•••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

General Sailing Discussion
Post Reply
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

•••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

I'll be writing a book here on this forum about cruising my modded Supercat 20. Comments, critiques, suggestions, are more than welcome. I am prepping her for some multi-day excursions on the Chesapeake Bay this season. Safety is priority number one, speed is not really relevant, getting to the destination is the goal, gunk-holing along the way is the plan. 'Pack It In, Pack It Out' is my mantra, waste dumping is not allowed anywhere in the Bay, so there are some very interesting logistics to take care of, if you get my drift. The 'groover' has to be dealt with, as do all the cooking, cleaning and sleeping details.

Sea trials of 'the kit' commence this Tuesday with some shake down day sails to test the functionality of some of my winter creations. Most of the trips will be one boat, sailed solo. My Supercat 20 has a reduced beam of 9 feet, this makes her easier to launch and retrieve from the ramps around the Bay. It is actually wider than an Arc 21 but way narrower than the original beam of 12 feet. I have the stock 33 foot mast and a pin head sail. She is plenty fast but that is not why I love her. What I need most for this journey are the indestructible qualities of and the sea-worthiness of the Supercat build.

I'll add pictures and vids as things progress. Fair winds to all.
Kevin Keller
Professional
Posts: 362
Joined: September 24th, 2006, 2:56 am
Boat Make/Model: SC-20, ARC22
Location: Honolulu

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by Kevin Keller »

Cool. Looking forward to the pictures.
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

Quite a day, testing began in earnest. Sailed a day trip to Saint Clement Island and back. Early in the day we had enough wind to capsize one boat, then it died off entirely, high pressure set in, the heat generated some storm activity and the winds returned. I tested the new in-beam storage system, and some new tie downs, all went extremely well. I also used the new porta potty system, including transporting the waste back home. Not as difficult or nasty as one would guess. It was not really an absolute necessity as Saint Clements has facilities but testing is the only way to discover the bugs in the system.

Picture is of the 'private' Supercat dock on Saint Clement Island.

Video link is of the afternoon sailing back to port. I am trapped, holding the tiller, mainsheet, and camera, so please excuse the shakiness.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=oU1JoMjDJxk
100_0011 (800x450).jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

In the beam storage or the Supercat glove box:

Okay, confession time, I'm a Boy Scout, yes, died in the wool, 'always be prepared' type of guy. I sail with extra 'stuff', lots of it! This begets a storage problem. Much of this stuff is stuff that you hope you will never need, and that has NEARLY always been the case. HOWEVER this extra stuff has saved my bacon on two occasions and for that reason I never sail without my 'extra stuff!'

Every car carries a spare tire and a jack hoping that they will never be needed, and mostly we don't need them, but there comes an occasion you are so thankful that you have them onboard. Same philosophy with the stuff that I carry. Like the jack and the spare tire, I needed a location that is convenient, easily acessed in the most dire of circumstance, easily opened and closed (think blindfolded) and totally removed from the normal workflow of managing the sails.

My solution was inside of the beams. Here's what I carry and store inside the beams, marine flares, glo sticks, batteries, flashlight with strobe, boat title, proof of insurance, rudder springs, rudder rollers, rudder line, shackles, quick pins, ring dings, emergency rations, rudder wrenches, multi tool, tent poles, tent fly, propane bottle, waterproof matches, extra line, micro torch, first aid kit ............ and there's more. I'll have to pull it all for the complete list.

Next post I will add pictures of the end caps that I fabbed that make this all possible.
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

Just got back from the first 2 day, 1 night solo cruise of the SC20. It was................ outrageous, fabulous, a total ridiculous blast of a good time. BIG WIND, TROPICAL STROM BIG, rain, sun, white out conditions, quarter mile max visibility, becalmed as the front passed over, just about everything to test a mariner that one could ask for. More after I get some rest................
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

Here's a couple of pics of the slough that I spent the night in. This river had cut a breach through the sandbar separating the slough from the river. It created a mini tidal bore where the water rushed into the slough at flood tide and out of the slough at ebb tide. I got lucky with the timing of the tides and rode in with the flood tide and out the next morning on the ebb tide.
IMG_20150510_173039622 (1280x721).jpg
The winds blew strong from the SE all night keeping the site mosquito free. I slept on the tramp rather than on the sandbar not knowing how high the tide might rise. The passing tropical storm was pushing water in from the bay as well. It was a very comfortable night, as far as I know the hulls nver bottomed out.
IMG_20150510_172820913 (1280x721).jpg
May10 track.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

Planning has begun for the next major trip, a 4 day. The time frame is sometime in mid-june. The plan is to sail from Lewisetta, Virginia across the bay to Janes Island State Park, MD. Janes Island has 3 back country campsites that are boat-in only. These are typically used by sea kayakers but they take no offense if we sail into them. Janes Island has miles of white sand beaches, numerous gunk holes and plenty of shelter from passing storms. Camping is only allowed at the designated sites, permits are required. The camping is 'leave no trace' which I adhere to and agree with, the entire bay would be a cesspool if everyone using the waters dumped their waste.

