Spirits and glasses were raised high as the Outremer team accepted the Multihull of the Year award for its Outremer 52 model at the British Yachting Awards in London at The Royal Thames Yacht Club. Elected exclusively by the general public, the 52-footer was one of five contenders in this year’s multihull category.

The competition was fierce, according to a BYA spokesperson, as all five contenders made strong cases for the top honor. However, it was the Outremer 52’s “undeniable allure” and “outstanding craftsmanship” that secured the most votes from the sailing community. 

“It’s an honor to receive this public acknowledgment of the hard work and innovation that has gone into our 52 design,” said Outremer Sales Director Matthieu Rougevin-Baville, upon receiving the award in London. “The popularity of the 52 has continued to grow our close-knit community of Outremer owners since its official launch in Cannes 2022.” 

The Outremer 52 combines the signature features of the legendary 51 (the model’s successor) with the fresh look and feel of the 55—which won the European Yacht of the Year award in 2022—such as the adjustable helm, the view forward through the saloon, and the helm seat designed for two people. This merging of design elements, in addition to the involvement of renowned names in the industry—such as the naval architects VPLP and the French designers Patrick Le Quément and Darnet Design—have contributed to a design that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional and well-engineered.

Drawing inspiration from its predecessors, the Outremer 52 design brief sought to preserve the qualities that first made the brand a household name among sailors, while introducing new elements to enhance the overall experience. One of the standout features of the Outremer 52 model is its seaworthiness. According to Outremer’s parent company Grand Large Yachting, the naval architects and designers worked tirelessly to create a vessel that can handle even the most challenging bluewater cruising conditions. 

Weight savings achieved by optimization of the 52’s structural build components allowed for an increase in the amount of glazing and openings aboard the boat, without undermining performance. The result was greater visibility for the crew underway. The layout of the interiors and exteriors above deck were also made more conducive to keeping a better lookout. For example, the bar area of the cockpit allows the crew to eat meals while on watch. Night watches can be kept from the bench in the salon, which faces forward.

The Outremer team will present the Outremer 52 at the 2024 Miami International Boat Show in February. Adjacent to the boat show, on February 17, Grand Large Yachting will host a comprehensive day-long seminar featuring industry experts, trainers and seasoned sailors. This event will cover a wide range of topics, from cruising routes and understanding weather patterns, to ensuring safety both on board and at sea.

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Imagine lounging with family or friends on the trampoline of a big roomy cruising catamaran—the only boat anchored in a bay surrounded by arid hills, with the towering Sierra de la Giganta mountains to the west and nothing around but sparkling blue waters sprinkled with islands, deserted beaches, and cozy coves to explore.

Welcome to the Sea of Cortez, and welcome to sailing vacations that begin and end at Marina Puerto Escondido, a well-sheltered harbor that’s been used by sailors for centuries, and that’s been home to West Coast Multihull’s Baja charter fleet since 2017.

The marina is located roughly 10 miles south of Loreto, Mexico, known as Loreto Pueblo Magico or “Magic Village” due to its vast cultural heritage as the site of one of the first missions settled in “Old California” Flights to and from the US are easily booked, which means this stretch of the Baja coast is quite accessible to American sailors from up north.

Marina Puerto Escondido offers a full-service marina, boatyard, market, store and restaurant, making it a perfect hopping-off point to visit the 10 nearby islands and dozens of uncrowded anchorages, each offering its own unique taste of Mexican cruising at its best. Keep an eye out for dolphins, fish, mobula rays and whales during the day. At night, soak in the dark night’s star-filled sky and enjoy the peaceful sounds of nature at these protected and uninhabited islands within the National Marine Park.

The islands are pristine, the personal watercraft and noise typically found around large resorts are nonexistent, and the chill factor is guaranteed.

A One-Way Option

Or perhaps you’d like to roam farther and explore the stunning 150 miles of coastline that stretch south from Loreto to La Paz. On a one-way trip such as this, each day brings new sights and adventures, and at the end, you simply drop off the boat and fly home without ever having to retrace your wake.

West Coast Multihulls founder and owner Kurt Jerman has sailed this stretch of the Baja Peninsula several times and ticks off some of his favorite islands along the way—Isla Monserrat, Isla San Jose, Isla San Francisco and Espiritu Santo (a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site and national park)—before landing in La Paz.

The high seasons for chartering in the Sea of Cortez are October through mid-January and April through the end of June. During winter months, strong northerly winds can blow through, which attracts sailors who prefer more-challenging conditions and/or want to experience blue, gray and humpback whale migrations. For sailors looking for tranquil passages, summer is the best time to visit.

Winds tend to be light and water temperatures are warm, so you can swim, snorkel and scuba dive in one of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems. “Around Loreto, the islands are pretty protected at all times of the year,” says Jerman, who describes the area as being the BVI of Mexico.

Bareboat and crewed charters are available on 44- to 50-foot catamarans, as well as ASA Sailing Classes ranging from Beginner to Advanced Sailing Courses with award-winning instructors who are passionate about sailing and sharing the cruising lifestyle with others.

California Dreaming

In terms of variety, WCM’s original charter base in San Diego has a little bit of something for anyone interested in a catamaran adventure. The list is long and includes afternoon and sunset sails, day trips, whale-watching, and seven-day and longer charters to destinations such as the winemaking region around Ensenada, Mexico, or coastal hops north to Oceanside, Dana Point, and an offshore crossing to Catalina Island to visit the famed ports of Avalon and Two Harbors before sailing home. Along the way, you’ll get to anchor or pick up moorings in some of Southern California’s most iconic cruising grounds. As is the case with the Mexico charter base in San Diego; you can charter the boat and sail off by yourself or go with captain and crew to ensure that your vacation is a breeze.

For monohull sailors curious to investigate the multihull lifestyle, WCM’s San Diego fleet offers an excellent variety from which to choose, with boats from builders such as Bali, Excess, Fountaine-Pajot, Leopard and Seawind. Sizes range from 36 to 44 feet.

American Sailing Association’s bareboat and catamaran certifications, as well as other sailing instruction, are also available. With a friendly crew ready to send you off and welcome you home, WCM’s San Diego charter base offers you a lot of vacation options and memories, all made right here in the USA.

The post All Cats, All the Time appeared first on Cruising World.

I don’t want to give away anything, but I started bareboat chartering long before multihulls populated the charter fleets. In the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, bareboats were often tubby monohulls, either power or sail, and usually with single engines.

Luckily, I had a head start on my first multihull charter because I’d been racing beach catamarans like Hobies, and these provided me with valuable insights into the two-hulled world.

