When David began earning good money as an engineering cadet for Evans Dekins in Brisbane, he finally had the means to upgrade his sailing medium. Time for speed were his only thoughts, a concept at the very antitheist of the Mirror Dinghys special attributes. And so it was, out with the oarless, deep single hulled dinghy and in with the sleek shallow draught of the twin hulled cat. Now, the catamaran design did not have the obvious physical impediments of the Mirror. For instance, there was just one continuous mask (clever), a huge billowing sail area and it sat on top of the water rather than submerged in it. The design embodied all aspects necessary for speed but hardly any for comfort. See, there is no provision of seats in a catamaran and so only kneeling was possible – sometimes was even desirable when things got really scary. Another thing not disclosed in David’s exciting sales brochures for these speedy cats, was the pertinent fact that the spray from all that speed made you wet. Also, blissfully unaware to us brothers was the fact that the generated speed came from the constant draft of wind over the sail, the boat and your now spray-wet and unprotected body. There was no where to run from that Artic rip and nowhere to shelter from its freezing affects. Apparently, as David explained later, this was just part of the exhilaration of sailing cats. Now if exhilaration means being so cold that you could not move your fingers sufficiently to unzip your fly, so that you could relieve yourself on the tree rather than in your pants then exhilaration it is. Or if wanting to be a martyr at the stake by sitting on the exposed beach fire just to create a different pain sensation to the one you had endured throughout the last sail adventure then I agree. Still, there was one part of the cat experience I would call exhilarating the trapeze. Not the circus one, even though it often provided a similar spectacle, no, it was the sailing trapeze. Well this necessary function involved firstly wearing in an item of clothing that could best be described as a large polyurethane nappy with a front curly metal hook. Cool gear in front of those in the know – the object of derision to most uninformed picnickers at that beach. So, when the winds got strong and the cat lifted onto one hull, it meant one of two things. We were about to tip over again, or, it was mu cue to stand out horizontal to the boat supported by my metal line connected to the top of the mast head. I was to ride that high speed cat using my body weight and movement to maintain its highly sensitive balance on one hull. My body weight of today would have been best used to secure the cat in a storm as an anchor. But in those days, David had chosen me for this role for two main reasons (1) he was not letting go of the steering rudder (the only other job on board) for anyone and (2) my gymnastics ability was often needed to perform this job properly. It’s hard to believe that gymnastic displays could be a feature of sailing, but the cat and trapeze made it all possible. See, there was the triple somersault into the sail when the cat often tipped over. The man on trapeze was always furthest from the water line and often in the inappropriate crisis position for such a disaster, compared to the little slide into the water that everyone else did on the cats soft trampoline base. Gymnastic skill was most evident when a wave would unexpectedly stop the raised up, speeding cat in it’s tracks whilst the trapeze man was hanging out. Sometimes the forward inertia just required a quick tap dance and two step to the front of the cat until forward momentum could be restored. Sometimes it did involve a triple spin way out to the front of the cat with the returning swing cleaning up any inattentive crew members like a crashing metal building ball. At worst, sometimes one would find themselves, after completing the triple spin forward, returning on the wrong side of the craft. It is at that moment that you finally understand why your mum told you never to put a plastic bag over your head, because within seconds you were under the water with that expansive lightweight plastic sail over your head making just breathing your new sailing adventure challenge. I often wondered what those poor folk who purchased our Mirror Dinghy were doing on our sailing days. They would probably be just sitting there on those comfortable seats just puttering along with no spectacular ocean spray how sad! They had no idea of the possibilities of drowning, spinning, bruising, freezing and suffocating feelings they could be experiencing, sailing at Cat Speed.