Getting to Janes Island requires a passage through or around Smith Island. Smith Island is inhabited and has a commuter ferry that is quite popular in the summertime, I have done the crossing to Smith on several occasions. From Lewisetta it is a 28 mile (one way) sail to the harbor at Smith Island. In the past we have always done this as a day trip, returning to Lewisetta on the same day. There is lodging available on Smith Island in the form of B and B's, typically booked months in advance. About 50% of the land mass of Smith Island is a national wildlife refuge and is totally off limits to human traffic of any kind, if you are a birder, this place is heaven.

I finally got a chance to plot the trip over to Jane's Island on Google Earth. Prevailing winds on the Bay during the summer months are from the south. On a really good day it is a one tack beam reach over to Janes. The only downside is that you can get cramps from being on the same tack for 3-4 hours.
Trip to Janes.jpg


Oh' I forgot some great news!!! I picked up my new 'groover' from Goodwill yesterday for the princely sum of $3.99. It is the Reliance back country wag bag model, normal retail is $39.95!!! I will remove some extraneous junk to lighten it up some but whoa! some days you're pulling carrots and up pops a gemstone.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
T Peterson
Professional
Posts: 69
Joined: October 14th, 2010, 4:00 am
Boat Make/Model: Supercat 17
Contact:

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by T Peterson »

Hi there - looks like a fun project. In 1990 I took a month off and sailed from Chicago to Mackinaw Island and then back down to Door County. I day sailed and slept on the boat on the beach at night. It was a fun trip and I even got an article published in Multihulls Magazine. Here are a couple photos of my gear and setup. I did not have to pack out my poop... Keep up the postings - they are fun to read.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

T. Peterson, thanks for the pics!!! Would love to hear more of your journey. Do you still have a copy of the article? I like your deck set-up. How many days did you sail and how many lay-over days did you do? What was the total distance sailed? any idea? Catamaran sailing seems to be going into one of its' down cycles thusly the ranks of cat-sailors are thinning (I gather this from the sales of used boats, the numbers turning out for regattas and the board postings on the internet, all three are pretty anemic) Catamaran campers are an even more rare breed.
T Peterson
Professional
Posts: 69
Joined: October 14th, 2010, 4:00 am
Boat Make/Model: Supercat 17
Contact:

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by T Peterson »

I'll try to attach a copy of the text from the Multi-hulls article. It would have been great to have a hand-held GPS on the trip but it was 1990 and I don't think they were around yet. I also just looked back at my journal and I'm surprised how young, inexperienced and dumb I was. I have since sailed across the Atlantic (on a monohull) twice and have a new frame of reference as to what scares me.

Putting the tent on the boat was an accident... I lifted it up off the beach one morning to shake off the sand and then set it on the boat to dry out for a minute and went duhhh! What a great place to sleep and not have to worry about the boat going away - I would be sleeping on it! I also liked sleeping on the boat because I thought I would be less likely to be accused of camping somewhere illegal - I could say I was just sleeping on my beached boat.
Sailing Lake Michigan Multihulls Copy.pdf
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Mac M
Professional
Posts: 232
Joined: June 13th, 2012, 5:05 am
Boat Make/Model: SC17
Location: Lugoff, SC

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by Mac M »

Great article and adventure!
havliii
Professional
Posts: 272
Joined: March 27th, 2011, 8:12 pm
Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 19, Modded SC20
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia

Re: •••••••• CRUISING THE SUPERCAT 20 •••••••••

Post by havliii »

Many many thanks T.

Really great account of your trip, I gleaned some tips that I will definitely use. I am currently working on my reefing system, the SC20 carries a large amount of canvas for a solo sailor, so reefing is going to be critical. I have been doing all my sailing (this season) solo for the practice, so far so good. Some days main and jib, others main only and once jib only.

Your trip is a real inspiration, thanks again for posting the account.
Post Reply