While the catamaran has gained in popularity by leaps and bounds over the past couple of decades, the design dates back centuries. At a time when much of the “civilized” world was still gazing at the sea with fear, the Polynesians were making incredible voyages over thousands of miles of open ocean aboard large, double-hulled voyaging canoes.

If you’re planning your first multihull charter after a lifetime of single-hulled boating, be thee prepared. There are significant differences between the two breeds that go far beyond having separated staterooms where you don’t hear everyone else snoring. 

Pardon the pun, but they are, indeed, a different breed of cat.

Basic Handling

Spin the wheel on a monohull, either power or sail, and things happen. Right away. 

Spin the wheel on any cat, and the response time is ­considerably slower. You won’t have time to go below for a coffee, but if the classic saying for skippers is, “Don’t take the boat anywhere your brain didn’t get to a minute earlier,” then the multihull version is probably “several minutes earlier.” 

Every change of direction, such as tacking, requires one hull to speed up and another to slow down. You’ll need to be ready for that sudden drag or you’ll stall midtack. And don’t expect to spin quickly in a marina.  

Close-Quarters Handling

There’s good news and bad news here, and the traits of a multihull will make themselves clear to you in your first minutes as you maneuver away from the charter base.  

Bad news: Cats don’t want to turn. Good news: Two hulls mean, in both power and sail, that you have two well-­separated engines, which gives you immense leverage to spin your boat.

Where a monohull may have to back-and-fill like a car turning around on a narrow street, a cat can spin in nearly its own length. The wide stance and twin engines allow an adept multihull skipper to get in and out of tight places. Learn to use the shifters to aid your turning, especially when you have spectators to impress.

Throttle ­Response

Because the hulls are so slim, a catamaran is much more responsive to the throttle.  

With a monohull pushing a lot of water (especially at maneuvering speeds), adding throttle doesn’t require subtlety. On a cat with little drag, however, be prepared for the boat to jump ahead. You’ll need to finesse the throttles in small increments.

Windage

Most cats (and particularly power cats) have more windage than similar monohulls. Even more important is that their often-shallow draft and absence of a traditional keel give them much less “bite” on the water when in crosswinds. Go slowly when docking in a crosswind so that a sideways-sliding cat doesn’t bite you.

Anchoring

That same windage-versus-­draft means that cats like to “hunt” or “sail” around the anchor rode or mooring pendant.  

Instead of attaching a line to just one bow, use a bridle (usually provided by the charter company) from each hull to a central attachment point forward of the bows. That technique will not only stabilize the boat at anchor in a breeze, but it will also take the jolt and noise out of an anchor chain.

Steering

With a monohull, you can usually set a course and stick to it. But with a cat, quartering seas (either forward or aft quarter) can be a challenge when one hull is trying to go up a swell and the other is coming down. Not only can this create a short motion that isn’t good for Aunt Edna’s tummy, but you’ll also find yourself winding the wheel back and forth to stay on course. Adjusting your course, much like when you’re tacking upwind, can reduce the struggle and make the boat ride much more comfortably.

Running down-sea, skippers should set their speed so that one bow doesn’t “dig in” and try to take over the steering, forcing the cat into a turn. One bow stopped in a swell and the other unencumbered can require considerable steering input. Adjust your course and/or speed accordingly and you’ll be fine.

Beam seas, especially when waves and troughs equal the distance between the hulls, can make for an unpleasant snap roll. But, like the other situations, a slight course change will steady the ride.

Beam

A sail or power catamaran is a lot beamier than a monohull, which is why the cats offer so much room. It doesn’t take a degree in naval architecture to figure out that a 42-foot catamaran with a beam of 22 feet is going to have more available space than a 42-foot monohull with a 13-foot beam.  

But you’ll have to pick and choose your dockage. Don’t be surprised if a marina puts you on the end tie, because the dockmaster can probably get two boats into that same-size slip you were eyeing. Call ahead via VHF radio if you aren’t sure a marina can handle a cat, but rest assured that marinas in bareboat-charter areas are familiar with your needs.

The good news when it comes to beam is that the same wideness gives a cat great stability and a steadiness at anchor that can rival solid ground. 

The many catamarans that populate bareboat fleets around the world offer significant advantages, not the least of which is sheer space. There are large salons, airy galleys, well-separated staterooms, and wide foredecks for young and old guests to enjoy.  

Don’t be put off before your first charter on a catamaran: This is one breed of cat that will have you purring with delight.

Award-winning marine journalist Chris Caswell has been bareboat chartering for more than five decades. He is also the editor and publisher of chartersavvy.com.

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Here are six boats ­handpicked by The Multihull Company’s president and CEO, Capt. Will Miller, as excellent choices for brokerage-catamaran seekers. He says that these are all worth a look, whether you’re a first-time buyer or an ­experienced monohull sailor. 

Fountaine Pajot Lipari 41

Looking for an affordable liveaboard cruiser? The Lipari 41’s deck layout is ergonomically designed for convenient sail-handling and alfresco entertaining, making for an enjoyable sailing experience all around. The Maestro version offers an owner’s suite full of cabinets and lockers complemented by a large master bath. There’s also abundant stowage in the forepeaks and anchor locker on deck for all of the cruising essentials. Whether you’re a seasonal cruiser or full-time liveaboard, the Lipari 41 checks all the boxes at a friendly price point.

Lagoon 42

The Lagoon 42 (or the 420 model, as a more budget-­friendly option) is a solid choice for first-time catamaran buyers who prioritize onboard comfort. This cat delivers unparalleled volume and stowage capacity in its size category, making it a trendy choice for those with large families or frequent guests. A self-tacking jib and simple deck organization allow for easy singlehanding, while the semi-raised helm station adds great sightlines and the vertical salon windows offer panoramic views from inside.

Catana 431

If sailing performance is high on your wish list, then the Catana 431 is a ­must-see. Upwind performance is dramatically enhanced with daggerboards, an aerodynamic cabin top, tulip-shaped bows, and intelligent weight distribution. The Twaron reinforced layup further strengthens the vinylester ­foam-core construction, making these yachts extremely light and stiff. Creature comforts were not an afterthought, with high-quality interior fabrics and finishes yielding pleasing aesthetics inside and out. This generation of Catanas continues to retain resale value and marketability more than 20 years after they were originally launched. If you grew up racing and are now transitioning to the liveaboard lifestyle, you’ll appreciate the responsiveness and speed that the 431 delivers.

