I have to pipe in here because I think styling is a very important issue if the catamaran is going to become a more popular type of boat. Dennis McGuire, Cape Coral, Florida.. __________________________________________________ Brian replied: I've spoken to this question before so I will just repeat a short excerpt... "Just finished reading your article about Ray Hunt in the June issue of Soundings, I wanted to write and let you know how much I truly enjoyed the article. You captured not only the factual history, but more importantly, some of the essence of being involved with yachts and yacht design itself...'the measure of total understanding of the nature of a boat.' And most importantly, you included the oft forgotten element, the sheer line. What a terribly important factor! Romantically stated, but oh so true, "it is simply her sheer...sheer beauty that is. She enters the harbor like a beautiful woman entering a room. Her sheer is the line we try to get right when we doodle boats." So many of todaybs boats lack this beauty, and correspondingly, some of the essence of yesteryearbs yachting. Now it so happens that I got quite heavily involved with multihull craft because here is where free thought and innovation abounded, and here it is even tougher to create a pretty sheer line." ...here are a few other interesting observations Yacht Design and Engineering <http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2319> Brian Eiland beiland@usa.net www.RunningTideYachts.com distinctive expedition yachts