Inland Cat is a class of one- or two-man
sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
Types
Although sailboat terminology ...
s, almost exclusively found on
Lake George,
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
/
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. The craft is approximately 14.5 feet in length, with a 4.5 foot beam. The sail is a
Marconi rig (aka
Bermuda rig
Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a type of sailing rig that uses a triangular sail set abaft (behind) the mast. It is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. Whilst commonly seen in sloop-rigged vessels, Bermuda rig is ...
), with the mast far forward on the hull, as is the norm for a
cat boat. The boat has a retractable galvanized steel centerboard, and a shallow-draft aluminum rudder similar in shape to
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
–style cat boats. The design was created by Norm Bell and John Larimore in the mid-1950s and used then-current
polyester resin
Polyester resins are synthetic resins formed by the reaction of dibasic organic acids and polyhydric alcohols. Maleic anhydride is a commonly used raw material with diacid functionality in unsaturated polyester resins. Unsaturated polyester r ...
and
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...
construction techniques. The boat was perhaps over-engineered, and is quite robustly built. Many examples, including hull No. 2 (the second production boat) continue to race every Saturday during the summer months.
There were 250+ Inland Cats built by Bell/Larimore and a nearby boatbuilder in the 1950s thru early 1970s. The only concentration of boats is on Lake George proper, which has a few dozen surviving craft. Of these, 20+ come out to race in the "Gold" and "Silver" fleets each week during the Summer.
Due to its heavy construction and wide beam, the Inland Cat is very stable in heavy air, and not particularly fast. The class has a
PHRF
Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...
rating of 107. It is not uncommon on balmy summer days to see the entire fleet bobbing in light air, tossed about by
jet skis and other boat wakes.
The Inland Cat logo is a black silhouette of a cat's head (facing viewer) with a red "I" centered over it.
Dinghies
Catboats
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