REPORT ON THE SEAKEEPING ABILITIES OF THE WILDCAT

REPORT ON THE SEAKEEPING ABILITIES OF THE WILDCAT.

This is an honest apraisal of the seakeeping abilities of the Wildcat. A video was made during the trails which is available, just ask. Below are a selection of stills from the video which give some small indication of the sea conditions.

Conditions of trials. Southerly force 6-7. Wave height 9-10ft, wind against tide in race conditions.

Head seas.

In the conditions encountered which were fairly large ocean waves, breaking, I found that I was able to set the throttles at 1900rpm which gave about 15kts and she was able to punch into the waves head on. Overall I felt that she was equal to a good monohull in these conditions. The odd larger wave would cause her to land heavily, which really was to be expected, but I honestly couldn’t say slamming was an issue, often when you were expecting a really bad landing she would often land softly. I certainly could not have made better speed in either the Interceptor 38 or 42 in these conditions. Interestingly when doing the video conditions had deteriorated to such an extent at the harbour mouth that I was slowed to 8kts, displacement speeds and she was really comfortable, on one particularly nasty wave she shipped a sea green over the bow, but so would any mono hull, as you would appreciate from the video. Interestingly she did not display any particular pitching tendency’s and left me feeling that in really extreme conditions she would be able to make reasonable headway at 8-9kts. I think it would be fair to say that head seas on any catamaran are likely to be its weakest area so to have performed as well as she did is impressive. Another point where she scored well was in confused sea conditions, where a monohull could be rolled on to her side when caught by a combination of waves, head on and beam on resulting on her falling into the sea on her side impacting in effect not the V of the hull, rather the flat. The Cat was unaffected in these conditions, being unable to be heeled or rolled to any significant effect. In these conditions I would tie her with a mono hull. However in more moderate conditions she was tested in the week before, she performed better than a mono hull giving a softer ride and in chop of 2-3ft she is much smother, but that doesn’t really count!

Beam sea.

Running with the seas on the beam she was excellent, better than a mono hull simply because there was less roll, although in fairness the Interceptor 42 would have been very good beam on in these conditions.

Following seas

In following seas she was simply fantastic, much better than a mono hull. You could leave her run with the waves with out touching the helm, she never rolled or yawed or heaved as even a good mono hull would, indeed I would have been working fairly hard on the helm in the Interceptor 42 in these conditions and being mindful of the larger waves and the 42 is one of the best boats in a following sea, but the Wildcat was simply in another league. In one particularly steep wave which broke against the boat when I was at over 20kts I had to give a wheels turn of lock to hold course, but in any monohul I would have been pulling back on the throttles immediately, or not been able to hold it. Her advantage over a mono hull was most notable in quartering seas. In a mono hull when the face of the following wave hits the transom it imparts a rolling motion to occur, which if not corrected by at lest some helm will result in a yawing motion. Obviously how much helm is required is dependant on speed and sea conditions, but most importantly the monohulls handling ability. With the Catamaran there is so much stability that she doesn’t roll to any significant amount, there by simply not inducing yaw and not requiring helm correction. At no point did it ever remotely feel like the lee helm was digging in, causing a broaching motion which was the problem with older design UK Cats. On the Wildcat there is plenty of buoyancy in the hulls to prevent this.

Other points of note.

Ride dryness was surprisingly good, I was expecting the Cat to be quite wet lacking in the flair in the bow of a monohull. In moderate conditions only the odd puff of spray from the tunnel would wet the screens, and in heavier seas she was nearly as good as the 42, which is exceptionally dry. Prop ventilation was another point that was not an issue, I think only on two occasions during the making of that video (32 minuites) did she ventilate a prop.

In the final analysis the Wildcat makes a convincing case for itself. Its sea keeping is beter overall than a mono hull, as is its performance. For a work boat it is hard to beat. Against her however, as goodlooking as I have tried to make her, she dosn't quite have the grace of the 38 or 42. Also by her nature, accomodation is less effective than on a mono hull because your stuck with two small fore cabins rater than one large one. And by nature she is more expensive, as she is much more complicated and difficult to build than a mono hull, and requires two engines.

THE FULL PICTURE.

Phil Hunt, the owner of Jo Dan IV has tested his Wildcat in some horendous weather. Here is a letter from him and Dave Faithfull, an independant skipper who was with Phil during some testing moments.

