The Cruising Multihull

Chris White's designs are certainly among the best, if not the best, in the world for performance multihulls. His book does a great job of explaining the various factors related to safety and performance in multihull sailing vessels. The book is a bit dated and could stand a re-write to bring it up to modern standards, but I still give it a 5 for the excellent coverage of the material presented. I'd like to see some discussion of the idea of placing two masts, one in each hull discussed. I'd also like to hear his opinions of the Wylie Cat monohull flexible masts. I'd also like to see more discussion of his own designs and his performance competitor the Gunboat series of catamarans. Finally, I'd like to see more analysis of the various production catamarans compared to each other and mono-hulls in various wind conditions, and citations of the situations where mono-hulls perform better--for example sailing upwind is less than 10 knots of wind. Basically, I feel Catamaran design still has a way to go in the area of rig design, while the use of high tech composites is 95% perfected.

This and Gavin LeSuers book (Multihull seamanship)are two definite keepers. I have reread Whites book time and again, it is probably the best book on the subject, certainly more value than Kanters book. I dont know chris white but I do thank him for his efforts in this book.

If you can only buy one book about multihulls, this is it. I have a library of over 100 sailing books, and about 20 of those are about multihulls, and out of those 20 some books, this one is the only one worth keeping for its contents and excellent information.

If you're considering buying a new/used multihull or building your own, this is THE book to read. The author provides plenty of information that you can use to make your own intelligent decisions.

I am preparing to cruise around the world in a multihull. Mr. White taught me more than I have learned in two years of reading other books and talking to yachties. It is an invaluable resource.