamarans and their pros and cons. We don't sell boats and will tell you the good and the bad of the multihull. 

Here's a feel for what we do, or in some cases what we show you what not to do!

Lets take Gybing.

Contrary to popular belief, there are three types of gybe commonly seen on multihulls

The crash Gybe! 
A huge roached mains'l, no kicker, no preventer. Yes the boom will kill you if it hits you! 
If it misses and I hope it does, the other common damage is to Mainsheet blocks. The stainless steel in these blocks is normally where they fail. Strangely the plastic is fine?  Its a very good idea to have a length of Spectra ( high tech rope)  joining the boom to the plastic part of the block for this eventuality (see right). Notice also that all lines are lead around the boom. Boom slider bails are another failure point. All clew down hauls must use the whole boom extrusion rather than as slider.

When the stainless fitting fails the spectra line will hold on to it. You do not loose the end of the boom so it isn't flailing around the cockpit. This one I saved before all four stainless bars gave way, but I have had all of them snap at once and the up-right 12 mm pin aswell.

Other things to suffer in the crash Gybe are the mast track sliders. These are very strong but cannot cope with the stress of this accident. So after this scary Gybe you also have to deal with a mains'l that has un-stitched its self from the mast. The one shown is off a 34 foot cat and its still in one piece. Fittings of this nature need to be far
stronger on multihulls, due to the extra load. (Cats don't heel and therefore spill wind, they accelerate or soak up the winds power in the fittings)

Mains'l battens are next to go I'm afraid. They are full length on todays  cats and do not like having to bend around the swept aft shrouds( Not when the sail in doing 50 MPH in this gybe anyway!.)

A snapped batten means no sailing for anyone and usualy big damage to the sail cloth. 

Removing it?. This is easy for the half nearest the opening pocket but the bit that's still stuck in the sail is a nightmare to remove.

You can tell I am not much into the crash Gybe. It tends to spoil your day, but I have to say that it is the most common!

The traditional Gybe. Simple enough. Get onto a deep broad reach ( about 150º off the wind) That's where the fors'l collapses.

Traveller centralised and jammed off. Thes fittings take a hell of a beating on a Multihull. Keep them well maintained

Sheet in the main. Theres a problem here though because you have a big powerful mainsail which will try to send the stern down wind as you sheet in. Make sure the helm stays at 150º off the wind. 
Now steer using one spoke only of the wheel further down wind. The bow should move almost imperceptibly. When you are on a dead run and the main tries to Gybe ( Leech flicks) SHEET IN more. 
Yes you will be able to do this as the sail has for a mere moment, no wind pressure on it. 
The main Gybes without a  murmur. STOP the turn! She will try to round into the wind, don't let her. There is a huge amount of pressure on that mainsheet now that it is full of wind again so watch your fingers when releasing it! 
Release main sheet as soon as possible to stop her trying to broach to ( Cats don't broach by the way, but the strain of a broach is still there and that how to snap goosenecks) Now off you go on the new course.
If its down wind get the traveller down to leeward and get the BOOM PREVENTER rigged.

This Gybe will be sucessfull in all conditions ( Well all conditions where you are likely to have your mains'l hoisted!)

Carve Gybe.
Watch windsurfers. Good ones. They use the carve gybe. It relies on having no apparent wind at the point of gybing

You cannot always use this method. You need to test first before commiting. So get onto a Beam to Broad reach and go as fast as you can! Now bear away dramatically to a dead run but do not Gybe!

Is there any wind ? No? Ok you can use the carve method. Yes? use the traditional method above.

Lets assume there was no wind when you were on the dead run. Get back onto the fastest point of sail. Get her up to the best speed. Centre traveller and jam it. Turn dramatically down wind but this time keep going through the gybe. Usually until you are on a broad reach on the new tack.  Sheet in the main as you go, but ease it out when you are through the wind. The boom will swing across without a crash as there was no apparent wind at the gybe point. 

This one takes a bit of timing, but is quick and easy in light to moderate conditions and great when you are trying to gybe the asymmetric kite at the same time. That's another story.

I cannot tell you what wind speed you will be able to gybe your cat like this. It depends on her ability to sail as fast as the aparent wind. Light weight flyer, up to about force six. Slow plodding heavy weight cruiser? force four max.

Hope this wetted your appetite. Go sailing!