I am very interested in catamarans and have been impressed by this web site and Richard Woods' many articles, including his ones on stability. However, my enthusiasm has taken a bit of a knock by the article in August's 2003 Yachting Monthly about a 32ft Iroquois sailing catamaran which capsized in the Solent in April.
The cat had a crew of 3, including one chief sailing instructor of a school near Cork and another sailing instructor - so they were experienced sailors. They were on a night sail from Gosport to Lymington, wind was SW F5/6, waves confused but about 2' to 2'6" high. They were pointing about 55 deg to the wind, with a slightly free sheet and half centreboards down. The skipper considered that they were undercanvassed with 2 reefs in the main and 2 rolls in the jib. Wind and tide were together and it was neaps. At about 2000hrs the cat was hit by a large wave under the windward hull, perhaps the wash of a large boat exacerbated by the shallow water off Lepe spit - the resulting capsize took seconds.
I know freak waves can capsize anything and the Solent can have short, steep seas. But it is a sheltered stretch of water and if a capasize can happen so easily and quickly there under relatively benign conditions, what sort of light does this cast on the issue of catamaran stability? Does the Iroquois design have a stability problem? Can one say that the Woods' designs would have fared better? I would be very interested to get comments from you experienced catamaran sailors out there.