Interview with Dan Feldman of “Cirrus” - Michael Quick, 2017
Admitting self-interest here, I have always been a bit curious about multi-hulls over the past few years, especially in terms of their sailing benefits/disadvantages and the very different sailing characteristics. My interest peaked a bit more seeing them in action last season, and in particular one boat named 'Cirrus', which seemed to take command of the river on both light and heavy wind days.
“Cirrus”
On light days, she would glide along the water near effortless motion like it were an Iceboat. This was like no other sail boat that I have seen before in many ways, cutting along as if she were a mono-hull with 15mph of winds on broad reach; though obviously much less tactile or thrilling under calmer conditions. On a windy day this vessel seemed for a lack of better words seemed determined for speed as she appeared to have the fortitude of something with big block potential. On one day in particular last year in August, the wind was punishing boats on the river at 18-20 mph easily. Many boaters were sensibly reefing, and you could see the brief hard leans as the gusts picked up. Except for one boat. From the view of the club, seemingly out of nowhere Cirrus came ripping down the river from behind Esopus Island, crossed the end of the Island and quickly headed back North towards the Norrie Point shoreline. It was so quick that I wasn't even able to get the lens cap off my camera. The wind was blowing up the river so when the wind hit her stern, she accelerated to impossibly fast speeds which would have been capable of pulling a water skier (it seemed). She must have easily reached what seemed to be 20-30 mph. After these observations, I was keen on meeting the owner of this ship and learn a little more about her. The owner of this ship actually has commercial ambitions as he co/owns the business HudsonSailing.com LLC, Dan Feldman (info.hudsonsailing @gmail.com). They are based out of Kingston, NY and offer charter outings on the river.
Dan Feldman began sailing about 45 years ago in summer camp. Then one of his best friends belonged to a yacht club and he would sail with him and his family. He later bought laser when he was 16 and began racing. Later he owned and raced a couple of international 14's and got his real taste for high-performance sailing. Dan moved to the Hudson River Valley in 1985 to go to graduate school for art and have stayed ever since, he has lived in Kingston and Stoneridge where he currently resides. I then asked how Dan got into the charter business in Kingston of all places and why, in which he replied: "In 2004 I was hired to take my dentist and a group of his friends on a bareboat trip in the British Virgin Islands. I thought it was a great way to make some extra money and I came home and began the process of becoming a licensed captain and finding a boat. I had already sailed the corsair F 28r and I knew that was the boat I wanted to buy because it's spacious capacity and speed" He also lamented about the charter business in general "I love the charter business I get to meet a lot interesting people. I have seen some really magical moments with people experiencing the freedom of being on the water for the first time or families just having an amazing bonding time. A lot of times people are coming from stressed-out week of work in the city and they are able to relax in a way that they didn't know was possible. Mostly I love the satisfaction of sharing something that I truly love to do."
The boat that Dan sails and has owned since 2004 is made by Corsair, an American Trimaran manufacturing company (well sort of). "The Corsair 31 [Trimaran] sets the standard for sailing performance in a user friendly, easily transportable boat. Sailing the Corsair 31 is pure fun factor, combined with easy trailering makes it unique and extremely versatile. This immaculately maintained boat is ready to win races and cruise to the island for the weekend or both.".
I asked Dan how the boat feels compared to a mono hull? For example, does it feel lighter over the water, harder/easier to sail up wind. Dan explained that it's a completely different experience from sailing a mono-hull. Cruising upwind at 10+ knots is not uncommon and the helm is so light I can let go and she won't round up. "Reaching downwind speeds of 20+ knots are possible and of course there's nothing more thrilling than going that fast on a sailboat. A number of things are different in terms of boat handling. Upwind It's important to steer quickly through the tack so as not lose too much speed and then bear away more than normal before trying to point. Tacking under main alone, there is a tendency to stall. Oversteering with a big ease of the main sheet is required to avoid this."
Dan on the best features of the Trimaran sailing experience - "Downwind is where the real fun starts. We use high-performance sailing technique which utilizes the increase in apparent wind speed and forward angle to the degree where you are actually sailing upwind. Basically, we put up the spinnaker and head up to a beam reach. As we accelerate, the apparent wind angle moves forward and we bear away keeping it over the beam. It takes traditional sailors a little time to get used to sailing such high downwind angles and traveling the greater distance. It's very energetic with lots of jibing. I never sail dead downwind with the main up. Because the shrouds are fairly well aft, the boom can't be let out far enough to avoid an accidental jibe. If I want to cruise leisurely like that I'll set one of the headsails by itself. One of the most important things about sailing trimaran is to avoid capsizing. This may sound obvious but you can't make any mistake. You can dip the mast of a mono-hull in the water and recover but not on a tri. That said as long as the boat is not over canvassed it is extremely stable." This all seemed really amazing, especially for a boat that has a standard outboard motor, and can fold up within minutes to fit onto a trailer or slip. So it begged me to ask the question, what is the downside to this? There must be a glaring issue? Oh I know, you a lot of crew need crew to go out? So I asked Dan "Do you ever sail it yourself? Or is there always crew?" Dan replied that "Yes, I have sailed Cirrus by myself in fact even competed in one of the Kingston sailing club races single-handed. [but] It's much more fun to have crew." It should also be noted that the physics, therefore the engineering, of a trimaran is so different to a mono-hull. It is not right to think that a trimaran is just a mono-hull with training wheels – the whole needs to be designed in sync, as there are dynamic values, not least which is ft lbs on the amas [floats] --these are completely different for a tri coming off a wave onto an ama’s bow to the mono absorbing all that in the forequarters near the bow. Hence, the main hull factor still exists, given a certain angle to the waves but it is expressed as a percentage of the total load at any one time. In other words, the force on the boat, is distributed and that can only be good.
I ask Dan the disadvantages he has encountered with the Tri: " There really aren't any disadvantages other being slow dead downwind. I would say the beam is a problem when you trying to get a slip sometimes. Also, it may go without saying but this is not a Bluewater boat. I would probably prefer a mono-hull for any major ocean passages." He furthered his sentiments about his Corsair Trimaran by saying that without question he likes the trimaran sailing much more than mono-hull. To Dan it's so comfortable at high-speed's and so spacious - And the net's in between the hulls are fabulous to lounge on. That sounds promising, he can count me in!
