Sun Cats in light air

Posted By: Tom Ray
Date: 4/15/08 5:45p.m.

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The Sun Cat will sail in light winds. I have done it a few times in winds of only 3-5 knots. It will do all the things a sailboat should, including tack, but it is excruciatingly slow to come about and start moving again. Light air sailing in the Sun Cat will definitely teach you what it likes and does not like in terms of weight distribution. It likes to heel a little bit. Flatten it out, and it acts like you have started dragging a bucket along. The Picnic Cat is a lot more fun in light air. The Sun Cat really starts to move well in about 8 knots of wind. I was sailing this one yesterday, and one of the guys from the office shot this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DObkZpwng0 Winds were about 8 out in the harbor, and picked up to around 12 when we got close to the pier where the cameraman was standing. The wind was kind of broken up by the bridge, and there was also about a knot and a half of current flowing from the direction of the bridge. It makes the boat seem to be going slower than it is, and seem to slip sideways more than it does, but that's life on the water!