Concept 63: Whitbread Comparison
There is nothing like having real information on the performance of a boat. During the winter of 1999-2000 Bill Shuman, the owner/builder of Heron a Concept 63 catamaran made a cruise from Bermuda to the Virgin Islands, then went on to Belize in the western Caribbean and then up across the Gulf of Mexico to Pensacola, Florida. The major part of this cruise was done in 3 legs, the shortest distance between the start and end points totaling 2,750 n. miles. The total elapsed time for these 3 legs was 292 hours. This results in an average speed made good of 9.4 knots. All of the 3 legs were done with a crew of two. The first two legs were sailed by Bill Shuman and Kirk Ward. Neither of these guys are slouches when it comes to boats, both have sailed a great deal and they like to sail fast. But neither are they racers. Heron is Bill's home and he is relatively conservative. Blowing up sails or tearing the rig out of the boat is not considered an option. Cocktails are always served at sundown. The boat is balanced for autopilot steering most of the time and speed is restrained enough to achieve a reasonable level of comfort below. Kirk is a charter captain with great sea sense. He has done many ocean miles and has been rescued off a sinking boat during a North Atlantic delivery. He's not the type to take unnecessary risks.
So what does this mean? How fast is 9.4 knots over distance? Because the information is readily available, an easy comparison can be made to the performance of the Whitbread 60's. This is a monohull class designed for the Whitbread ÔRound the World Race. They are state of the art in design and construction and absolutely everything that can be done to make them go faster is done. They are very light, with deep keels, very tall rigs, the latest is high tech sails, and typically crewed by 10 to 12 world class racing sailors. A Whitbread 60 is one of the fastest ocean racing monohulls. The race is 31,600 miles long and sailed in 9 stages. The crews have the opportunity to rest and refit the boat between each leg which insures that they can push the boat to the max for the entire race.
In the first leg of the 1987 Whitbread Race the 10 participating Whitbread 60's completed the 7,350 mile course (from Southampton, England to Cape Town, South Africa) at an average speed of 9.48 knots.
How does the Concept 63 cruising catamaran compare to these state of the art race boats?
Heron, a comfortable cruising boat with a crew of two, made essentially the same average speed over nearly 3,000 miles as a typical Whitbread 60 crewed by 12 and pushed to the limit night and day. And Heron did this with 10' less draft, one half the mainsail area, and less than half the cost!
I think maybe we're on to something.
Below is e-mail from Heron during her cruise:
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 11:38:36
Subject: Bermuda/USVI trip
Leaving Bermuda we jumped out into 25-30 easterly, knocked the top off a few waves with the forward beam coming out of Town Cut. Bore off in 10-20' seas, breaking, with 6' chop on top. Sailing under full main and handkerchief jib. Boat speed around 10-12, seas kept it down. Sea settled slightly, 10'-17 feet, wind maintained, for the next 500 miles. Very sloppy, very steep beam sea with periodic explosions under the wing. Then we passed through some old frontal activity, squally stuff for 8-10 hours, broke out into a fine sailing day, one of those perfect ones you don't forget, 12-15 on the quarter, slipping along 9 knots. Up to 19 when we caught a wave. Went light, motored 5 hours, then filled in again for the finish. Kirk had never sailed the boat before, he saw 22 knots boatspeed before he had even seen the whole jib, let alone any mizzen. After Town Cut, we never again buried the fwd beam. No cracks underneath or anywhere else that I could find. Rudders still perfectly aligned(after 8500 miles). We took a pretty good beating the first 500 miles, we were both tired sore old men just from sail changes and hanging on. We're better now, today going down to St Croix.
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 20:45:36 -0000
Subject: Run to Belize
We're squirting along under full main and spinnaker, no mizzen to screw up
up the flow, 15-20 ENE wind, boatspeed 9. Up to 19 when we catch one. Left Wednesday morning 1000 hrs, took down the spinnaker for 5 hrs last night, real
nice sailing; be halfway across Hispaniola at midnight.
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 11:56:46 -0000
Subject: Run
Now 60 miles south of Haiti, 200 from east end of Jamaica, mon. We're basically going strait thru, Kirk wants to bug off from Belize, go home take care of business; he and
Joan will visit in Belize later in the winter. Seen 20 knots boatspeed quite
often. Surfing, have seen 22 knots three or four times. The boat's doing well. Right
now we have 25knots on the ass, full main and partial jib wing and wing,
big sea. We're moving from 9 to 20 when surfing, pretty comfortable.
Bowsprit and chute work well. Haven't caught a fish yet.
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 18:18:04 -0000
Subject: workstation
Right now we are under spinnaker alone, dead downwind in 15 to
17 knots, doing 9-10 on the 'rum' line. Stopped in Montego Bay last night for
a sleep, headed west this am. The boat is steering well, yesterday I
adjusted the pilot's setting and got good results. Knock on wood, that
thing has been great. Kirk calls this Campbell's Condensed sailing,
things happen fast. - Bill
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 02:52:08 -0000
Subject: workstation
There's no comparison in performance and comfort with monohulls; but it is back to the gocart and golfcart analogy, you've got to pay attention on these things. This boat will reach up from 10 knots to 20 in a heartbeat. Sail reduction has to happen in time. It's compressed sailing at times with things happening fast. Then there are days like today; we're still running under the same spinnaker set, now with mizzen, loping along at a steady 8-11, free easy miles, hope it lasts the rest of the night.
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 18:38:04 -0000
Subject: C-63
You know 24 hr runs, there's always something to screw them up. Day in, day out this boat does 240 n. miles dependably. While we've had some great conditions on this trip, but they invariably don't last for a full 24 hours; our best is only 265. That was on the Caribbean leg, the trip from Bermuda was too rough to do over 240.
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 22:32:14 -0000
Subject: Gulf trip
Had a good trip from Isla Mujeres to Pensacola, FL, 53 hours, 550 miles, picked the right window; it was March after all. The trip from Livingston, Guatemala was casual but respectable, stopping nights and a couple of nights in Isla Mujeres; about 1000 miles in 7 days. When Heron left Isla I predicted margaritas in Pensacola @ 1630 hrs., March 30. They were in progress @ 1617 hrs., March 30.
| For comparison the principal dimensions are given below: |
|---|
| Concept 63 | Whitbread 60 (typical under rule) |
| LOA | 63' | 64' |
| BOA | 26' 4" | 17' |
| Draft | 2'8" to 9' | 12.5' |
| Weight | 28,000 lbs. | 29,700 lbs. |
| Mainsail | 635 sq/ft | 1260 sq/ft |
| Jib | 430 sq/ft | 890 sq/ft |
| Spinnaker | 1,500 sq/ft | 3,000 sq/ft |
| Mast height from LWL | 64' | 90' |
| Crew | 2 | 10 to 12 |
| Approx. Cost | Under $1,000,000 | Over $2,000,000. |
