Catboat

There are few sailboat styles that are more elegant than a cat-rigged vessel. They may not point worth a damn, and they may get quite fussy in heavy winds, but they certainly look good doing it. The wide hull, flat bow, and rounded sterns give one visions of the classic days of sailing. The sail almost looks to be to big for the vessel, and some days it certainly does feel like it. Historically used for fishing and transport, catboats soon gained popularity as a pleasure craft. The catboat makes perfect sense as a leisure vessel, they are simple to sail with only one sheet to take care of. They are very wide by design for transport, which when combined with the fact that all of the rigging is pushed to the bow, makes them easy to accommodate many passengers even on a shorter vessel. The boats draw very little water, allowing them to be sailed in shallow areas. One of the biggest positives to catboat designs is that even modern ones maintain the old world styling. Unlike other styles of sailboat, catboats never really modernized. This means there are very few in sharp and edgy 80's design, or in horrid 90's colors.