Pierre, The term "passage making boat" was used by Bob Austin, not by me. I assume he was talking about boats capable of making extended open water passages, but I admit it's a pretty vague term. He seems concerned that catamarans may not have the ultimate seaworthiness of a well-designed monohull. This argument has raged for some time among sailboaters, but I gather it's starting up all over again for powercats? I'm certainly no expert on this subject, I'm actually looking for answers myself -- which is how I got into this discussion with Bob. I think, to some extent, he's playing devil's advocate here. (Bob, if you're on this list, please comment). I know there have been cases of sailing cats turning turtle at sea (mostly racing boats), but has anyone ever heard of a powercat capsizing? Of course, there was that overloaded tour boat in the Chesapeake last year, but I'm not sure that really counts. So, what's your opinion, Pierre? Do you have any concerns about capsizing? Do you consider your boat to be a passage making boat? Regards, Henry PS: The original name of the PDQ was MV/34 Passagemaker, but they recently changed it to 34 Powercat. In a message dated 4/12/2005 10:01:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, yumyum1@earthlink.net writes: Henry, Can you please explain what you mean by a "Passage making boat" and what you mean or imply by use of the term "Offshore Service". Any thoughts about the recent world record using catamaran hull beating hurricane/typhoons and other weathers? Got a couple more Q's too. Thanks, Pierre

>Henry Clews wrote: >He seems concerned that catamarans may not have the ultimate >seaworthiness of a well-designed monohull. We need to take care with the language in this thread. "Ultimate stability" is what was discussed, which in the real world means to ability to recover from a severe roll. Monohulls do have the edge in this specific area. But there is a lot more than stability involved for a yacht to be considered "seaworthy." >PS: The original name of the PDQ was MV/34 Passagemaker, but they >recently changed it to 34 Powercat. Kudos to PDQ Yachts for quickly realizing that "passagemaker" was a misnomer for a boat intended for coastal and inland service. Would that others in the industry did not play fast and loose with the word. --Georgs -- Georgs Kolesnikovs Power Catamaran World http://www.powercatamaranworld.com

>"Ultimate stability" is what was discussed, which in the real world >means to ability to recover from a severe roll. Monohulls do have >the edge in this specific area. Having said that, has anyone ever heard of a power catamaran being capsized by waves? --Georgs