While sailing in the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the British Virgin Islands I noticed a peculiar catamaran heading in our direction. A two-masted catamaran. Have you seen a boat like this? Does it have a name?
How often do you see a sailboat and realize that it has a different sail plan or configuration and most likely has a different name?
This guide to sailboats should help you identify the types of sailboats you might encounter while on your cruising adventures.
You’ll be able to find even more info on these different type of sailboats in our series “What’s in a Rig.”
What type of a boat is this…?
Sloop:
A sloop rig is a boat with a single mast and a fore and aft sail configuration. Sloops date back to the early 17th century but didn’t really become popular until the 20th century. The likely reason for their popularity is their ability to efficiently head upwind and how relatively simple they are to control – great for short-handing.
Cutter Rig:
A variation on the Sloop is the Cutter Rig. Although it has gone through some changes through the course of history, the modern cutter rig is generally a set-up with two headsails. The forward sail is called the Yankee, and the one slightly behind it is the staysail.
Junk:
There are many who feel that this very old but very innovative sail plan is superior to the more popular and ubiquitous sloop rig and others. The junk is predicated upon fully battened sails, a characteristic associated with more modern racing vessels, and they typically lack any standing rigging (stays and shrouds). Due to the full batten set-up, the sails maintain an efficient, consistent shape and are fast, especially downwind. In a big breeze, junk owners will attest that they’re extremely easy to reef and, as an added bonus, are inherently self-tacking.
Ketch:
They are two masted rigs with a main mast and a (smaller) mizzenmast that is set in front of the rudder post – they carry a jib just like a sloop. Generally, ketches will be in the 40-plus foot range. The reasoning for this is that before sailing hardware was as advanced as it is now, designers were looking for ways to carry a good amount of sail but make it manageable at the same time. This configuration served that purpose and, while doing so, also gave sailors quite a few options for various weather conditions and situations.
Yawl:
Like, the ketch, a yawl is equipped with two masts, a main and a mizzen, but ordinarily, on a yawl, the mast is smaller and set behind the rudder post. While some yawl sailors contest the small sail configuration that hangs over the stern as an aid to heaving to and steadying life at a mooring, most concede the mizzen on a yawl is not what it is on a ketch. Typically, it doesn’t provide any horsepower to speak of or ease-of-handling benefits in splitting the rig like a ketch or schooner might.
Gaff Rig:
A gaff rig employs a spar on the top of the sail, and typically other sails can be set in conjunction with that mainsail with the gaff. Often, on the smaller, non-tall ship, gaff rigs, there will be a small triangular sail that fits between the main and the mast like a puzzle piece – this is the topsail.
Cat:
A cat rig is a single mast situated well forward, near the bow, which carries a large single sail and has no standing rigging, sometimes referred to as “unstayed.” An Optimist, Laser or Sabot are common (smaller) examples of a cat rig, but many bigger boats utilize the set-up.
Schooner:
A schooner is a sailboat with at least two masts, with the forward mast (foremast) being a bit shorter than the main mast. Although a schooner can have more than two masts, most were just two. During the time of their popularity, this smaller and better upwind setup allowed for a more efficient and manageable sailboat. It was the preferred choice of pirates, privateers, slaveship captains and others.
So what type of boat is this? Let us know. Find us on Social media and share your thoughts @AmericanSailing
Responses
I saw one this weekend in Galveston Bay and looked it up. I believe it’s Dick Newick’s Spark.
Catamaran
Schooner catamaran.
A cat ketcj. Lookd like a freedom.
Try: Bi-Masted Catamaran or Bi-Plane Masted Catamaran
Cat rigged catamaran
Since you asked for the type of sailboat and not the type of rig that the sailboat has and at the risk of being nitpicking, I disagree with your identification of the sailboats in your “What Type of Sailboat is This?”
1. Your first answer is correct.
2. The second boat is a cutter-rigged sloop.
3. Third is a junk-rigged schooner.
4. Fourth is a utter-rigged ketch.
5. Next is a sloop-rigged yawl (as opposed to a cutter-rigged yawl).
6. Sixth is a gaff-rigged schooner.
7. Next is a gaff-rigged cat or catboat.
8. Eighth is a gaff- and cutter-rigged schooner.
9. The last sailboat appears to be a cat-rigged schooner catamaran.
Ron Harben
S/V Puka Kai
Fantasia35
Morro Bay, CA
Catamaran Built by Spronk I think the name was Maho
Double Cat rig
Looks like its a Chris White design Atlantic 55, rigged as a cat schooner. Chris has also been experimenting with wing masts.
Biplane catamaran.