Fountaine Pajot Helia 44

Delivering a sophisticated look with decent sailing characteristics, the Helia 44 is among the most coveted models from Fountaine Pajot. Its modern Euro-styling strikes a unique balance of comfort, stowage and space utilization. Peninsula-shaped berths make climbing in and out of bed all too easy, and the rest of the interior flows together, creating a very livable space. The Helia 44 has a generous sail plan with a cockpit designed for entertaining your buddy-boat crews. It’s no surprise that this model transitioned seamlessly from a popular charter design into a capable offshore cruiser.

Leopard 46

For the experienced sailor who wants a larger boat that balances performance, value and comfort, the Leopard 46 is a top contender. Leopard prides itself on system design and accessibility, making this a very user-friendly cat. Its spacious cockpit and salon join seamlessly, creating optimal social flow. The helm and cockpit can also be easily enclosed to extend your sailing season. Beefy davits with an integral step and complemented by extra-wide sugar scoops make deploying the dinghy exponentially easier. 

Seawind 1260

Beginners looking for high-performance adventure without sacrificing interior volume for daggerboard trunks would do well to peruse the Seawind 1260. Its vinylester-resin construction and foam coring ensure durability, lighter weight and solid performance. Garage-style salon doors create a desirable interior-exterior feel with great ventilation. With a galley-down configuration, the salon feels like a much larger yacht. The 1260 sails with ease in light air, conserving fuel and minimizing passage time. —Capt. Will Miller

Capt. Will Miller has been a yacht broker for more than two decades and has managed the sale of more than 100 yachts. For information, visit multihullcompany.com.

The post Six Great Starter Catamarans for Multihull Sailing appeared first on Cruising World.

One summer evening many years back, a friend invited me to sail on a new Leopard 47 off Newport, Rhode Island. Although daylight was slowly fading, there was still a tug of a breeze when we met on the dock. After 11 years of cruising on my 60-year-old, gaff-rigged double-ender Tosca, just the ease of boarding the Leopard with a simple, normal step onto a stable platform—with no life-threatening leaps, stern-boarding cardio or ultra-­athletic bowsprit avoidance—impressed me.

But as we slid out of the marina and hoisted the main, bluewater-voyaging PTSD washed over me, and I fought the need to madly stow charcuterie boards and wineglasses, my bags, their bags, pillows, plates, everything. When the captain suggested we set the jib, I braced myself in the cockpit, a reaction from years spent sailing with tight sheets on a steep heel. I still remember the sensation as we caught the first gust on the fast cat: We lifted over the water and took off, flying across the bay. Nothing on the tables slid. Nothing down below moved. No one was sprayed or flung across the cockpit. It was so quiet. The moon rose, the stars came out. More bottles of wine appeared. I was all-in.

That sunset sail decades ago brought me up to speed on what I’d been missing about cruising multihulls. My slow-but-much-beloved ketch provided full-contact sailing. I knew very little about multihulls, and the little I knew wasn’t helpful. I’d been cruising with friends on a wet Wharram cat in western Fiji and daysailing on a worn-down trimaran in Tonga. I’d seen the French cruisers zip by on their multihulls in Tahiti, but none of my Pacific friends in 1990s had anything close to the Leopard 47 I sailed that night.

None of my cruising friends had a million dollars either, so when asking if a multihull is right for you, let’s get right to it: Multihulls are expensive. The five new multihulls in CW’s 2023 Boat of the Year range in price from just under $1 million to just over $2 million. CW’s 2023 Best Cruising Multihull, the Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47, is listed at $825,000. And the pre-owned market is pretty competitive. The 23-year-old Leopard 47 model I sailed that night, after two decades of use, is listed for $350,000.

If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that multihulls hold their value. But the first step in determining whether a multihull is right for you is to talk to a builder or broker about your budget.

People, Plans and the South Pacific

If you’ve made peace with the buy-in and you’ve budgeted for the boat of your dreams, there are a lot of people with you. The 2022 State of the Sailing Industry Report numbers show that despite the cost, plenty of people are choosing the multihull path.

The most recent statistics show that 980 of the 4,937 new sailboats sold in the United States in 2021 were ­multihulls. That’s just shy of 20 percent. The ­multihulls break out as 654 domestic ­p­roduction and 326 imports. And ­multihulls make up 45 percent of the sailing charter fleet. 

“The multihull movement started in earnest in the early 1990s, when The Moorings put catamarans such as Lagoon in the charter fleets, and Fountaine Pajot brought out the Venezia 42,” says Phil Berman, founder and president of Balance Catamarans. Berman founded The Multihull Company in 1999 and watched the steady growth of the multihull segment over the next several decades. The market struggled in 2008-10 with the financial crisis, but it exploded after that. 

“Over the past 10 to 15 years, the market itself has matured quite a bit, with the retirement of the baby boomers,” he says. “The multihull market was growing steadily, but it really exploded during the pandemic. Balance Catamarans has grown from building two or three boats a year to 24 boats a year.”

And while The Moorings was the biggest player to popularize catamarans in the charter industry, Berman says, Hobie Alter did more than anyone for the catamaran industry as whole. Alter brought Hobie Cats to the public in the 1970s, and introduced fun, ­competitive sailing to young people outside of yacht clubs or any formal sail training. Many of those early Hobie Cat racers are owners in today’s cruising- and ­performance-multihull fleets.

What the Owners Say

“I grew up around monohulls and powerboats,” says circumnavigator Amy Alton. “My dad bought a Hobie Cat, and then a Maine Cat 30, where I had my first cruising experiences, and later, the one that my husband first sailed on.”

The boat she has today is a Fountaine Pajot Helia 44: “When we picked out our cruising boat, we were looking for good performance for downwind sailing and comfortable living space. Starry Horizons has been our home for eight years and is the boat we circumnavigated on.” 

Performance, comfort and stability are the top reasons many cruisers choose multihulls. Faster offshore passages with downwind speed and overall higher cruising speeds are priorities. Mile for mile, multihulls are simply faster. Decades earlier, cruisers worried about how a multihull sailor might manage extreme weather conditions at sea. Advances in weather technologies such as Predict Wind have eliminated surprises during shorter passages, and the technological advancements in communication and route planning allow cruisers to track and avoid extreme weather during longer crossings.

This matters if you’re eyeing the Coconut Milk Run westward across the Pacific. There’s a lot of downwind miles, and a multihull will eat them up faster. In a blow, multihulls might be able to cover more miles faster, toward safety.

What about going to windward? Realistically, cruising multihulls can struggle; they typically sail close-hauled at 55 to 60 degree true wind angle. Performance catamarans can cut those angles a lot closer, sailing 45 to 50 TWA.

“Starry Horizons doesn’t point very well to the wind, but you know what? Neither do I,” Alton says. “We rarely rush our weather windows, so uncomfortable passages are few and far between.”

