There was actually a typo in Rod's message. The generally accepted max theoretical hull speed for full displacement boats is 1.34*SQRT(LWL) - I believe Rod's message mentioned some other figure. This equation is NOT cast in stone, but is generally true for the boats we know and love - displacement trawlers with a beam/length ratio of around 1:3. Long, skinny boats will push this ratio to 2.0*SQRT(LWL) or more, which is why Hawaiian outrigger canoes can go so very fast, much faster (with less power) than a row boat of similar length. There is a cadre of boat designers who promote long, skinny boats. David Gerr, who wrote "The Propellor Handbook" being just one. A more folksy approach is put forth by George Beuhler, of recent Diesel Duck fame (though the DD is not one of these skinny designs). These boats are often 1:5 beam/length ratios or more, as are most freighters. As early sailing multihulls evolved, there were many claims of magic and speed. Turns out they are much more senisitive to overloading than monohulls, and benefit from being bigger. A respected local sailing magazine (Latitude 38 - who replaced their Ocean 70 monohull with a ~50' catamaran a few years ago) seems to feel that ~45' is the minimum for ocean cat's, at least for sailing cats. Incidentally, they brought their cat from California to Antigua last year. It was a fast delivery with professional crew aboard. I seem to recall they averaged about 10 knots at about 6 gph. I made a similar passage at about the same time with a Nordhavn 57: 9 kts @ 6 gph (a trawler cat would probably have running gear optimized better than a sailboat, but you get the point). Not much difference, especially when you consider the Nordhavn is almost 150,000 pounds and had satellite TV and enough freezer space to really enjoy fine eating every night. I guess the trawler public will remain skeptical of claims by catamaran builders until more long distance trips are documented. The Catamaran folks probably need to figure out how to do what PAE did so successfully with the Around The World N40 run; and the recent Nordhavn Atlantic Rally. Of course, it's hard to get much press after it's already been done (was it Mirage that took their boat to Hawaii a couple years ago?). Now, do I recall getting a note from Georgs that there is a catamaran-specific list? As I recall, Georgs has some impressive catamaran experience - holding a long-distance sailing record as I recall? Peter www.SeaSkills.com Peter P. Pisciotta www.SeaSkills.com 1-877-SEA-SKILLS 415-902-8439 (C)