Gunboat 55 Hull #1 Is Dismasted

Rainmaker, the first of the much-heralded Nigel Irens-designed Gunboat 55 catamarans, was dismasted on January 30 in stormy conditions 200 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras. Owner Brian Cohen, his son, and three professional crew were aboard. Gunboat’s Peter Johnstone got the following report from the owner and crew shortly after the dismasting: "Sustained winds were 30-35 knots. Squalls had been in the 40-knot range for most of the day. A full whiteout squall hit that initially looked no different than the other squalls. Sails were up as there was no indication of squalls with winds above 40 knots. A wall of wind hit at up to 70 knots. There was no opportunity to get the sails down. The mast came down with the wall of wind.”

Because of a large swell out of the south and a building northwest breeze in the Gulf Stream, an onboard decision was made to abandon the $2+ million cat.

Rainmaker was at the very edge of the Coast Guard copter’s range. In fact, they were getting down to "fumes" on the way back from rescuing the crew, so instead of returning to their normal base, they diverted to the Dare County Airport on Roanoke Island. Ironically, that airport isn’t far from the busy Gunboat factory at Wanchese, North Carolina, so Rainmaker‘s crew were greeted by some of the workers who had built the boat.

Introduced last year, the carbon Gunboat 55 has a unique indoor/outdoor layout. She was proclaimed Cruising World’s Domestic Boat of the Year and Best Multihull Cruiser; Sailing World’s 2015 Best Multihull; and Sail magazine’s 2015 Best Boat overall. Gunboat has more than a dozen 55s on order.

This was an embarrassing incident for Gunboat, but since nobody was hurt and masts (and boats) can easily be replaced, we think there is actually a very bright side to this: scaring the bejesus out of all Gunboat 55 owners — and other cat owners as well — when it’s squally and the wind is blowing more than 30 knots. To be honest, if such a (relatively) light cat was really hit by a wall of 70-knot wind, we’re shocked that she didn’t flip, which would have been much more serious.

Call us chickens of the sea, but if it’s blowing over 30, we’d want our 63-ft Profligate — which is bigger, beamier and heavier than the 55s — very deeply reefed. And if there had been squalls all day in the 40-ft knot range, as had been the case with Rainmaker, we sure as heck wouldn’t have been carrying anything more than a tiny jib. Cats are fabulous, but they must be understood and above all respected.

Cohen, a New York-based technology strategist and investor, had previously raced a Swan 40 with considerable success, and was taking Rainmaker to the Caribbean to show her stuff on the race course. This was a hard way to learn that cats are very different animals than monohulls, but we’re confident that it’s a lesson that has really sunk in. We hope others — especially those who are buying Gunboat’s upcoming foiling G4 40-ft ‘Coastal Cruiser’ — pay heed.