For cruisers looking to spend a season or two in the Bahamas or Caribbean, a multihull’s shallow draft and open, airy living quarters are a popular choice. With flights to the United States a short hop away, onboard space for guests is also ideal. 

If you’re considering a multihull, where do you intend to spend most of your time? While the Caribbean trade winds and downwind sailing through the South Pacific make sense, the Roaring 40s might not. The French Riviera and the Italian Riviera simply might not have the space, and other destinations such as Spain and Scandinavia require research if you hope to secure a marina berth or schedule a haulout. In many places, end caps or slips with wide enough space for a cat’s beam might be close to twice the price, if you can find one open. Know before you go.

There’s also the need to adjust to handling such a beamy boat. I remember the joy of flying down Florida’s Caloosahatchee River in a 50-foot power cat over a Thanksgiving weekend, heading for a reserved spot at Sanibel Marina. But when we arrived at the dock with the light fading and the current and wind against us, I was relieved to see the dockmaster standing ready with a line. “It’s like ­parking a tennis court,” he said.

Dave Newman, a cruiser who sails the Balance 442 performance cat Umoya, says that the trade-offs he and his wife have made for the multihull life are worth it. He acknowledges that slips cost more and are harder to come by, but he usually anchors out. “More living, less camping,” Newman says. “Our boat’s comfortable on long passages and is a relatively flat sailing platform. The salon provides lots of light, great views, and headroom for taller people. We have redundant power with two engines, more coachroof space for solar panels, and a galley that is very pleasant to cook in.”

Although they need to manage weight sensitivity and clean two hulls instead of one, he’s happy with the design and sailing performance of his cat and, after a couple of years of cruising the Caribbean, hopes to head to the South Pacific.

 “Don’t wait too long to buy a boat,” he says. “Buy what you can afford and just go. Multihull or monohull, whichever sparks your desire to sail.”

“Catamarans have been in my DNA since 1970, when I was racing Hobie Cats in Southern California,” says Kevin Hutton, who recently joined Newman, Berman and others at a Balance Owners Rendezvous in St. Maarten. “However, in those days, cats were still unique, and our family sailed monohulls, specifically Catalina yachts. Our last boat was a Catalina 440, but to be honest, I never gave up my Hobie Cats and have a few of them stashed in the Bahamas and Baja that I still sail.”

He and his wife, Sandy, chartered catamarans a few times, but they missed the performance of Hobie Cats, so they decided on a new Balance 482. Sandy loved the idea of being part of the development of a new performance cat, and liked the ability to stow everything a second home requires. Stability, ease of anchoring, and ease of sail-handling became more important over time too.

They both love the integration of the cockpit and salon, which allows a greater area to socialize. And they both felt more comfortable with the boat’s systems and performance after some training. “The days of singlehanding a monohull doesn’t prepare you for singlehanding a ­performance cat,” Hutton says. “Any sailor who has not had modern performance cat experience needs to be humble enough to seek experienced training, especially if your crew is new to sailing.”

Over time, you learn that your boat will need repairs and things will get broken, he says, but you will also enjoy fixing things, eventually. All boats have frustrations; attitude is everything. 

“My wife and I have embraced the education and training, and I am glad that I took the ASA Course and hired professional captains to help us learn together. It’s made us a better team, and that extends well past sailing. We’re looking forward to expanding our experiences and capabilities. And we’re hoping to add our dog, Roca, to the crew next year.” 

Theresa Nicholson is senior editor of Cruising World. She cruised the Caribbean, South America, South Pacific, Micronesia and Southeast Asia for 11 years on her gaff-rigged Atkin ketch, Tosca.

Monohull Sailors Go Multi

It all started as many sailing stories do: I raced monohulls as a kid in San Francisco with my dad. After Lennie and I married, we stepped away from sailing to raise a family, but we chartered in the Caribbean. After a few trips, Lennie suggested that a catamaran would be a good choice for our three kids. I was horrified and didn’t want any part of it. Eventually I succumbed, and we realized just how great catamarans were for a crowd like us. But whenever Lennie and I charted without the kids, we sailed strictly on monohulls.

When our youngest went to college in 2012, we decided that it was time to buy our own boat. Neither of us even considered a cat. We bought a Hunter 49, which we could sail to weather, with a generator, air conditioner, a washer-­dryer and a ­watermaker—and the added bonus of headroom for me (I’m 6-foot-4). We sailed the Caribbean for three years and loved every minute of it. 

A few years into it, several couples who owned large monohulls started telling me they were switching to cats, for the creature comforts and the ease of sailing flat. “Sailing flat?” I asked. “What does that have to do with anything? To sail, you have to bury your rail!” 

Eventually, curiosity overtook us, and we did our research and visited Leopard Catamarans in Florida and really liked the forward cockpit. The designer, Simonis Voogd, said that they designed boats to sail and live on comfortably—not the other way around. 

We ordered a Leopard 48 and outfitted it in Fort Lauderdale with Just Catamarans. By the time we took delivery, half of the new Leopards were going to private owners instead of into the charter fleets. We sailed that boat 18,000 nautical miles. The leg from the Caribbean to the Panama Canal would have been a rocking-­and-rolling mess on our monohull. On our cat? A calm, luxurious trip. We averaged around 7.5 knots under sail and had some thrills at 12 to 14 knots.

After three years, we pulled the trigger on a new Leopard 50. Its design and construction made the boat stiffer between the hull and bridge deck. We took delivery in 2019 and were set to sail to the South Pacific with a rally in 2020, until the pandemic canceled those plans. Instead, we sailed to New England and then throughout the Caribbean again. We had a great time. Our five years of experience sailing catamarans gave us time to consider upgrading to a performance cat.

Today, we have ordered a Kinetic 54, which we think of as the ultimate cat. It’s solid carbon fiber and still full of luxury, another Simonis Voogd creation. When we sail this boat, it feels as comfortable as a typical cruising cat but performs like a speed machine. And tacking into the wind achieves 50 degrees easy, so we can leave the motor off and sail more. Our Kinetic 54 will be delivered in May. We plan to spend a month in Cape Town, South Africa, shaking her down. After that, who knows? We’ve seen every island in the Caribbean thrice, so it’s time to go beyond. -Randy Smith

Randy and Lennie Smith are serial entrepreneurs and commuter cruisers who live and work in South Florida. They’ve been ­married 25 years and spend the majority of their free time cruising.

The post Is a Multihull Right for You? appeared first on Cruising World.

