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The Cruising Multihull | 
 enlarge | Author: Chris White
Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $12.39
You Save: $10.56 (46%)
New (20) Used (12) from $5.58
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 184886
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 268
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.5 x 0.3
ISBN: 0070698686
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.81223
EAN: 9780070698680
ASIN: 0070698686
Publication Date: September 1, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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Product Description
Long typecast as the hotrods of the sea--fast but dangerous--modern cruising multihulls actually are among the safest and most comfortable cruising sailboats available. Modern multihulls offer significant advantages over single-hull sailboats: They sail faster, have more living space, they're more comfortable, more stable, they can sail safely in much shallower water, and, because their stability comes from widely spaced hulls and not from tons of lead hung off the keel, they don't sink. Given the ultimate disaster, which would you choose: A capsized yet habitable boat, floating awash, or a self-righting boat sitting at the bottom of the ocean? And multihulls are fast. A typical weekend cruiser's circle of operations might double if he switches to a multihull. A transatlantic voyage might be cut by a third. No less an organization than the U.S. Navy decided that applications requiring an extremely steady platform at sea were best suited to, of all things, a catamaran. The Cruising Multihull supplies the reader with all the latest information about design, construction, rigs, seamanship, safety, and a point-by-point rebuttal of the "accepted wisdom" concerning multihull dangers. It will help you decide whether a multihull is right for you; which multihull--cat or tri--is best for your needs; whether you should build one yourself, have one built, or buy one off the rack. And, of course, The Cruising Multihull shows you how to get the most from your boat. "I don't know of a more thorough survey of modern cruising multihulls than this book. For strangers to these boats who want to know more about them, as well as for multihull sailors eager to learn from a capable, articulate designer and sailor with his own point of view, I enthusiastically recommend The Cruising Multihull."--John Rousmaniere "Finally, a multihull voice which does not proselytize. Instead, logic and information pack the pages of Chris White's . . . The Cruising Multihull."--WoodenBoat
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Must read for people considering purchase of a multihull March 11, 2007
Conrad B. Senior (Easton, CT United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Chris White's designs are certainly among the best, if not the best, in the world for performance multihulls. His book does a great job of explaining the various factors related to safety and performance in multihull sailing vessels.
The book is a bit dated and could stand a re-write to bring it up to modern standards, but I still give it a 5 for the excellent coverage of the material presented. I'd like to see some discussion of the idea of placing two masts, one in each hull discussed. I'd also like to hear his opinions of the Wylie Cat monohull flexible masts.
I'd also like to see more discussion of his own designs and his performance competitor the Gunboat series of catamarans.
Finally, I'd like to see more analysis of the various production catamarans compared to each other and mono-hulls in various wind conditions, and citations of the situations where mono-hulls perform better--for example sailing upwind is less than 10 knots of wind.
Basically, I feel Catamaran design still has a way to go in the area of rig design, while the use of high tech composites is 95% perfected.
 A well-written book but not a one-stop shop March 1, 2007
Helen Hancox (Essex, England)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this book as I am considering switching from a monohull to a multihull and I wanted to learn a little more about the differences between the boats. This book was well-written - the author's style is easy to read, clear and concise. However it didn't entirely scratch where I itched.
The author covers a good deal of ground in his book and I particularly liked his comparisons between the safety records of monohulls and multihulls. In many cases there aren't accurate figures but he worked with what was available to show that multihulls are no more dangerous than monohulls - in fact the reverse. And with the major danger that exists - capsize - he devotes a large amount of space to how to prepare for capsize, how to deal with it etc. This was a helpful, if slightly daunting, section with a lot of common sense. Yes, multihulls capsize but they don't sink and you can survive in one for quite a while if well prepared. And they don't capsize THAT often.
He also gave a significant amount of space to multihull designs, although again I think some of this information was a little out of date (an expected problem with an older book). The author definitely has his own opinions about what's good and what isn't and he speaks from the position of someone who likes to sail fast rather than potter about on a cruise (although a lot of other multihull owners, I imagine, prefer the relaxed cruising). He has designed a couple of boats himself and I found myself rather irritated at how often he showed us examples of his boats as proof of various statements about design - I felt he sometimes had a rather one-track mind about boat building.
My disappointment with this book, and the reason that I've only awarded it 4 stars rather than 5, is that he doesn't say a great deal about the handling differences between multihulls and monohulls and how they behave differently for passengers. A section on marina handling techniques, for example, would have been very useful as there are very different skills required here. Equally I didn't find anything that told me about the different methods one might use under sail to make the most of the multihulls' strengths - apart from speed, which he wrote about a lot (the use of drogues and parachute anchors to slow you down, for example). It was a good read and covered a fair bit of ground (including techniques to build your own boat - I wasn't too sure of the value of this information for your average reader) but it didn't answer all the questions I had so I will have to research a little further.
pleasantly factual August 23, 2006
Shawn Killam
Most multihull books seem to feel it is necessary to constantly fight the battle of multi verus mono. While there is a certain amount of comparison it is blessedly short and factually accurate in Mr White's book. It is a usefulll book in understand principles of sailing and construction of multihulls.
Intelligence really helps sometimes... January 12, 2006
C. Glazier (Western Australia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Multihulls are a great style of yacht - we have an older 42 ft cat and love it. It has JUST (2 days ago) survived a category 3 cyclone while on dry dock. Some of the newer boats just blew apart.
This is a great book and worth keeping unless you are the type of person who gets carried away with flashy interiors and shiny buttons and cares little about what really matters - quality design and knowing how to use a boat.
Buy it and keep it January 4, 2006
Moreton Bay Multihulls (Brisbane Australia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This and Gavin LeSuers book (Multihull seamanship)are two definite keepers. I have reread Whites book time and again, it is probably the best book on the subject, certainly more value than Kanters book. I dont know chris white but I do thank him for his efforts in this book.
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