Catamarans: The Complete Guide for Cruising Sailors |  | Author: Gregor Tarjan
Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 267550
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0071498850
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780071498852
ASIN: 0071498850
Publication Date: September 17, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The modern cruising catamaran has arrived The arguments are over and the verdict is in--cruising catamarans comprise a rapidly growing percentage of the cruising fleet worldwide. Their advantages of space, stability, speed, and handling under power are truly compelling, and modern cats are every bit as reliable as monohulls. This long overdue, in-depth guide will help you choose and cruise the right catamaran for your needs. âAn authoritative guide for novices and experienced sailors; the best book written on the subjects since the early 1990s.â--âTrimaranâ Jim Brown, renowned multihull designer âIn Catamarans, Gregor Tarjan shares his enthusiasm for yachts with two hulls, based on years of sailing all types. An excellent introduction.â--Dick Newick, legendary catamaran and trimaran designer âIf you are contemplating spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a cruising catamaran, the small price of this book is probably the best investment you could possibly start with.â--from the Foreword by Charles K. Chiodi, publisher of Multihulls Magazine
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 Beautiful photography and interesting text January 19, 2008
Helen Hancox (Essex, England)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent addition to the stable of books dealing with cruising catamaran sailing. It's a heavy hardback with beautiful photography, an attractive layout and good diagrams. Picking up this book after reading Charles Kanter's 'Cruising in Catamarans' or its recent update published as 'Cruising Catamaran Communiqué' you wonder how two books on the same subject with similar ideas behind them could be so different!
This book is beautiful and would make a wonderful coffee table book as well as an interesting read. There's some great photography often in beautiful locations. There are also photographs and plans of different catamarans and the text is helpful. Tarjan doesn't spend too long on the old chestnuts of catamaran vs monohull and will they capsize but he gives a good overview of general principles of catamaran sailing, heavy weather tactics, manufacture, some technical information on hull shapes, rigs, keels vs daggerboards and benefits/downsides of different configurations.
It becomes clear very quickly when reading this book that Tarjan tends to spend time on larger cruising catamarans. Here in the UK most Cats vary from 26ft - 40ft; most that I see are probably 35ft or less. Tarjan mentions the 34 foot Gemini 105MC in his text but most of the cats he discusses/photographs are whoppers, 45-60 feet. Perhaps these are more common in America but for sailors in UK waters they might make your own boat look a bit weedy.
Tarjan also is keen on speed. He perhaps affords it more importance than many cruising sailors would and there's plenty of discussion about how useful speed is to get you away from bad weather, but the text reads very much as if the cruising cat owner is really also a racer and I would imagine this is not very often the case. Charles Kanter's contention that most cruisers aren't speed freaks seems more likely to me and his more thorough and detailed treatment of catamaran sailing is perhaps more useful to the novice than in this book where less time is spent on multihull seamanship and more of that time on trimming sails for maximum speed.
However despite these reservations this book is a great read and good value for the price. It has at the end the apparently obligatory list of current multihulls (including one that's 100ft long!) with a very short amount of copy on them and a couple of photos. There are some helpful appendices with the Beaufort scale, a long-range cruising equipment checklist and other stuff and the photo credits, much appreciated because of the quality throughout of the photography and printing. The downside of this book? This author, although interesting, doesn't grab your attention in the same way as Charles Kanter. I think this makes another excellent addition to my cruising catamaran bookshelf but I wouldn't choose it over Charles Kanter's 'Cruising Catamaran Communiqué' if I could have only one book because that has more information for the medium sized cat owner to find helpful (by this I mean the 30-40 foot range). But it's still a great book and worthy of five stars.
Just what we were looking for November 23, 2007
wyo (Wyoming)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
As experienced monohull sailors, we were looking for a book that gave us the necessary insight to sail a multihull next April. This book is just the ticket. Lots of good background info, without dummying down. Half way through the book you get to Multihull seamanship and how sailing a Cat differs from a monofull. Pretty hard to sell a die hard monohull sailor on a Cat, but I think they've done it. Great intro to Cats.
Stunning photography, wonderful text March 6, 2008
---- Neil H. (Michigan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I own many sailing books (including books that specialize in multihull sailing), but this one makes you want to jump through the pages onto the boats. What wonderful photography. This is not said to take away from the wealth of information written by Gregor Tarjan, just to tell you what a joy is has been to read (drool) my way through this book. You will not be disappointed.
Teh Cat Bible April 20, 2008
L. Meldgaard (Denmark)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A wonderful compilation of what you need to know when interested in catamarans for touring. The author is clearly a cat fan. But who can blame him.
Catamarans Complete Guide is a Must Have May 3, 2008
Kevin Welsh (Melbourne, FL USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Awesome book! Definitely a must have for any cruising catamaran owner. The author offers many insights and helpful tips in sailing a cruising catamaran, including heavy weather tactics, sail trim, boat handling and anchoring tips, design characteristics, as well as some knowledgeable recommendations for those shopping for a cat.
When my first copy came in the mail I was totally drawn into if for about a week. This was by far the best book written about modern day cruising catamarans. Besides all the valuable info the photography is incredible. I was so impressed with the book that I showed it to a new catamaran owner I had recently met who was about to have a crew sail his FP Tobago (35ft) across the North Atlantic from Florida to the UK. Since they were all mono-hull sailors with no experience in sailing cats I thought it'd be a great idea for them to read prior to their departure. I let them borrow it for a few days and that's all it took. The owner begged to buy this book from me. I was glad knowing that it would be valuable addition to his boat. Last I heard the book was in the Azores - after successfully sailing through a Force 7 storm.
In summary, this book deserves all 5 stars and is equally suitable for your boat and/or your coffee table at home.
Kevin Welsh
S/V Bladerunner
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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