Winner: Fountaine Pajot, Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47

This category was stacked with previous winners. In fact, every builder in the class had earned a BOTY victory in earlier editions of the event. But in both the dockside inspections and under sail, the Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47 rang a bell for our panelists. 

“I believe this is my favorite Fountaine Pajot model of all time,” judge Herb McCormick says. “The size and dimensions are ideal: It’s a big cat but not overwhelming. A big reason is the helm station, with dedicated pods for driving, and the sailhandling. And, holy cow, it really sailed well.” 

Judge Mark Pillsbury also appreciates the smart deck layout, as well as the corresponding systems: “With plenty of solar panels, a watermaker and more-than-ample refrigeration space, the Tanna 47 was set up really well for cruising and living aboard. On a beam reach in 13 knots of breeze, we scooted along at 7 to 8 knots, and I liked the setup of the helm, with the wheel being separated slightly from the winches. The boat was easy to sail solo, but there was room for the crew to jump in and help when they wanted to.”

Finalist: Balance Catamarans, Balance 442

The lone South African cat entry for 2023, the Balance 442 continued the excellence we’ve come to expect from the builder, and is a worthy successor to the company’s 482, which was named Best Performance Catamaran for 2022. 

Pillsbury offers this summation: “Many of today’s popular catamarans are built to appeal to a wide audience composed of private owners and charter companies. Phil Berman and the team at Balance take a different approach, by building boats for experienced owners who plan to live aboard and go places. That translates into seakindliness, solid sailing performance, and comfortable accommodations that will keep a crew rested and ready at anchor or underway. Personal favorites: the visibility from the raised helm station, and the farm-kitchen-style deep sink and dish-drying racks in the galley. Nice touches.”

Finalist: Groupe Beneteau, Lagoon 55

This rangy cat will find plenty of happy sailors in private ownership and on charter vacations. Judge Ed Sherman says that the performance under power jumped out: “A record-setter for its motoring capabilities this year at 8.9 knots at 2,000 rpm and 9.4 knots at 2,500 rpm. Quiet too. In both cases, our decibel tests came in at less than 70.” 

The sailing characteristics impress Pillsbury: “The Lagoon 55 is a big boat, probably close to the limit of what can be handled by a family or crew of friends off on a charter vacation. But the designers and builder have done a good job of setting up a helm station on the flybridge that’s workable for a shorthanded crew. All lines lead to winches near the wheel, and an autopilot and bow thruster provide extra hands when it comes time to maneuver. With multiple interior layouts, the 55 can be configured to fit the needs of a wide variety of owners.”

Finalist: Nautitech Catamarans, Nautitech 44 Open

With its twin wheels situated aft and outboard, the peppy Nautitech 44 Open is thrilling to drive, with its quickness and performance. “I always say that you need daggerboards to have truly great sailing on a cat, but this sweet 44-footer, with its fixed keels, certainly disproved that opinion,” McCormick says. “It really zipped along and was a blast to steer.” 

Pillsbury is of the same mind: “After our sail aboard the Nautitech, I jotted down ‘sporty’ in my notes. The helm seats, set outboard and aft on each of the cat’s hulls, kept me connected with the water rushing by, and a versatile sail plan that includes a self-tacking jib, screecher and spinnaker gave us options to keep boatspeeds in the high single digits—and higher in the puffs—on all points of sail.”

Finalist: Neel Trimarans, Neel 43

The three-hull outlier in our category of mostly cats, the Neel 43 presents a real alternative for those who want the speeds and space that a multihull can deliver. “This boat is truly different,” Sherman says. “It’s slippery through the water, either sailing or under engine power. System access in the center hull is wonderful and well done too. With a single 50 hp Volvo Penta saildrive, we measured 8.2 knots at only 2,200 rpm and 8.4 knots at 2,700 rpm.” 

Pillsbury enjoyed the entire Neel experience, and says: “Neel’s creator, Eric Bruneel, described the boat as a fast cruiser, and by that he meant an owner on passage could expect to sail in the 9- to 10-knot range, routinely enjoying 200-plus-mile days. After my turn on the wheel, I sneaked inside to check out the view from the owner’s cabin, nestled atop the starboard hull. I could have stayed all afternoon.”

View all of the winners by category, meet the judges, and more…

The post 2023 Boat of the Year: Best Cruising Multihull appeared first on Cruising World.

Now that you’ve made the switch to cruising on two hulls instead of one, you might hear occasional snark from your monohull ex-brethren. “A catamaran, huh? You’ve got two of everything. That’s twice the maintenance!” 

Along with other monohull myths, that’s not quite true. Sure, we cat converts have double the most important safety features of a mono—two rudders and two engines, along with other virtues—but we do not have twice the annual maintenance, in terms of work and cost. 

A cat’s annual maintenance load, apart from two engines, is about the same as a similar-­size mono. Here’s what you can expect if you join the cat club, and how to handle common issues that might crop up.

Steering

Whether your steering system is chain-and-cable, Spectra line or hydraulic—as is the case with our Dolphin 460, Ocean—nothing is as disabling or ­dangerous as a loss of steering.

Does your cat’s steering feel too loose or too tight, at speed under sail or power? Give all the steering components a critical evaluation. Look for wear in the steering cables (either wire or Spectra) and sheaves. Enlist an expert, and look over his or her shoulder. Ask questions. 

For hydraulic steering systems, is the feedback on the wheel spongy? If so, there might be an air bubble (or two) in the lines, the result of a fluid leak at one or more of the connection fittings. Check with your boatbuilder for the correct bleeding procedure. Bring aboard a hydraulics expert, and observe and ask questions.

If your cat’s rudders are out of parallel alignment, the cause (a hydraulic leak, a stretched or worn cable) needs to be chased down and corrected. Make sure that the emergency tiller can be used on either rudder, and that the other rudder (if it gets damaged, for instance) can be isolated from the system and allowed to free-float. 

For example, on Ocean’s hydraulic steering, we can pop the emergency tiller onto the shaft of one rudder and throw an isolation valve for the opposite (damaged) rudder that allows the rudder to align itself with the flow of water past the hull.

Engines

Maintaining two engines is not—surprise, surprise—the highlight of a cat cruiser’s existence. But the “other engine” has come in mighty handy. 

Once, while motoring up the leeward side of the island of St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean, Ocean’s starboard engine overheated. The raw-water impeller had failed. We switched to the port engine and continued on our way. I was able to change the starboard engine’s impeller, and we were back to both engines in 20 minutes. 

Another time, in Bermuda, the port engine’s starting battery suddenly died. By starting and revving up the starboard engine, we were able to jump-start the port engine—a good trick in a fix.

