Cats

I was in Ft. Lauderdale for a day and Brent from the Catamaran Co. showed me a couple of boats they have at the pier. Being Lagoon kind of folks the two bigger boats he showed me were 41 and 38 feet. Both are truly nice boats but I have never sailed on a Lagoon and would certainly want to spend a few days living on one before writing a check.

Then he showed me a Gemini 105Mc. Deb and I had looked at the 105 as a very interesting boat, until we boarded one in Annapolis the first time we were there. It appeared flimsy, lightweight, small and trailer-park like. We got off that thing as quickly as we could and never looked back...until yesterday. I'm not sure why the boat didn't strike me as quite so bad this time, maybe a couple of years of actually learning how to be a sailor? It is still small, but this time small strikes me as not so bad a thing. A 14 foot beam looks pretty proportional on its 33.5 foot water line. (I have to admit that, to my eye, some of the bigger Cats are looking decidedly "square" with beam / length ratios looking a little out of control.) And though 33.5 feet of LWL is shorter than we think would work for a live-a-board monohull, there is plenty of interior room in the Gemini with a nice master cabin that has a good view. (As opposed to the V-birth on a monohull, or the aft cabin on a Center Cockpit boat.)

Also, according to Brent, the Gemini is a fun sail. Its light weight and keel boards make it a fun ride on the water. "Are you a sailor or do you drive a condo," were one of his comments. It has the stability of a cat when on the hook, and (boards and rudders up) it draws 18 inches. All good things for a couple looking to sail where Deb and I want to sail. But...

The bridge deck is low. I mean really low, like 6 inches. Maybe the pounding will be no worse than on a mono with hard turn to the bilge, I just don't have enough experience to know. The sail drive is butt ugly when up out of the water, and it doesn't clear the water by much. Any wave action and that thing is going to be splashing in and out of the water constantly. The inside still has the fit and feel of a trailer, nothing like Nomad. I can't imagine that it can carry much of a load gracefully, though maybe the low bridge deck keeps you from piling on the weight. Seeing the bottom flat on the water would surely discourage you from putting that next box of spare parts on board.

I don't know, a Gemini or a pretty, 40' monohull? Having not yet sailed on a Gemini, I think I would lean to the monohull.