Discussion: Bareboating or Guest?

Your vacation sounds delightful. Did you always cook aboard? Anchor or moorings? Glad the weather co-operated. But I guess at this time of year the trade winds are quite reliable.

It's my cousin's boat. An avid sailor, he bought a 43' catamaran on retiring and hopes to make a go from occasional chartering. His wife is an incredible cook. No need for a mooring in a harbor. It costs, and the water's not as clear etc for swimming. Mostly south/SE winds but not a given.

Away from the frozen north.

Looks nice, but after a while I would miss the skiing...

How do you like cat sailing vs single hull? I've had crewed charters on each, and for that type of tropical gunk-hole sailing, I think I prefer the shallow-draft multi-hull boats. As skipper, you seem to worry a lot less about navigation, and 'finding the channel.'

For which I guess you sacrifice some points of sail, and beating to windward in many cases. So transits for cats may require more time at sea, that is not made up by greater hull speeds.

They definitely don't point - some 60deg from the wind. Great tropical platforms for room, for swimming, for their shallow draft and stability. I think they were the most represented type of sail in the Abacos.

Bubo: a Frenchman is credited with saying, in so few words: “all the palms in paradise would I trade for a few pine needles in the snow” to which I agree.

Well...60deg doesn't sound too bad. Unless your cousin's boat was also difficult to tack. I've seen cats that have to be jibed half the time because they just couldn't swing through those upwind 120deg without getting blown off, before going through the wind.

And if there are pretty strong winds, going through a jibe, with the seas running high, can be terrifying!