There is nothing special to maintaining a cat’s two diesel engines. Just like the diesel on a monohull, they need clean fuel (we change our filters every season, or after burning 100 gallons or so), a steady flow of cooling water (we install new impellers at the start of each season), proper coolant level (we top off as needed), and proper oil levels in the transmission or saildrive leg. To simplify maintenance intervals, most cat cruisers keep their port and starboard engine hours roughly the same. Keeping your engine room scrupulously clean is a good way to spot trouble (an oil or fuel dribble, rubber shavings from an errant drive belt, a seawater leak from a cracked hose) before it really is trouble.

Having two engines also gives you a valuable basis for comparison, and can buy you time. If one of your engines seems to be running hot or making a suspicious noise, then compare it with the other engine. If there is an issue, shut down the problem engine and run on the good one. 

Most cats do fine on one engine—you won’t go as fast, but you’ll get there. One engine is enough to power your navigation and liveaboard systems, charge your batteries, and get you home without calling for help.

Rigging

Where a monohull’s low initial stability tends to absorb rig loads, a cat’s high initial stability results in sudden high loads on standing rigging components, from swages and mechanical fittings to cables and mast tangs. 

Go aloft and inspect your cat’s standing rigging at least once a season. Look for popped strands, cracked swages, evidence of stretched tangs or worn clevis pins, or a suspicious increase in wear in the top swivel of the roller furler. On Ocean, I go aloft with a critical eye two weeks before an offshore passage. If I find trouble, this timing gives me a cushion to schedule a professional rigger and/or order a replacement component.

A cat’s high initial ­stability results in higher-than-­monohull loads on sheets and control lines too. By now, 15 years and 46,000 miles into the ownership of Ocean, we’ve replaced all of our factory-­standard polyester lines with high-strength Spectra-cored line. Be sure to give all your sail fastenings, whether metal shackles or Spectra lashings, a close look, and renew them if chafe or ultraviolet sunburn has made inroads. 

While cats heel only a maximum of 4 degrees, the sudden, repetitive lateral movements of a cat, particularly in beam seas, is hard on the connections that secure your boat’s sails to spars, to standing rigging and to the boat.

Everything else

No one knows your boat like you do. You are the detective. The tip of the spear. Look for telltale cracks in old hoses; rusty, untrustworthy hose clamps (these days, globally sourced, substandard metal parts are everywhere); drips of rust, crusts of corrosion, cracks of consequence (with metal or fiberglass, how deep is the crack?); and unnerving new noises (has the windlass always made that groaning, growling sound?).

Some maintenance items, such as expiration dates on your EPIRBs and the health of your flashlight batteries, are simple to check. You just need to remember to do so. 

Are your running lights, bilge pumps, winch pawls and propane stove up to speed? When did you last check all these items? They can creep up on you if you don’t make a list and keep it updated. A maintenance checklist sounds like something that a monohull sailor would suggest. But it’s a good idea for cat owners too.

At press time, Tom and Harriet Linskey were cruising the Marquesas aboard Ocean.

Deferred Maintenance: The Day I Declared Victory

Every time I have dallied with deferred maintenance, I’ve regretted it. That includes a situation to which I now refer as the Agony and Ecstasy of the Raw-Water Pumps.

About five years ago, at my request, a high-priced boatyard replaced Ocean’s raw-water pumps, which were leaking salt water. I didn’t know that the pump’s O-ring, which fits into a recess in the engine block, makes the pump diabolically tough to change. 

The raw-water pump is located on the front of the engine, already a tough spot to access because of a nearby watertight bulkhead. When you place the O-ring into the recess, it falls out before you can tighten the four bolts of the pump housing. So, the engine mechanics, no strangers to shortcuts, substituted a flat ring in place of the official Volvo Penta O-ring. 

All of this was unknown to me. The previous seawater leaks of the old raw-water pumps were halted, but two other leaks were born. The flat rings leaked. The oil drip escalated to a trickle, then to a stream. Would the pump erupt into an oil gusher? I didn’t know. 

Months later, in Bermuda while en route to Antigua, I removed the raw-water pump and found those flat rings. Luckily, I had two of the official Volvo Penta raw-water pump O-rings, and I vowed to lie on top of the engine, with injector pipes punching into my rib cage, until the raw-water pumps were correctly installed.

Much as I tried, I could not do it. The O-rings fell out of their shallow recess every time. Then, the raw-water-pump gear got stuck halfway in, cockeyed with the engine gear. Very, very bad.

Somehow, I managed to wrestle the pump free from the engine innards. I then reinstalled the pump with the old, leaky flat ring—a soul-destroying defeat. But we voyaged on, both engines slowly streaming oil from their raw-water pumps, my usually spotless engine rooms a mess.

A year or two passed. I did not choose deferred ­maintenance; it had chosen me. Then, one evening, the solution came to me: Remove the pumps, clean the O-ring recess with an acetone-­soaked cotton swab, and use a detail paintbrush to paint the ­engine recess and the O-ring with contact cement. Let it dry, press the O-ring into the groove, insert the bolts, and tighten. 

It worked. No more oil leaks. A defeat for deferred maintenance. The satisfaction of victory runs deep. I sometimes scrunch myself into the engine compartment, my head inches from the watertight bulkhead and drive belts, just to watch my raw-water pumps whirring along, 100 percent leak-free. 

They are so solid. They are inspiring. They are my babies. —TL

The post Is Multihull Maintenance Twice the Work? appeared first on Cruising World.

In my early days as a magazine editor, I pitted two sailboat dealers against each other for a story. One specialized in monohulls; the other, cats. We all bellied up to the bar at a watering hole in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and, over a couple of gin and tonics, the two squared off in a spirited debate about which number of hulls is more desirable. 

I listened intently as the two sparred like heavyweight boxers, trading blows on topics such as stability, speed, efficiency, maneuverability, maintenance, comfort and cost. I scribbled notes on my pad as fast as my fingers would allow. Being a monohull-first guy my whole life, I walked away with a broader appreciation of the multihull mystique that was taking the industry by storm at the time.  

That was more than a decade ago. In the years since, the popularity of multihulls has skyrocketed, and with good reason. This past summer, I was invited to partake in my first extended cruising experience aboard an Aquila 54 power catamaran in the British Virgin Islands with friends and family. Sure, I missed the sweet serenity of sailing, with only the sound of the wind and waves lapping the sails and hullsides underway, but the comfort factor was still off the charts.      

