Clicking the top image to the left links to a page of Wyliecats and other Wylie sailboat pictures. While the Catfisher mast and sail are smaller relative to the size of the boat, the Catfisher mast and sail will look just like the Wyliecat 48 on the left. The pictures clearly show the simplicity of Wyliecats. The only two sail controls are sail up/sail down and sail in/sail out. There are no easier boats to sail than cat rig boats, and many people, myself included, believe that Wylie makes the best. In the interest of full disclosure, I worked for Tom Wylie 15 years ago, and helped him build the first Wyliecat, Mustang Sally. Tom's gift is to design simplicity into his sophisticated boats. Buster, Tom's longtime manager, is at the Canyon, CA workshop every day to remind Tom to keep it simple. If Buster doesn't understand it, it's too complicated.

Clicking the middle image links to two pages of fishing boat pictures, with a few Chamber of Commerce type shots of Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, mixed in. Most of the pictures are from some video I shot in July 2004.

The lower image links to a page of pictures of Arab dhows and Mediteranean feluccas. The design is at least 2000 years old, and is still going strong. I find the pictures interesting because of the similarity to the modern cat rig boats. The masts are well forward like cat rig boats, and the single sail has a similar shape. The felucca sails are attached to a long yard, which is fastened to the top of the short mast, usually on the starboard side. Most of the boats pictured are working boats, carrying passengers, cargo and fish.

Hedley Prince January 2006