We charted a Privilege 39 and LOVED it. The space is beyond amazing - basically more space than two 40 foot boats rafted up to each other. We had 4 cabins that were actually cabins - as in not a passage to some other part of the boat. We got around 9 knots under power and no problem with 10-12 knots under sail. Sailing the boat was a bit odd. Going from my boat to this was like going from a Porsche to a school bus, but then looking down at the speedo and finding out the bus was faster! The checkout included a sheet with wind speeds and desired reefing for those speeds. I was like ???? why not just reef when you need it? Then after we got out I saw why - there is no real sense of being over canvassed until the boat rounds up against full rudder. We learned to watch the rudder angle indicator and reef whenever we saw 20 degrees to hold a straight course. Quite different from my only other multi experience, which was a 40 foot racing trimaran that could exceed 20 knots and DID have a lot of feel on the helm.
One of the best parts was getting to an anchorage, going through all the other boats, and anchoring in shallow water between them and the beach. Speaking of which, anchoring was sometimes harder than you might guess. We had a heavy CQR and 3/8" chain. Just the weight of all that felt "anchored" even when it was not. What we did was drop anchor and let the boat drift back and then I would dive in with my SCUBA gear and a tennis ball. I would hold the anchor point-first against the bottom and let the ball loose. When the crew saw the ball on the surface, they would back down and I made sure the anchor dug in :) Joe Della Barba Coquina C&C 35 MK I -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Eric Frank Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 4:31 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Stus-List Re Bareboat charter BVI Dave, We rented a 35' catamaran from TMM Yacht Charters this March for two couples. None of us had tried a big cat before, all of us were used to cruising in monohulls. It was like staying in a very pleasant hotel: one couple in each hull, with private bath (head does not do them justice) and a very large living space between the two hulls. Glass all around so great views with a sliding door to a small "cockpit" area aft. Very modern kitchen (again, galley would be inappropriate), built-in wifi that worked everywhere we went. We were bareboat, but the area for the captain (one of us, rotating) was up a small flight of "stairs" so it was easy to see over the spacious living area but was quite isolated from the rest of the crew. Very easy to get in and out of the dinghy, which hung from davits. The disappointment for me was that it sailed about like you would expect for a Winnebago. Basically it looked very similar to the cruisers that also were rented by TMM except for the mast and boom. Just as long and just as wide. We rarely got it over 4.5 knots under sail, and it didn't go upwind much at all. So a lot of motoring. All in all, worked very well especially as one of us has developing PD, so the layout made it much easier to get around and in and out of the dinghy. As others on the list have described, the islands in the BVI are almost all very close to each other, so it is easy to get where you want to go, then anchor or moor and go snorkeling or visiting the gorgeous beaches. Micheal of S/V Tachyon described it well today on the list. But if one wants to sail rather than vacation, I would definitely choose a monohull. TMM was great, by the way, as mentioned by another lister yesterday. Very supportive and friendly. No complaints at all. Eric Cat's Paw, 35MkII > Subject: Re: Stus-List Bareboat charter BVI? > Message-ID: <c194d18d-754c-48ca-8897-ef8769b6e...@gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > I would like to do a BVI charter sometime in the future. What is the > feeling about monohull vs. catamaran for these vacations (presuming an > AC72 is not on the rental list). I have never sailed a big cat and > have a feeling it would interfere with my enjoyment of the experience. > Dave > _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
