the original trimaran was just having 2 logs as floats ....
and a lite structure to connect them to the main hull !
now ... modern designers > had this great idea >
to make those 2 tiny floats into as long and nearly as big
as the main hull ...
to having all this connecting structure
to having this high a mast and sail area !
this night mare has its limites befor a 100' loa
the original cat was properbly a freighter >
when 1 log was not enough to carry all those goods to the
nexts island !
having only a limited boa > limited sail area !
because it was not a long distance sailor .....
now ... modern cats are either a over blown beach cat
see ... AC 72 ... or a high rise cat .....
both are of cource a waste in materials
not the ideal long distance sailing vessel !
the modern proa > like those of russel brown >
are having a float too big > a connecting structure .....
and are still not safe >
this lee pod > more of a danger
since if it would be buried in a big enough swell
we would see it turning over an just this lee pod
see http://proatech.org >>> wave.gif
now our rob denney had this great idea of putting the crew into the
float
so they would act as the constant live balast >
just one thing wrong with this >>>
those poor things are not much better of ... if standing out there
since their float is not nearly as comfortable a ride > as the
lee ward main hull
now ..... if you will look at the vector fin proa >
you have a minimum on weights for this one beam and 1/3 or less
float !
and this vf or hvf is providing all the stability needed for any
wind .....
thereby the float will be flying with the hvf most of the time .....
http://proadesign.com