The Boat:  The Classic Rig


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  Catapult was launched at the Southampton Boat Show in 1982 and in 1983 some 87 boats were sold.
The basic platform of the boat has not changed but the rig has gone through a long development period up to the year 2000, keeping it in the centre of catamaran sailing in the UK.

catapult cat  

 The original Classic rig covering sail No's 1 to 150 had a simple and distinctive design (pictured left with designer Jon  Montgomery creaming across Datchet Reservoir)

A very light 7m two-piece mast with a round 6.9m section supports a 10sq m Dacron sail, triangular with no battens.

To rig, the assembled mast is first pushed on the ground through the wide luff sleeve, and the shrouds attached through a window in the sleeve, before the whole rig is lifted into place and the boom then fitted. There are no battens and no halyard.

Sail fullness is adjusted by an articulated wish boom, with a tensioning line passing through the middle of the sail, providing powerful tension, putting a marked mast bend.

 Sail flow is observed by two sets of telltales in Perspex windows, and the only other controls are the downhaul and a fixed in-haul limiting foot stretch.

 

The Classic sail cannot be lowered on the water, but the sail can be furled by wrapping it tightly around the mast after lowering the boom. This can be very useful coming in, as at Calshot when the onshore breeze is up onto the steep beach, or cruising inland waterways.

catapult classic

Alastair continues to use the Classic for cruising, as it is very light and a little faster to rig. There is a pleasure in driving around in such a distinctive boat

For cruising, the rig is forgiving of any inattention, but the main advantage is that it tacks very quickly in tight waters.

 (The picture right is at the extreme top end of Portsmouth Harbour at the old slip at Fareham, up a channel 20 yds wide at the end. The wishboom has been slackened off --see picture below)

Cruising, you can usually choose not go dead downwind (the weakness of the rig) and it is as fast as any when in the groove on a tight reach.

 



 Below: The Classic rig at speed at Bewl in a Spring blow, the last time the rig won a TT race, showing the extravagant mast bend when the sail is tautened.

cats at bewl

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