At the end of January ‘JO DAN IV’ was sailed from Cork to her home port of Portsmouth . Undertaking the voyage were her owner Phil Hunt, fellow charter boat owners Dave Faithful and Steve……. All experienced skippers. During the voyage the Wildcat’s sea keeping was truly tested in some severe weather. What follows is a brief account of the voyage and a testimonial as to the capabilities of the Wildcat catamaran.

Below is the e mail received from Dave Faithful after the voyage.

Hello Frank

Firstly I would like to thank you for your hospitality, it is always a pleasure coming over to Ireland - good food, good drink (Guinness) and lots of boats - what more could we want?

As you know, I have always been very cynical about reports made by Boat Manufacturers as to how good their boats are so what could be better than to steam back from Ireland in Phil Hunt's new Wildcat. The night crossing on the Irish Sea was pretty uneventful; we had a following sea approximately 6ft swell - it was like she was on train tracks because she steered as straight as an arrow on the auto pilot which was accidentally switched off in the dark but we carried on the same course for at least another 20 minutes before we realised. We stopped in Falmouth to top up with fuel and decided to press on to Weymouth due to the bad weather forecast for the next few days. We left Weymouth the following morning having had a good nights sleep onboard. The forecast was SW 6-7 coming up Gale 8. As we got out about 3 miles we estimated the wind to be about Force 6. 10 miles down the line the weather deteriorated even more, it had to be blowing a good 7. We were going along at a steady 16-17 kts beam on which in itself was totally amazing. It was incredible how the boat was taking the waves with ease with no violent motion. Half way back we altered course for The Needles putting the weather on our stern quarter. At this stage of the game I would have been crapping myself by now had we been in a monohull boat, but the Wildcat handled it superbly with no lurching sideways. Normally I would have been fighting with the wheel trying to keep the boat straight but the Cat didn't falter and carried on in a straight line without a care in the world. The last 5 mile leg to The Needles put the weather on our stern. At this stage the sea conditions were atrocious with a 12-15ft sea running. I think it would be fair to say that the 3 of us were getting somewhat concerned for our own safety as none of us had ever experienced such rough sea conditions. On approaching The Needles, still stern into the weather, one wave lifted us up and as we went down the other side there must have been a 20ft drop (yes 20ft). I honestly thought "That was It" the Cat would have to fall sideways or bury its head straight into the next wave, but incredibly she touched down seemingly on a bed of air and rose up over the next wave (fucking hell what a rush). I would love to have got a photograph of our faces, it would have been a classic. Incidentally whilst all this was going on we were still doing 17kts.

To summarise this Cat is awesome. She won't fall off a wave, she won't slew round in a stern or quarter sea, she won't slam, she's pretty damn quick and I want one! She's the safest boat I have ever been on. Frank you should be proud of yourself, you've turned one old cynic into a believer and if my new Cat from Southboats (if it ever arrives) is as good as yours I will be a very happy man.

As I am not purchasing one of your boats, I class myself as an independent skipper with unbiased views and would gladly share my views with any potential purchaser of a Cat who would care to contact me, if this is of any help to you Frank

See you at the Boat Show.

Dave

JO-DAN IV MADEN VOYAGE 28^th Jan

Myself and two best mates, also charter skippers arrived at Cork airport and taxied down to the boat, where we find Frank finishing some small jobs after checking over the boat. Frank took us for a meal where we all had half a cow and a pint of the black stuff. From there we went to Franks yard to get the latest weather reports. As normal, four reports all total different, 6-7 SW, 4-5 SW,3-4 SW with a 7-8 SW coming in Friday.

We all went back to the boat and discussed what to do and at 11pm we said lets go for it. We left Frank on the pontoon and slowly made our way out of Cork harbour. Setting the auto pilot and throttles to 15knt we were on are way. Our biggest worry was the Irish Sea but on a clear night and with a large swell on a following swell we crossed without any problems. We sited Lands End about 8.15am with a great sigh of relief. With a bit of daylight we came up to 17knts and made our way down to Falmouth where we arrived at approx 11am. As we fuelled up with 600L, the weather reports were getting worse so we decided to push on to Weymouth . As we proceeded on our way the sea started to chop up and when we arrived at the rips off Weymouth at dusk it was very snotty, but still the boat stayed on course with out any problem. We moored up at 7pm and at 7.01pm we were downing our first pint, discussing how well she had performed in the rips and on the whole voyage.

