SEAMANSHIP Words by Geoff Linter
Manoeuvring
& Berthing
A modern cruising catamaran with a twin engine or twin propeller
installation is without doubt the easiest of multihulls to manoeuvre.
Each hull can be pushed forwards or pulled backwards to
give amazing control. 360 degree turns are easily achievable.
Catamarans with a single engine could have twin hydraulically driven
propellers or a steerable outdrive unit perhaps with a bow thruster.
rimarans under about
T
can act, and less keel under water than a similar sized monohull, with its heavier
9 meters are usually
displacement and deeper keel.
powered by outboard
motors. If these
If you leave a yacht to just float free with no sails up or no drive from the engine,
outboards are linked to the
most will lie with the wind at some point behind the beam. In other words the head
rudder, control is usually very
or bows will blow downwind. If we are aware of this, we can use it to help us plan
good. As trimarans are by nature
our tactics.
very light they are easily affected
by wind. This is countered by
If we need to motor down a restricted marina channel to arrive at our berth it might
keeping the centre board down
be easier to accomplish if we were to reverse in, especially if the wind were against
if depth allows and manoeuvring
us. Or on arrival at the berth we could choose to reverse in to tie up if the wind
with a little more speed to keep
made things easier. So, one of the first skills to acquire is the ability to drive your
directional control. As they are
boat backwards under complete control. If you have only one helm position you
very light, they are easily stopped
might consider berthing mainly on that side. You will have better visibility of the
by a short burst of opposite
pontoon and find control easier.
thrust on the outboard. Larger
trimarans will usually have an
Catamarans are commonly built with increasingly high freeboard (hull sides) this
inboard engine fitted and could
makes stepping off the side onto a pontoon a rather dangerous option. Fortunately
benefit from a bow thruster to
they often have stern steps or platform, which help to alleviate that problem.
help maintain control in close
When approaching a berth, there is sometimes no “helpful person” to take a line,
quarters.
or worse, you pass a line and the person does something unhelpful and all control
is lost. Therefore it is best to be self sufficient when possible. There are two basic
However even with this amount of
options available to us.
control, when accessing a berth in
a congested marina or where there
Option 1 is to reverse gently up to the pontoon / berth at a slight angle to parallel,
are strong winds or tidal flows to be
gently bringing in the chosen stern to allow a crew to step ashore with a line and
considered, we will need to harness
make it fast. Then gently motor forward against this line, to bring in the front and
the elements rather than work
complete the tie up.
against them.
Option 2 is to come in forwards, again at a slight angle from parallel. Get the
Generally speaking multihulls are
crew in position at one forward corner and have them lasso a mooring cleat.
more affected by windage than
Leave a little slack in the line but make it off on board. The helmsman can then
monohulls. They are comparatively
motor gently backwards to bring in the stern and complete the tie up.
light weight, so will move more
easily. They have more bulk of boat
If the wind is blowing off the berth it is often better to make a frontal approach for
above the water on which the wind
two reasons:-
18 MULTIHULL REVIEW : JULY 2009
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