hirondelle catamaran interior

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Catamaran newbie - sailing and mooring tips please

• Thread starter ninky
• Start date 6 Aug 2013

Just taken ownership of a Mk 3 Hirondelle. Had our first sail delivering her from Emsworth to Gosport on Sunday. A bit of trouble tacking her round on the first attempt - two hulls requiring greater speed on the turn than my Jag 22 it seems. Am after tips on boat handling from any multihull sailors - no big scare stories please, have already freaked myself out with all the drawings of capsized cats and talk of inverted escape hatches in my Multihull seamanship book. We are just going to be pottering about the Solent on the slab reefing main and roller genoa for a good while yet. Swing mooring buoys - what do you do for longterm swing mooring use? I currently have her on one chain over one of the bow rollers, with a rope looped through from the other bow. I thought a second chain on a swivel from the buoy would be a good idea, but the mooring owners seem to think it will be a tangle risk and better to stick with rope for the second bow, possibly cleated further down the one chain. Nicola  

Active member

I have seen a cat moored to a fairly short strop onto the forward cross-beam. This placed the buoy between the hulls and obviously the length was critical to avoid contact with the hulls. Don't know whether a Hirondelle will ride like that, if the cross-beam were too far aft she might not weathercock as she should... Rob.  

I owned a Hirondelle mk 111 and it was a wonderful boat , she was moored in Southampton water on fore and aft buoys , I made up 2 x strops so she sat centrally to the trots . 2 x bow and 2 x stern , this, naturally , divides the loads between two cleats -always better, 50 % loads . They are light boats so will sit happily on 3 strand 18/20mm. make yourself a bridle for anchoring with a chain hook so she will always sit centrally to the anchor / buoy . lovely boats , enjoy ! grafozz  

Well-known member

Agree with pteron, loose off the main sail as you enter the tack and keep the jib/genoa backed until the bows are blowing off. If you do stall 'in irons' reverse the helm and the boat will sail backwards onto the new tack. In the books it always tells you to bear away if hit by a gust, you will need to test it but I always found it safer and more instinctive to head up (unless on a broad reach). If it's boisterous, it can pay to tack the centreboards, windward board down/leeward board up. I always used a heavy rope bridle to each bow on a swinging mooring, chain is too messy (personal opinion). Clip the bridles together when leaving the buoy, they won't then get tangled. Best tip, enjoy it.  

ninky said: So whereabouts should I clip / cleat the bridle(s)? Is the aim to even the load out between the two hulls? I'm guessing I should also be careful with keeping even ballast across the hulls in terms of stowing heavy items etc. Click to expand...

oldbilbo said: Run a line from the head of the mainsail down beside the luff to a turning block by the mastfoot, and then back to the cockpit. This 'downhaul' can then be used, as the name suggests, to haul the sail down from the safety of the cockpit and assisted, if need be and with care, by a sheet winch. Enjoi! Click to expand...

I had a cat a long time ago. Home made at 23 by 12ft. The thing about cats as has already been mentioned is the problem of being overpowered. A keel boat will let you know it is overpowered by leaning over and generally behaving disgracefully. The cat when the wind comes up just leaps along in a joyful manner going very fast. This belies the fact that you are loading the rig incredibly. I destroyed 2 masts in as many years before I got one strong enough and or I got smarter. Also of course there is the risk of bow in and capsizing. So you must as skipper either have the instruments and know the numbers that matter or be very wary of lifting a hull or of going fast. I would suggest perhaps a 10knot speed limit or even less. That will call for serious sail reduction. Get a cheap GPS for speed indication. As said tacking is a pain. I found that usually backing the jib ie hold off releasing until you have the main full on the new tack was all that was needed. In rough water you might find even this is not enough . Watch for any tendency to go backwards and ease the main sheet as said. I hope you enjoy your cat I have to confess I ended up with a trailer sailer for various reasons and I love the windward sailing ability of the little TS but the cat certainly had advantages. olewill  

Colvic Watson

The Mk1 was over rigged and over canvassed, the Mk3 was much more conservative, you'd have as much trouble capsizing it as you would your old monohull. They're a delightful boat, well mannered and suitable for gentle pottering without giving a fig for how the weight is distributed. Sailing a small cat like that is relaxing and rewarding but you get almost none of the feedback you would from a monohull. As for mooring, make up a bridle from the hulls to a single point, and use it for the swinging mooring or attaching to your anchor chain. And ignore the doomsayers, if you fly a hull or burry the nose you'll be the world's first Hirondelle Mk3 to do it, stick the weight wherever you want to and enjoy the coastal pottering. The Mk1 was a handful, but well sorted out by the time yours was made. Almost every cat to capsize has been an Iroquois, the damn things need floats on top of the mast - stupid design for a cruising yacht in my opinion.  

