cats, tris and monos

Listening to a sailcruising podcast earlier this morning, a guest who had spent much of his long career sailing mono's but converted to (large) cats discussed the pros and cons of each form of sailing craft. 

* The cat hobby horses_or pitches in a head sea, and is noisy due to waves hitting the nacelle. 

* A cat's maintenance is high.

* Mono's will roll at anchor and heel while underway.

On the same topic Jim Brown  writes that mono's sink and multis go turtle, but you can survive on that turtle.

All the while I am thinking a small tri:-

*_would not pitch to an extraordinary level

* doesn't pound like a big cat with low slung/commodious nacelle.

* small and simple equals less maintenance and costs.

* don't roll at anchor, and can avoid exposed anchorages.

* Tris don't heel near as much as a mono under sail.

* Set sails according to wind and sea conditions and, as usual, prepare for a worst case scenario.

.    small tri, simples.