We are all searching for the perfect cruising dinghy and we all have our own pet list of needs and desires. Nevertheless I feel that Movin’ On’s catalogue of virtues would satisfy most people. As with any loved one, we think her good points are without number, but I will list just the main ones:

1) She is roomy, having frequently taken two adults, two teenagers and a small child in relative comfort. She has room for quite a spacious boom tent.

2) She is very stable. She can take a full crew standing on the gunwale without shipping a drop and, in four years of sailing the North Sea coast, has never even come near to capsizing.

3) She is virtually unsinkable and has a self-draining cockpit.

4) Plate up, she has a very shallow draught and dries out on an even keel.

5) Above all, she is very fast for a small boat. For instance, she once made the passage from Bridlington to Hornsea on the Yorkshire coast (about 11 miles) in 90 minutes, beach to beach. Even the return journey, with dead foul wind and tide, took only 3¼ hours.

If you think all this is too good to be true you may wonder, as we do, why the Whitehead family appear to be the only DCA members who are hooked on catamarans.

Movin’ On is a 22 year old Shearwater with GRP hulls and a ply bridge deck. We bought her almost by accident when, on moving to Bridlington, a friend persuaded us to join the dinghy section of the local yacht club and she was the only craft for sale on the club notice board.

Having handled only monohulls before, we approached ‘cat’ sailing somewhat tentatively, mindful of the folklore about their lack of safety. Her ‘long legs’ were an immediate plus point for us, enabling us to see much more of the coast in a day’s cruising than would have been possible with an equivalent monohull, and tacking was no problem as long as we kept sufficient way on her. My wife was ecstatic; the ability to sail upright reversed her slowly declining enthusiasm for small boats. We also discovered the boat’s capacity to take a ‘look-out’, standing upright on the weather hull, hanging on to the shrouds, without noticeably affecting the trim.

It was, however, a mishap brought about by our own inexperience which gave us that full confidence in her which is a ‘must’ for coastal cruising. My eldest son, Simon, and I had been pottering about Bridlington Bay and had, as usual, stayed out much longer than arranged. The wind was a gusty 4-5 across the tide and we were racing for the beach with the characteristic ‘rocking-horse’ motion and the weather hull just lifting. The seas were short and steep and we had just topped one crest and were surfing down the back face when a strong gust hit us. Movin’ On accelerated like a startled horse down into the trough and straight into the face of the next sea; she didn’t even try to lift, but buried herself before stopping as if hitting a brick wall. For one long moment my son and I stared at each other — up to our waists in ocean, the boom just clearing the water and not a sign of the rest of the boat. Then, like twin submarines, she lurched to the surface shedding water in all directions. Within minutes we were on our way again, soaked and shaken with a snapped outhaul, but with a greatly increased respect for our craft.

After that, we sailed her up and down the coast in all directions, much to the horror of the ‘round-the-buoys’ crowd at the club. We had a number of years’ pure enjoyment from her and were about to modify the standard rig to a more weatherly ketch layout when, without warning, it all came to a halt. I was made redundant and, after a tough job hunt, had to move to the Midlands.

As the house into which we moved had no access for such a long and wide trailer, we had to leave her behind in the club pound. None of the inland clubs within driving distance wanted a ‘cat’, so we bought a Mirror and, as things will happen, Movin’ On became pushed to the back of our minds except for the occasional “we must do something about her before she gets too old”. It was not until earlier this year that we made the effort to drive north and take a look at her.

We were horrified!

In spite of being in a locked club pound, she had been stripped of every fitting. Even the hull hatches had been ripped out leaving jagged holes in the ply decks. The pop-riveted mast fittings had been drilled out and taken. To say that we were shattered is an understatement.

Looking at her remains we realised something we had almost forgotten. ‘Cat’ sailing is something above and beyond the norm. We had to regain the joy of fast, roomy cruising even if it meant trailing for many miles. I decided, then and there, to make a survey of suitable craft and, as we were tired of being lone ‘cat’ cruisers, to lay the fruits of my research before the DCA members. Writing to a number of multi-hull designers I laid brief requirements before them and asked if any of their designs would satisfy the needs of the DCA membership. I received three very helpful replies, as follows:

Richard Woods of Torpoint, Cornwall, has a number of ‘micro-multihull’ designs. These are generally a little large for our use, being between 21’ and 26’ LOA. They have trampoline decks, with small cabins in each hull. They strip down for convenient trailing and, although primarily designed for competition cruising/racing, with some thought could become very handy DCA craft. Strider is typical of these Woods craft (see Fig 1).

Derek Kelsall of large, ‘high-tech’ multihull fame, has nothing suitable in existence at the moment, but is working on a design which would take up to six, day-sailing, and sleep up to four under a deck tent. The hulls would fold up over the solid bridge deck for ease of trailing. Further details are a little fluid at this stage.

I read the final answer to my queries and realised that I had struck gold. James Wharram of Truro, Cornwall, has been designing catamarans for home construction for many years and, although you might not go along with his fascination with Polynesian culture which features prominently in his literature, there is no denying that his ‘cats’ are practical, down-to-earth cruising craft and the smaller end of his range fits right into the DCA bracket.

One design which, although a little on the large side, would seem perfect for quite extended cruises, is the Tiki 21 (see Fig. 2). The sketch has a rather under-size crew which makes the craft look somewhat larger than life, but the general impression is of a seaworthy craft with well thought out features, including a very neat looking ‘pram-hood’ type tent. She strips down completely for trailing, which should make storage and handling ashore a great deal easier than our rigid ‘cat’. Coincidentally, I see that an American member, writing in the spring edition of the DCA magazine, is building one of these.

The other Wharram design which I feel would recommend itself is the Hitia 17 (see Fig 3). This is a brand new design which has most of the features which coastal cruisers (or coastal trekkers, as Wharram terms us) would ask for. She is light, simple, with plenty of dry storage space, a pair of very ingenious kayak-style rough weather cockpits and a safe, loose footed sail plan. If I cannot resurrect Movin’ On, this is going to be my next ‘cat’

I was going to end-up with a recommendation to try a Shearwater like Movin’ On, but enquiries with the class association have revealed the fact that the solid-cockpit version was discontinued in favour of the more ‘modern’ trampoline only a year or so after mine was built, and now mine is almost a museum piece. Still, the class secretary, Mike Payne, admits that there is nothing to stop anyone buying a pair of hulls (they are available in both GRP and cold-moulded ply) and developing a cruising boat from there. They are 16’ 8” LOA and have plenty of reserve buoyancy where it counts. In fact the Shearwater is the only small ‘cat’ to carry a spinnaker.

Well, I think I have painted a fair, if enthusiastic picture of ‘cat’ cruising and the choices available. There are lots more small ‘cats’ around, many of them from failed classes, and I cannot describe them all. At the end of the day the choice is yours, but the next time you are fighting the ebb tide up the estuary or wishing that you had the time to make it round the next headland, just think what it would be like to double your speed and, incidentally, not to spend life at 45 degrees.

Try a catamaran: they’re habit forming!