by Keith Vining
Slung from a bipod mast, the lateen rig of this cat gives maximum performance on either tack or reach.
"King Kat" is a classy little catamaran that’s easy to build and easy on the pocketbook. What’s more, it sports a rig which makes it perform like a dream. The triangular sail, stretched between a sloping yard and a boom, has been slung from a short mast for almost as long as men have sailed. Apart from being beautiful in silhouette, it’s an efficient airfoil. A disadvantage has been that conventional (if stubby) mast. Of necessity, the yard and boom are slung to one side. This is fine when we’re racing along with the sail on the lee side of the mast, but what happens when we want to come about? Then the otherwise perfect sail wraps itself around the mast like a wind-swept skirt on a damsel’s leg--only the result isn’t so satisfying. Gone is the advantage, and unless we can find some way to hustle that sail around to the other side of the mast, what’s gained on the starboard tack is lost on the port, or vice versa. What’s needed is a sky hook to hold that yard up--and what we have in "King Kat" is practically that. But we have a pair of sturdy plywood legs holding that “hook” up and a stub mast to tie down the boom. Practical? Yes indeed, for on a catamaran we have a base broad enough to spread that bipod far enough to leave the sail clear at all times. Better yet, there are no stays to worry about. The top of the mast can be parted by loosening one nut, the bottom unhooked by tipping the legs outboard, the boom released by removing a pin and the whole wrapped up under the arm. The cat can then be used as an outboard.
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