Five expert tips for catamaran racing

Performance catamaran racing is growing hugely in popularity. Helena Darvelid shares some key learnings from her 84-foot Nigel Irens designed catamaran with Andy Rice for Yachting World:

Modern cruiser/racer multihulls have a high level of safety provided you know what you’re doing. Helena Darvelid has taken all of her experience from world record-breaking passages in all-out speed machines and applied that to the slightly less frenetic world of multihull competition in big races like the RORC Caribbean 600 and the Rolex Fastnet Race, where Allegra has won the division in the past two editions into Cherbourg.

Poor choices often come down to over-optimistic sail selection which can put the boat in jeopardy, but with planning and a good understanding of how the boat performs across the range of wind and wave states, almost any situation is manageable. – Full report