The boat

Catweasel is a sturdy boat which has
been put through it's paces before. Her designer
sailed her in the Europe 1 Star Race even to America!

Quite a crazy thing to do, in my eyes, but this encouraged me that my trip was possible, given the right amount of planning & preperation.

Catweasel can be seen as the double legged version of a Mini Transat boat.

Onboard comfort is minimalistic, but, hey, were here to have sailing fun!!!! And there is no risk to suffer from seasickness borne tunnel vision, it's already in place!

	The Boat

For sleeping you'll have to put up with an 0.6 m wide bunk or ;-) a 4 m x 4 m trampoline. Ever slept with stars twinkling above you, gently cooled from a breeze through the trampoline netting? Fabulous.
Below are lots of storage nets, a small camping gaz cooker, a Honda generator and a chemical toilet for use while at anchor.
Talking about anchors, we have a 10 kg Kobra and a 7.5 kg Bruce which have to be, you almost guessed it, lifted by pure manpower and not by an anchor winch (weight reduction rules!).

Did I say weight reduction rules? Well, so does safety. The foward beam and all the standing rigging wires got replaced. A Navtex unit supplies the latest weather forecast and the skipper will permanently wear a hip bag with a mini EPIRB on the offshore legs.
Two crash bulkheads should help to reduce the risk posed by unidentified submerged objects. Be it pretty mermaids or rusty containers.

A full batten mainsail, self tacking jib and furlable screacher and gennacker provide the speed. I was considering to add a masthead genoa but decided to wait until I can judge the need for it better. Topspeed would surely be better in light weather upwind sailing, but I prefer to have the money for a replacement sail if necessary.

Twin autopilots (one as back-up, but fully installed) help the skipper to handle the boat when single handing.