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.
The Tornado is a double handed multihull class recognised as an International Class by the International Sailing Federation. It was used for the Catamaran discipline at the Olympic Games from 1976 to 2008.
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.
Nathan James Outteridge is an Australian sailor, a resident of Lake Macquarie.
Isabel Marques Swan is a Brazilian sailor. She won a bronze medal in 470 class at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Peter Burling is a New Zealand sailor. He is the skipper and helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand for the 2024 America's Cup defense. He was the 2021 America's Cup winning skipper and helmsman, and the 2017 America's Cup winning helmsman of Team New Zealand. Burling won an Olympic gold medal in the 49er class at the 2016 games and silver medals in the 2012 and 2020 Olympics.
John Forbes is an Australian sailor who competed in three Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal at Barcelona 1992 and a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Games.
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 Nacra 17 is a performance catamaran used for sailing. It was designed in 2011, went into production in 2012 and has been the focus of multihull sailing at the Olympic Games since its conception.
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.
Sailing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was held from 8–18 August at Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay. The sailing classes had two changes from the 2012 Summer Olympics events. There were 10 events.
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.
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.
Fábio Silva Pillar, also known as Fábio Dutra Pillar e Silva, is a Brazilian sailor who competes in the two-person dinghy (470) class. He was a member of the Brazilian sailing team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, finishing seventeenth along with his partner Samuel Albrecht in the 470 regatta. Throughout his sailing career, Pillar trains full-time at Clube dos Jangadeiros in his native Pôrto Alegre under the tutelage of head coach Paulo Ribeiro.
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.
Nicola Groves is a British competitive sailor. She competed for Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Matías Bühler is a Swiss sailor. Challenger for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, sailor in Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
Johannes Sebastian Polgar is a German sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) and keelboat Star) classes. Together with his partner Florian Spalteholz, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in eighth place. After the Games, Polgar decided to move into the Star class and eventually shared a gold-medal victory with his partner Markus Koy at the 2010 Europeans in Viareggio, Italy. A member of North German Regatta Club, Polgar trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his Norwegian-born personal coach Rigo de Nijs.
Florian Spalteholz is a German former sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) class. Together with his partner Johannes Polgar, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in eighth place. A member of North German Regatta Club, Spalteholz trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his Norwegian-born personal coach Rigo de Nijs.
John Gimson is an Olympic Silver Medallist and two time World champion in sailings Mixed multihull Olympic discipline. He lives in Congleton. In 2020 he became world champion in the Nacra 17 World Championship with partner Anna Burnet. They were selected for the British Olympic team and gained silver medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