We slept on the boat that night and froze our balls off. While fuelling up with 300L the next morning the weather reports were 6-7 SW going 7-8 SW later that day? We left Weymouth at 9.30am and made our way out into the channel where you could see the white tops. After clearing Weymouth the course left us with a beam sea on our starboard, and as we proceeded there were some huge waves slamming into our side at 14knts but once again the boat performed really well. We all agreed we would hate to be in a mono hull at this point, but on the Wildcat the auto pilot held the course smack on. Once we reached our last headland we made a slight change in course to go down to the Needles leaving us with a huge following sea right up our stern, there was white water everywhere, huge waves on our bows and up our stern and the weather was getting worse. Many a time she was surfing down 20ft waves at over 20knts during which we were expecting to bury the bows, but it just did not happen, she just flew up the huge wave in front and surfed down the next. After 4hours of this our confidence with the boat was mind blowing, we all agreed that none of us had ever been in such sea conditions and felt so secure. As we surfed into the solent and calm waters, we were all buzzing with how well the boat had performed we all admitted that at one time or another whilst at the helm we had nearly shit our pants thinking she’s not going to make this wave, but every time she come out with flying colours. We tied up on my berth at 2.30pm . Where all the families arrived to welcome us home.

Frank what can you say the boat is GREAT. The boat looks good, it can handle any sea. To me its like an express train on rails, it goes where you tell it to in any sea condition. You have well impressed me and also Dave and Paul.

WELL DONE FRANK

REGARDS PHILL HUNT

From myself, here are some more observations.

As I spend more hours running the Wildcat, I am getting a clearer picture or her abilities. The most relevant trail was today in a brisk force 5 westerly, with a good size S/W swell running. These were conditions which would previously have represented what was considered the edge of the operational envelope for a charter sea angling boat, with experienced anglers. Deliberately pushing it punching into the seas right on the nose I was able to maintain 18.5kts @ 2100rpm,(20kts in calm sea). The Wildcat never slammed once and it was only passenger comfort that caused me to slow down. In these conditions, at these speeds the Wildcat often became airborne, ventilating her props but the landings were always comfortable, I never felt the hulls were being stressed in any way even though in the interest of research I kept the throttles open into really large rollers when instinctively I wanted to pull back the throttles, The landings were amazingly soft, as example I could feel the aft transom sections re impact the water followed by the two hulls but without the slam that I was expecting on the bridge deck, which was really impressive. Eventually I slowed to 15-16kts, 1900rpm which I have discovered to be the sensible head sea speed, at this speed contact was maintained with the water and passenger comfort levels are very high and she would solider on softly and was very dry. In comparison with a monohull, and taking my 38 which is fabulous in a head sea, the same problem would have arisen whereby becoming airborne at 18kts+ would have forced you to slow down, not slamming or anything and it would be hard to separate the two in ability here, but the monohull would have been rolling and heeling much more, which of course is uncomfortable. Turning a few points off the seas improved comfort levels and allowed speed to be increased significantly again. Here the advantage of the Wildcat became apparent as there was no heeling or rolling and the more you turned off the sea the greater the advantage became.

I then stopped and observed her stability at rest for some time. I have to say the difference in comparison to a monohull was huge. In these conditions it was possible to stand in the middle of the deck without holding on indefinitely, sure you could have done it for a while in a good mono hull but occasionally a larger roll would cause you to reach out. Work would have been possible as would angling in amazing comfort in force 5 conditions.

At this point I should compare my experience aboard other catamarans. I have never been at sea aboard a South boat, but I have only ever heard they are fabulous. I have been on some of the older type, which had very fine hulls and wide beams. In small chop and seas they would be smother than the wildcat, slicing through the waves where as the wildcat be more bouncy and firm riding in comparison. The older type cat would continue to be smother up to a sea condition when the fine hull would slice through the wave and then impact on the wide low bridge deck with a big slam, and thus the operational envelope abruptly ends, beyond this, speed has to be greatly reduced, you would be feeling the flex between hulls and she would be pitching quite badly. Up to this point the Wildcat would be riding firmer, but as conditions worsen that firmness begins to give it the advantage, the bows lift up over the waves and there is no point when speed through the waves results in the hulls inability to lift up over the waves, therefore there is no abrupt end to the operational envelope as the hull is always able to lift over the waves with out slamming, it only being speed through the waves and becoming airborne, with the obvious stresses and discomfort that causes the reduction in speed. Because there is zero pitching as speed is reduced, as conditions worsen the Wildcat is able to continue reducing speed to match the conditions, the hulls always having enough buoyancy to lift over the waves, even right down to displacement speeds, when she really behaves much as a mono hull would in a head sea. It is this respect that the Wildcat will really prove impressive in that as sea conditions worsen she will prove more and more capable.

