Planing Catamaran Itzacat Speed Sailing Hydroplane

[stoichiometric]

Very tippy rig

[CottonSox7]

dayum baby thats fangin

[sailing96]

What company produced this when it was still in production? And do you think there is any chance of me finding one in the US?

[robraver]

Not the prettiest sail, huge crease there:) Holy crap though, sure goes well!!!! I would l love a little machine such as this...imagine the places you could sail without having to haul a great big trailer around.

In the UK there is some inflatable Cat on the market...its not the 'Catapult' this new one looks pretty darn ugly but has had some good reviews....but I would prefer the grp/foam board design...where can I get one?

[GregOrca]

@robraver

They are extremely rare even in Australia and I think only a few ended up in theUK. We stopped making them in the mid 1980s

Yes, very versatile with the car topping.

The best thing would be to try to emulate the design principles yourself unless one crops up on ebay?

The transport cost from anywhere other than the UK might be a bit steep!

Good luck!

[doughaines720]

confiscated - bloody hell!

[tonyboysax]

planning hydrocat is nearly finished,,from windsurfing stuff,,the only headache was the double rudder that i had to design and build from scratch,,,its finished now ,,first test at the weekend so i can set it up with slight weather helm

kayak sailing for speed frontpage

google the above,,and it should be the top link

[tonyboysax]

one thing i forgot to ask

did your design naturally want to round up into the wind--slight weather helm

or was it neutral helm

[GregOrca]

@tonyboysax

Hi Tony, sorry I don't think I answered this earlier. Pretty sure we set it up with a tiny bit of weather helm .

The amount of helm changed slightly depending how fast it was planing and how much the nose was lifting out of the water but I never remember it with any lee helm

[tonyboysax]

i have 8 different size sails to test

from 4.5 metre to 12 metre-the windsurf sails i have are handbuilt hi tech

and have great wing shape and rake,so although smaller than the sail on this vid

i rather fancy their design will make up for the smaller sail area

i have canted both hulls to allow for pitch,,my only worry is the shape of the boards,,i would prefer long straight hard chines ,,but will have to go with what i have,,a small dagger at the side may help if it bears away to much flying

[squarcitto]

are there any plans to buils this?

[GregOrca]

@squarcitto

This was a production boat sold in Australia and the USA in the early 1980s

I'd like one day to make a production version of the two man step hull 17ft boat we made back then as a single prototype.

A bit busy at the moment to get around to that

[squarcitto]

@GregOrca

I was thinking that I already have two big longboards, and maybe would be pretty easy to work on...Is there any similar project that you know?

Thanks!

[tonyboysax]

@squarcitto i am using my windsurf boards

there are pics on my facebook page

facebook.tony.sales

[squarcitto]

@tonyboysax Very interesting blog tony. Cheap&chic ;)

[tonyboysax]

hi greg

just wondered if you had tracked down the pics of the 17ft cat

my windsurf board cat is coming along nicely,,im,e ready to put the mast on now

and rig it,,last thing is building the double rudder,,thats giving me a headache

[GregOrca]

@tonyboysax

Hi Tony.

Good luck with that project. I was wondering how big your sail area will be. I think a normal sailboard rig area might be a bit small unless you expect strong winds.

I found my c.a.d. drawings from 1983 which were used in the 17ft cat design registration.

I have a single photo of my brother shaping the hulls but not the three slides we took of it at the beach. I loaned them to my engineering lecturer to show to his friend years ago and he has since passed .

[johnjtech]

@tonyboysax Hope you got your windsurf board cat done I'll look for posts if not I have lots of ideas to fix your double rudder problems.

[superhobieboy]

Nice boat but where is the skippers life jacket?

[tonyboysax]

how long is this version in ft,,somewhere around 14ft i guess

[GregOrca]

@tonyboysax

Hi tony. 3.7metres

[GregOrca]

@GregOrca Oh, sorry, that means 12ft

[tonyboysax]

very simalar to windsurf boards

i bet two w/s boards with this set up would perform well

[KOYOTE33]

LOL. Fantastic.

[FrekeOne]

Nice, You would go 2 times faster if You could get it to plane like a windsurfer.

[lego720]

look how twisted up it is a 1:25

[eNopLuSuS]

where's the hydrofoil stuff?

[MeanMarthur]

That itzacat has four hydrofoils. ie, two daggerboards and two rudders.

[eNopLuSuS]

nice, it looks cool. Although a bit flat from what I'm used.

[tonyboysax]

@MeanMarthur there is no hydrofoils,,just two dagger board and tiller rudders

[beachcomber2008]

Yours is definitely more stable than mine was. You seem a bit far aft.

That sail is rubbish - just as mine was.

What was the best speed you achieved?

[GregOrca]

That rear sitting position was good for locking your feet around the rear beam for hiking and precise control.

Having a flat hull and daggerboards meant the itza could turn and tack faster than any other cat..as fast as any monohull so small tiller movements made rapid changes in direction at speed and a secure position was helpful.

The aft position was good for trim angle for planing before we tried step-hulls, like up-trim on an outboard.

We had it paced by a skiboat around 40km'hr or more.

[GregOrca]

The friend's ski boat on this day on pittwater when we filmed had no speed meter, just a tacho so I have no idea exactly how fast it was going, but nowhere near as fast as it could with the better sail. Not even close. I wish we had had a vid cam on those days.

I remember blasting past hobie 18s and the incredible almost rock-hard hammering ride when it was really trucking over chop and lifting right over the top, skittering over the wave crests just like a sailboard. It Jiggled the eyeballs!

[GregOrca]

Notice how it easily keeps pace with the camera skiboat even though the sail used on this particular day was very poorly cut and the boat is generating a fraction of the power possible.