Bingo, Steven! Exactly right! You and the others who called it a biplane or bi-foil, are spot on. It is NOT a schooner, which by definition has a leading mast and sail, as well as a trailing mast and sail of similar proportions. It’s an issue of Front and Back (Schooner) versus Side by Side (Bi-foil) in the photo, or as in a biplane, Above and Below. The main purpose is to get more lift than from a single wing, just like Snoopy’s Sopwith Camel biplane! And, people might buy it, simply because it looks so cool, seems unique, and is effective.
Structurally it is a chore to put a mast in the middle of a bridge deck is the the standard practice with Cats. This design has advantages in that the masts are located on the hull like a monohull. I would think ease of sailing with the self tacking and apparent in boom furling would be attractive to many.
Looks like a schooner. Also looks like it would sail well. Any idea who makes it?
A cat rig cat !!!
I’ve seen the rig referred to as “biplane”. I sailed on a similarly rigged 60 ft cat built by Ballotta Cantiere Naval, Callao, Peru. That cat is a Kelsall KSS60 and is very similar to the one in the picture. You can see pictures at: http://www.ballotta.com.pe
Looks like the foremast is a bit shorter than then main mast, so perhaps a schooner rigged catamaran? Interesting rig.
Chris White Catamaran
CAT.
My guess would be a cat rigged schooner cat(amaran)
I’ve read some posts referring to the twin-masted masts set athwartship on each hull called a “Biplane Catamaran” by their aficionados. Notably, the designers of such boats don’t seem to use that term.
Catamaran
Designed by Chris White … it’s a ketch rigged catamaran whose two air foil shape 360 degree articulating masts provide 20 percent of the thrust and allow much more flexible sailing angles. The one docked in front of us in our marina (what are the chances) was made in Chili by a German company.
It’s a schooner cat.
Schooner rigged Catamaran
Schooner Catamaran
Wingsail
I think it’s called a Byplane rig
Don’t forget the skipjack, iconic boat in late 1800s in Chesapeake Bay.
Beautiful
This mystery rig is our catamaran called Saphira. We call the rig a bi-plane — it has two unstayed masts, one in each hull, fully rotating, boom-furling and reefing. The boat has only 2 square-top mainsails, no headsails or spinnakers. The idea is to simplify the handling so two people can cruise on it. She’s VERY fast!!
Mastfoil
It’s a biplane rig
cat with two wings or a double winged cat
Obviously a schooner because the first mast is shorter that the after mast. So which carries the mainsail?
double cat
Biplane rig
IT IS A SCHOONER WITH MASTS WHICH ARE THE SAME HEIGHT.
Could be a Sponberg or Kurt Hughes design.
A twin-masted catamaran ??
Two sloops with a mobile home welded between them
It’s a catamaran :-). I don’t recall any variations in naming akin to your monohull examples. A cat is a cat.
I think Schionning had an early design like that. It’s an interesting concept and I wonder if it reduces the tendency to tip. Still, the Cosmos is his greatest design…. if I could only afford one.
What about Brigs, barques, brigantines, fully rigged ships, etc.?
Looks like a modified Junk Rig
Parallel rigged catamaran.
I would consider it the catamaran version of a catboat. Call it a cat-cat.
Bi-plane cruising catamaran….?
Gaff rigged multi hull. Trimaran or cat, hard to tell.
It’s a mast foil catamaran.
This is a cat boat with a junk rig
It falls under the general cat definition, and those appear to be freestanding masts,
Probably stolen from a freedom 44 schooner.
Catamaran
from the angle, i’d call that a square headed bi plane cat.
The Correct Answer Is: Your photo is of a bilateral (or parallel) gaff-rigged, top-sail-less catamaran. It’s kind of like a WWI biplane lying on its side in the water, with the bilateral wings sticking straight up. Instead of a double head-sail sloop or cutter, it’s a double-mainsail rig! The closer the parallel sails are (to a point) to each other, they can create a lot of lift, in part by creating a “Venturi Effect”.
And, by the way, your photo of a “cutter” is not really a true cutter; instead, the photo is of a double-headsail sloop. A true cutter has the mast stepped at, or behind, the center of balance of the entire boat, usually above the center of balance of the keel, so the headsails pull it upwind, and the mainsail balances the boat at the helm, so a true cutter is a perfectly balanced single-hander’s boat, flies upwind better than a schooner, and is a breeze to sail (no pun intended) on most points, except watch out for the accidental jibes down-wind! For the purists, a standard wind-surfer is the purest form of cutter, where all sails are combined into one sail, which is centered exactly at the center of gravity of the combined weights of the boat and the sailor. And, two windsurfers riding closely in parallel can create the synergistic Venturi Effect, so both sailors can mutually increase their speed through the water. I’ve done it many times for over 40 years.
Some guy in California has a catamaran like this for sale: https://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/87846
Schooner Cat
Schooner, I agree with Rich!
But the picture of a “Ketch”, is really a cutter rigged ketch. A simple ketch doesn’t have two headsails