A daggerboarded cat will sail consistently higher into the wind and make far less leeway than a cat with fixed keels-typically between five to seven degrees higher. This added pointing ability and reduced leeway represents a significant safety feature when cruising because it enables you to claw off a lee shore or to arrive at an upwind destination with far greater alacrity. As any blue water voyager knows, sometimes you cannot “run for cover”-you must “beat for cover.” A daggerboarded cat, all things being equal, will sail at least 1 to 2 knots faster, on average, than a catamaran with keels simply because it isn’t carrying the enormous fixed hydrodynamic drag (i.e. wetted surface) of two long and deep fixed keels. This added speed is a significant safety feature for longrange cruising. Not only are long passages cut shorter, reducing exposure to adverse weather, but should one encounter adverse weather it is much easier to either run from it or avoid it entirely with proper weather routing. A faster boat always increases one’s options, and therefore increases safety, when cruising. A daggerboarded cat typically draws one to two and a half feet less water than a cat with keels. As such, the sailing grounds and potential anchorages available to a cat with daggerboards are considerably larger than those available to a keel cat. In extremely severe seas daggerboards enable the skipper to adjust the balance of his catamaran by raising and lowering the boards. here