Catamarans: The Complete Guide for Cruising Sailors Hardcover - 2007 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

From the technical details to the luxurious lifestyle, Catamarans covers every aspect of cruising cats, giving you a "dream book" combination of how-to manual, buyer's guide, and coffee-table showpiece. Yacht designer and expert sailor Gregor Tarjan reviews the basic concepts of multihull design, construction, performance, and handling and discusses the latest developments in this important and comprehensive book.

Full of informative illustrations, graphs, and spectacular photos, Catamarans examines multihull seamanship and how it differs from sailing a ballasted monohull, revealing little-known tricks to get maximum speed from a cruising cat. You'll discover desirable attributes of multihulls and what to look for when purchasing your own. There is even a catalog of noteworthy production catamarans that will help you compare, rate, and evaluate different types.

This gorgeously illustrated book is the perfect introduction to the possibilities of these exciting sailing machines and an invaluable owner's guide.

Gregor Tarjan is a USCG-licensed captain, a merchant marine officer, a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and founder and president of Aeroyacht Ltd. (www.Aeroyacht.com), an internationally recognized brokerage specializing in cruising multihulls and large luxury catamarans, both sail and power. He has sailed more than 80,000 miles on multihulls and monohulls, performed dozens of offshore deliveries and transatlantic crossings, and crewed with such sailing luminaries as Dennis Connor and Yves Parlier on boats ranging from America's Cup yachts to 120-foot monster cats.

His professional background includes a degree in yacht design and a career as project manager for builders of large yachts. He is the author of numerous technical and seamanship articles for boating magazines and is considered one of the world's leading experts on multihulls. He lives with his wife and two sons on Long Island, New York.

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.

"An authoritative guide for novices and experienced sailors; the best book written on the subjects since the early 1990s."--"Trimaran" Jim Brown, renowned multihull designer

"In Catamarans, Gregor Tarjan shares his enthusiasm for yachts with two hulls, based on years of sailing all types. An excellent introduction."--Dick Newick, legendary catamaran and trimaran designer

"If 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."--from the Foreword by Charles K. Chiodi, publisher of Multihulls Magazine