A catamaran can feel like a penthouse apartment over the water when compared, foot for foot, with a similar-length monohull, especially for a family with kids. With the shallow draft, we were able to roam where most keelboats wouldn’t dare. On the sailing side of things, because catamarans have a lower wetted surface area on their hulls, they can often deliver a few more knots of speed, which can shave hours or days off extended passages. On the motoring side, improved fuel efficiency is the prize. 

At this year’s Sail America Industry Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, Franck Bauguil, vice president of yacht ownership and product development for the Moorings, Sunsail and Leopard Catamarans, said that he expects the growing demand for catamarans to continue over the next decade. That’s in large part because their inherent fundamental traits appeal to modern cruisers: volume, one-level living space, redundancy, natural buoyancy, minimal heeling, comfort, stateroom privacy, performance and safety—all of which also make catamarans highly desirable for the charter industry (or, as I like to call it, “the gateway drug to boat ownership”). Still, with multihull ownership, other considerations should be weighed, such as cost and maintenance, logistical challenges associated with slip space and haulouts, and different sail plans to optimize performance. 

If you’re a catamaran owner—or simply among the cat curious—our June/July double issue is a must read. We take a deep dive into the catamaran equation, from new boats and the latest design trends to maintenance tips, sail plans and more. 

In this issue, CW editor-at-large Herb McCormick brings us into the rarefied world of performance-cruising catamarans; industry expert Tim Murphy unravels the evolution of the Balance 482, which toes the line between cruising comforts and extraordinarily satisfying sailing; the always insightful technical guru David Schmidt walks us through the right sail inventory for sailing off the wind on a multihull; and veteran cruiser Tom Linskey, who recently crossed the Pacific and is currently cruising in the Marquesas aboard his Dolphin 460, lends some essential advice for maintaining a catamaran. 

Other June/July issue highlights include sine-wave piloting across the Gulf Stream, how to create a home office afloat, DIY tips on alternators and battery charging, the lifestyle appeal of chartering a catamaran, and the riveting story of voyager James Frederick, whose 32 days alone across the Pacific included 1,000 miles without a rudder. We’ll also check out a fleet of new cats, including the Nautitech 44 Open, the Lagoon 55 and the Fountaine Pajot Isla 40. 

The June/July issue is hitting mailboxes and newsstands as we speak. If you don’t have one, grab one. If you’re not currently a subscriber, I hope you’ll consider becoming one. 

On behalf of the Cruising World crew, thanks for reading. As always, don’t hesitate to let us know your thoughts. We hope you enjoy the issue. As for the monohull-versus-multihull debate, I won’t be taking sides anytime soon, but I’m always up for a gin and tonic aboard either one.

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The post The Multihull Mystique appeared first on Cruising World.

As if to prove the old saw “good things come to those who wait,” sailboat builders are poised to introduce a stunning array of new models as boat shows here in the States open their doors for the first time in nearly two years. 

Looking through the lineup that’s set to make a debut at venues this fall and winter, the assortment of designs and options is impressive, to say the least. For our 2022 New Sailboat Showcase, we count ­entries from builders in a ­dozen ­countries, from the US to ­Europe to the Far East to South ­Africa. One ­country, France, dominates the water-
front with 13 new models ready to make a splash.  

But nationality isn’t the only element bringing variety to the new-sailboat market. Buyers will be able to choose from 23 monohulls and nine new ­multihulls, ranging in size from 24 to more than 66 feet. And designs span daysailers to performance cruisers to a ­number of long-legged bluewater ­voyagers, featuring one hull or two (or three), your choice.

RELATED: Which Sailboat is the Best New Boat for 2022?

And that’s not all. Remember, the new boats you’ll see when you venture out this coming year also include the more than three dozen models we counted in last year’s Showcase, most of which were on display only through virtual events or at private showings put on by individual dealers.

All in all, sailors have any number of reasons to head for the waterfront to check out a wide assortment of fresh ideas about how to have fun on the water. From accommodations to sailhandling, there will be a lot to talk about—and choose from if you’re a buyer. Enjoy!

Alubat Cigale 16

With its hard chine, twin rudders and tall rig, the all-aluminum, 54-foot Cigale 16 is an impressive long-range cruiser. Naval architect Marc Lombard has maximized the waterline but kept the displacement light, which translates to power upwind and planing speeds on a screaming reach. A single helm or twin wheels are available, and choose three or four cabins as well. 

alubat.com

Balance 482

A collaborative design effort between champion cat racer Philip Berman and award-winning naval architect Anton du Toit, the Balance 482 is all about grace and ­performance. Go-fast features include ­forward-raked wave-piercing bows, foam-cored hulls and decks, and carbon reinforcement throughout. Choose either daggerboards or fixed keels. 

balancecatamarans.com

Bali Catspace

When it comes to cruising comfort and amenities, there are spaces galore to choose from on the 40-foot Bali Catspace. The integrated deck layout boasts an aft platform with bench seats and a forward cockpit with a dedicated lounge and room to stretch out in the sun. Or head up topside to the expansive flybridge/helm station for a broader view of the horizon. 

bali-catamarans.com

Bavaria C38

With its distinctive V-shaped bow, hard chines, substantial beam and dual wheels, the 36-foot Bavaria C38 is a sharp-looking, compact cruiser. The beamy hull is carried well aft, where owners have a choice of a single stateroom or a pair of them. Either way, the expansive owner’s cabin forward is certainly one of the largest available in the midsize-cruiser category. 

bavariayachts.com

Beneteau First 27

Big fun and thrills in a small, smart package:
That’s what the Beneteau First 27 is all about. With a vacuum-infused hull, a lead T-bulb deep keel, and balanced twin-rudders, this nifty racer/cruiser was laid out to get there quickly. The open cockpit is superb for competition or daysailing, but the real surprise is the sweet layout below for coastal cruising.

beneteau.com

Bluewater 56

The Bluewater 56 is a Germán Frers-­designed long-range cruiser that is built for Bluewater Yachts by Xiamen ­Hansheng Yacht Building in China. With ­watertight bulkheads fore and aft, a solid composite hull, top-notch ­hardware, dual headsails and optional hard ­dodger, the 56 is intended for the cruiser who wants to see the world in comfort.

bluewateryachts.com

CNB 66

At a shade longer than 67 feet, this formidable offshore thoroughbred from the powerhouse French duo of designer Philippe Briand and the CNB shipyard was conceived as the largest sailing yacht that could be handled by a family crew. The optional hydraulic roller-furling boom for the mainsail, developed with Hall Spars, is one feature that makes it possible. 

en.cyb-yachts.com

Dufour 47

Looking for options in your next cruising boat? Search no further than the Dufour 470, which the builder pitches as “three models in one,” with a trio of versions: Easy, Ocean and Performance. The Easy layout keeps things simple and straightforward. The Ocean model brings critical running rigging close to the helm. The Performance package is upgraded for the racer. 

