A catamaran is a watercraft with two parallel hulls of equal size. The distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts resistance to rolling and overturning. Catamarans typically have less hull volume, smaller displacement, and shallower draft (draught) than monohulls of comparable length. The two hulls combined also often have a smaller hydrodynamic resistance than comparable monohulls, requiring less propulsive power from either sails or motors. The catamaran's wider stance on the water can reduce both heeling and wave-induced motion, as compared with a monohull, and can give reduced wakes.
Dinghy racing is a competitive sport using dinghies, which are small boats which may be rowboats, have an outboard motor, or be sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern sailing dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan, and techniques such as planing and trapezing.
Hobie Cat is a company that manufactures watercraft and other products as the Hobie Cat Company. "Hobie Cat" can also refer to specific products of the company, notably its sailing catamarans. Its fiberglass catamaran models range in nominal length between 14 feet (4.3 m) and 18 feet (5.5 m). Rotomolded catamaran models range in length between 12 feet (3.7 m) and 17 feet (5.2 m). Other sailing vessels in the Hobie Cat lineup include, monocats, dinghies, and trimarans, ranging in length between 9 feet (2.7 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m). Its largest product was the Hobie 33, 33 feet (10 m) in length. The company's non-sailing product line includes surfboards, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, pedalboards, eyeware, and e-bikes. It was founded in 1961 by Hobart (Hobie) Alter, who originally manufactured surfboards.
The A-Class Catamaran, often abbreviated to A-Cat, is a development class sailing catamaran for singlehanded racing.
The Formula 18 class, abbreviated F18, is a non-foiling, restricted development, formula-design sport catamaran class. It was started in the early 1990s and quickly grew getting class recognition by World Sailing, with large racing fleets all over the globe.
The Formula 16 (F16) sport catamaran is an ISAF recognised 5 m long beach catamaran with an asymmetric spinnaker setup.
The term beachcat is an informal name for one of the most common types of small recreational sailboats, minimalist 14 to 20 foot catamarans, almost always with a cloth "trampoline" stretched between the two hulls, typically made of fiberglass or more recently rotomolded plastic. The name comes from the fact that they are designed to be sailed directly off a sand beach, unlike most other small boats which are launched from a ramp. The average 8 foot width of the beachcat means it can also sit upright on the sand and is quite stable in this position, unlike a monohull of the same size. The Hobie 14 and Hobie 16 are two of the earliest boats of this type that achieved widespread popularity, and popularized the term as well as created the template for this type of boat.
A sailing hydrofoil, hydrofoil sailboat, or hydrosail is a sailboat with wing-like foils mounted under the hull. As the craft increases its speed the hydrofoils lift the hull up and out of the water, greatly reducing wetted area, resulting in decreased drag and increased speed. A sailing hydrofoil can achieve speeds exceeding double and in some cases triple the wind speed.
Nacra Sailing is a Dutch company that manufactures a line of small catamaran sailboats, or beachcats. NACRA was founded in 1975 to tap into the market created by Hobie Alter the founder of Hobie Cat, and several other companies offering small fiberglass catamarans designed to be sailed off the beach by a crew of one or two.
The Viper is a performance catamaran used for racing; it is a one design within the Formula 16 class. It is recognised as a class by the International Sailing Federation.
The Nacra F18 Infusion was announced in 2006 and launched in January 2007 as a one design racing catamaran conforming to the Formula 18 class rules. It quickly developed into a class in its own right.
Nahid Pachai Gäbler is a Tornado World and European Champion and multiple mixed Tornado World and European Champion sailor. Her mother correspondent and interpreter Jette Pachai was from Fredericia, Denmark and her father Dr. Modjtaba Pachai from Tehran, Iran, the family moved back to Denmark in 1965.
The International B-class/F20 Catamaran, is a development class, on the comeback after the fracturing of the original B-class, into the myriad of one design, off the beach cats we have today.
Luke Ramsay is a Canadian sailor, who specialized in two-person dinghy (470) and mixed multihull classes. He represented Canada, along with his partner and Olympic veteran Mike Leigh, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and has also been training throughout his sailing career for the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club under his personal coach Ian Andrews. As of June 2015, Ramsay is ranked among the top 100 sailors in the world for the two-person dinghy class, and sixteenth for the mixed multihull class.
The Spitfire is a high-performance catamaran used for training and racing. It was designed by two Olympic gold medalists in the Tornado class, Reg White and Yves Loday.
Samuel Albrecht is a Brazilian sailor who specializes in both two-person dinghy (470) and mixed multihull classes. He has been selected to compete for the Brazilian sailing team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing seventeenth along with his partner Fabio Pillar in the 470 regatta. After missing out on the Olympic selection in 2012, Albrecht decided to turn his attention and eventually teamed up with Olympic bronze medalist Isabel Swan on the newly instated Nacra 17 catamaran for a chance to compete at his possible second Games in Rio de Janeiro. As of April 2015, Albrecht is ranked forty-fourth in the world for the mixed multihull class by the International Sailing Federation.
The Nacra 15 is a performance catamaran used for racing. It went into production in 2015. It was designed as a smaller version of the Olympic multihull class, the Nacra 17.
The Nacra 20 is a catamaran sailing dinghy that was designed by Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin as a one-design racer and first built in 1998.
Riley Gibbs is an American sailor. He qualified to represent Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, competing with Anna Weis in the Nacra 17 event.
The Nacra F16 is a Dutch catamaran sailing dinghy that was designed by Americans Morrelli and Melvin as a one-design Formula 16 racer and first built in 2011.