Running with the waves on the return journey was again, fabulous and needs no further comment.

So I feel confident enough to declare she is a very fine tool for working offshore. She dose not slam. It is as simple as that. She is also very dry. She is firmer riding than the older traditional cat designs in small sea states, but that’s irrelevant. Much more importantly she is able to operate safely and comfortable at both planning and displacement speeds in heavy weather.

From a performance point of view she is equal with the best other catamaran designs. At a light ship displacement, (boat only, no fuel or water or stores and equipment) of 8,550kg she is heavier than some of her rivals, but at the end of the day that’s just the weight of materials that went into building her, and she is heavily built! 26kts deed from twin 300hp Cats, which are heavy engines is, I think, pretty impressive. Clements engineering who build her stern gear have been able to calculate the following performance figures.

MERMAID 160hp 19.5 kts

MERMAID 180hp 20.7 kts

PERKINS SABRE 265hp 24.5 kts

PERKINS SABRE 300hp 26.7 kts

CATERPILLAR 3126 300hp- 26 kts

CATERPILLAR 3126 325hp- 27.25 kts

CATERPILLAR 3126 385hp- 29.4 kts

CATERPILLAR 3126 420hp- 30.7 kts

YANMAR 440hp 32 kts

IN DIRECT COMPARISON.

Results of a direct comparison of the Wildcat and 42 in force 5 conditions, one after the other.

In a third sea keeping trail in the top end of force 5 conditions I again tested the Wildcat. In head seas I was again able to maintain 19kts in to the seas without slamming, again as before eventually I was forced to slow down as a result of becoming airborne, Again I was amazed at how well she coped with the larger seas and was regularly astounded with her abilities. In order to be better able to compare the sea keeping abilities of the Cat with a Mono hull in exactly the same conditions, I went back to the marina and took out the red 42 motor cruiser. This boat has twin 420hp cats and is about the same performance wise, maybe a knot faster, that’s all. Keeping to the same speeds I saw able to make the following comparisons-

HEAD SEAS

The 42 felt bigger and more invincible, but she is 11 tons compared to 9. She imparted a feeling of being able to shoulder her way through it all more than the cat. NOT THAT SHE NECESSARILY COULD.

The Cat ventilated her props more, but it was not a problem

The Cat gave a softer ride into the seas, no question about it.

The bad landings on the Cat were less hard than the bad landings on the 42 and there were more hard landings on the 42.

The 42 was dryer, just.

The 42 was quieter.

They were both able to both make the magic 15kts in these conditions in comfort, but I had to give the nod to the cat in actual ability. If not desirability.

BEAM SEAS

The 42 was very good in comparison, but the Cat was better because it rolled less, they were both easy to hold on course.

FOLLOWING SEAS

After been on the Cat for so long I was pleasantly surprised by how good the 42 was directly down wind in direct comparison, but the Cat was still a bit better.

QUARTERING SEAS

This is where the Cat really beat the 42. I was quartering the seas, looking astern and was able to observe the crest of the wave boiling above the transom, yet the cat sat level in the water, and as she moved through the wave she remained more or less level. In the 42, sooner or latter there was always a ‘moment’ that moment being when the boat would heel suddenly and romp away on a surf. Now she was always easy to control and never did anything wrong, but you still occasionally got that ‘moment’ when you thought ‘fuck’

With the Cat you simply didn’t get those moments. The result being that I have never felt safer or more relaxed in following seas than I did in the Cat.

When you add up the pros and cons, the results are:

CAT, better in- 42, better in-

Head sea ability Head sea ability

Beam seas Quieter

Following sea Dryer

Quartering seas looks

Deck area Accommodation

Performance

Economy

Stability