Cheers Lazy Kipper. Reassuring to hear positive things about the Mk 3. She certainly seems a good choice for us from my research - wouldn't fancy having to faff with dagger boards and the like, although I guess the little keels do give a deeper draft (still really shallow - 76cm - for a boat of her size). The main reason for getting her was I wanted to keep OH on side with the sailing, and he was getting pretty fed up with accommodation in my Jag 22 (which is a great small sailing boat imho but more for diehard sailing lovers). OH loves the Hirondelle, and even I have to admit she is a lot more comfortable for a couple when spending time on the mooring - plenty of room in the cockpit and on deck for friends too. If anyone has nervous partner, my experience so far is a cat is a great option (don't tell them about pitchpoling!) - doing 7+ knots to windward in a F4/5 on Sunday and not being keeled over, or having things slide about in the cabin, is quite different to sailing a mono. Nicola  

Lazy Kipper said: How would you pitchpole a Hirondelle? Hope you have loads of fun with her, have you come across this site? http://www.hirondelle-association.org/ Click to expand...

ninky said: That's a really good suggestion. Thanks. Click to expand...

• 14 May 2014

I hope its acceptable to resurrect a thread like this? Its just it seems to have exactly the right kind of participants for my questions. I have been offered a Hirondelle at a "project" price and am very interested. However I am aware that the mk1 has a bit of a rep. To be honest the owner isn't certain if its a mk1 or a mk2. (any tips on identification?) So, I see on this thread already the excellent advice on the scandalising of the main and the pull-down idea. Both of which I would definitely implement. However, I suppose, my first question is .. Should I ? I do have an OH to consider too and don't want to put her off etc. I'm a competent sailor so, once I know what I should be doing I'd be confident enough. But I do sail in an area that produces quite a swell on a regular basis... Would I just be driving myself mad with this boat? Thanks Vida  

• 15 May 2014

simonfraser

Lazy Kipper said: The Mk1 was over rigged and over canvassed, the Mk3 was much more conservative, you'd have as much trouble capsizing it as you would your old monohull. They're a delightful boat, well mannered and suitable for gentle pottering without giving a fig for how the weight is distributed. Sailing a small cat like that is relaxing and rewarding but you get almost none of the feedback you would from a monohull. As for mooring, make up a bridle from the hulls to a single point, and use it for the swinging mooring or attaching to your anchor chain. And ignore the doomsayers, if you fly a hull or burry the nose you'll be the world's first Hirondelle Mk3 to do it, stick the weight wherever you want to and enjoy the coastal pottering. The Mk1 was a handful, but well sorted out by the time yours was made. Almost every cat to capsize has been an Iroquois, the damn things need floats on top of the mast - stupid design for a cruising yacht in my opinion. Click to expand...

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I did significant work on this rare classic English catamaran before bringing her up the ICW from Savannah to the Chesapeake Bay. There we meandered northward exploring coves and inlets that most boats could not enter. When we reached the top of the Bay we headed through the C&D Canal, down the Delaware Bay, and back inside from Cape May to Manasquan Inlet. There we headed outside up to and around Sandy Hook. I and my crew of 1-2 spent three comfortable months on our 1,000+ mile journey. There is 5-8” of headroom in both hulls and sitting headroom in the bridgedeck salon (which converts into a double berth). A friend of mine (who is 6’-3”) owns a Tartan 3700. He thought the head in my boat was more comfortable than the one in his. He also liked the dual companionways which he thought prevented traffic jams.

Hirondelle boats are a great family weekender design with full length sleeping berths for five adults, cooking facilities and a small but useful separate heads (toilet). They have an outboard motor as auxiliary power, mounted in a well in the centre of the cockpit. The sailing performance of the Hirondelle is excellent and loads of fun for a boat of its size. Comes in 4 versions Mark I to III and the Hirondelle Family version.

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