dufour-yachts.com

Dufour 61

Dufour’s new flagship 61-footer is an impressive yacht on multiple levels, and fittingly, offers owners a selection of several interior layouts. For example, there are two cool galley options: one forward and one longitudinal, to port. Topside, the look is clean and modern, particularly the sleek coach roof and expansive foredeck. And the cockpit Bimini is a delight. 

dufour-yachts.com

Elan GT6

Measuring in at just inches under 50 feet, the Elan GT6 (the GT stands for “Grand Tourer”) is an elegant-looking craft. Humphreys Yacht Design was responsible for the hull design, while Studio F.A. Porsche handled the styling, particularly the handsome accoutrements below. These include a forward galley, a sumptuous saloon, and a roomy forward owner’s suite.

elan-yachts.com

FountainE Pajot Isla 40

The worthy successor to FP’s popular Lucia 40, the new Isla 40 is the latest creation from the prolific naval architects at Berret-Racoupeau Yacht Design. For this crafty midsize cat, the designers specified inverted bows to stretch the waterline, and extended the coach roof well aft, where it serves as a hard Bimini over the shaded cockpit—a lovely space for a happy crew. 

catamarans-fountaine-pajot.com

Fountaine Pajot Samana 59 

It’s easy to identify the signature feature of the French cat builder’s fresh new flagship: It’s the breathtaking flybridge at the center of it all, which the company notes is the largest in its class. But that’s just the beginning of the innovations. Take, for example, the saloon. Would you prefer the Lounge layout, with the galley down, or the Classic, with galley up? Choices, choices!

catamarans-fountaine-pajot.com

Grand Soleil 42 LC

It’s a grand year for imports, and that includes a pair of new offerings from Italian builder Grand Soleil. The 42 LC is available in two versions: standard or sport. The former features a carbon arch over the cockpit to clear the area of a mainsheet traveler; the sportier option has a cockpit laid out for racing and cruising. Below, there’s a choice of two or three staterooms. 

grandsoleil.net

Grand Soleil GS 44

Make no mistake about it: The GS 44 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Like the 42 LC, there is a choice between two versions—in this case, race and performance. The former, a Grand Prix racing machine, needs no explanation. The latter, perhaps obviously, is focused on performance cruising, with a deck layout optimized for smooth shorthanded cruising. 

grandsoleil.net

Hallberg-Rassy 50 

Somehow, designer ­Germán Frers and ­builder Hallberg-Rassy have found a way to launch a thoroughly modern center-cockpit sailboat that still has the look and feel of the HR family of bluewater cruisers. The 50-footer includes a walk-in engine room, twin rudders, tons of storage space, and an in-mast furling carbon-fiber rig and versatile sail plan.

hallberg-rassy.com

Hallberg-Rassy 400

Longtime Swedish ­builder Hallberg-Rassy has just launched a sporty-looking 40-footer, designed by Germán Frers. The HR 400 features a sizable aft cockpit, twin wheels and rudders, and a wide ­array of choices, ­including slightly overlapping genoa or self-tacking jib, one or two heads, and a two- or three-cabin layout down below. 

hallberg-rassy.com

HH44

HH Catamarans is jumping into green sailing with its in-house-­designed HH44. The carbon-fiber cat’s ­par­allel hybrid system features robust solar power and lithium batteries to fuel a pair of electric motors, plus twin 30 hp diesels for conventional motoring. Add solid performance under sail, and the horizon just got a lot more distant.

hhcatamarans.com

Hylas 57

Hylas says its new Bill Dixon-designed 57 represents a “new era,” and it’s hard to argue. Twin wheels and rudders ensure an easy, precise helm. A light, cored hull promotes both notable strength and superb insulation. A solent rig with a pair of headsails lets you shift gears in shifty breeze. It’s designed to be sailed by a couple, and with three or four cabins, the open ocean awaits.

hylasyachts.com

Italia 14.98

With the Italia 14.98, you have options. Keep it simple with a self-­tacking jib, electric  Rewind winches, and luxury Bellissima interior. Or spice it up for ORC-style racing with a ­carbon spar and mast jack, split backstay, six-winch cockpit layout, asymmetrical kites and bowsprit, and the weight-conscious Fouriserie finish
down below.

italiayachts.com

J/Boats J/45

The team at J/Boats ­certainly knows a ton about performance cruising, and with their new 45-footer, they’re taking their program to the next level. The carbon, double-spreader fractional rig means business. The SCRIMP resin-infused molding process for the foam-cored hull and deck translates to one strong, sleek yacht, ready for oceanic adventures.

jboats.com

J/Boats J/9

Billed as an offshore daysailer, the crew at J/Boats asks, “Is this the most comfortable cockpit ever?” On this smashing 28-footer, it just might be. The J/9 is simplicity personified; hoist the main and unroll the jib, and you’re instantly flying. That cockpit has four comfy corner seats and a perfect swim platform. And there are berths below for coastal cruising.

jboats.com

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 380

Just like its larger sisterships (the Sun Odyssey 410, 440 and 490), the latest model in the growing Sun Odyssey range, the 380, is complete with the innovative, award-winning walk-around deck, which has proved to be a revelation. Naval architect Marc Lombard is once again responsible for the hull design, so you know the ride will be fast and comfy. 

jeanneauamerica.com

Jeanneau Yachts 60

Get this: The latest, perhaps greatest, addition to the Jeanneau line is available in 19(!) possible interior configurations. All of them fit within a spacious package designed by the legendary Philippe Briand, with features including an inverted bow, a dedicated hull chine, an integral bowsprit, an elevated sheerline and walk-around side decks, to make the going easy.

jeanneauamerica.com

Lagoon Sixty 5

A terrific successor to Lagoon’s highly successful 620 model, the new Sixty 5 has taken the flybridge concept, literally and figuratively, to a new level. Accessed via a wide, safe stairway, the bridge has not one but two helm stations for maximum visibility when underway. A rigid overhead Bimini is fitted with a glass window to see the set of the sails. A wet bar? Of course!

cata-lagoon.com

LM 46 performance cruiser

Not many builders are knocking out wood performance cruisers these days. But not many builders enjoy the stellar reputation of Maine’s Lyman-Morse yard. Designed by Kiwi Kevin Dibley, the cold-molded 46-footer is fashioned of Douglas fir and western red cedar, and it is spectacular. Double headsails and twin wheels make it a joy to drive under sail. 

lymanmorse.com

Neel 43

The newest member of the Neel family of cruising trimarans is the 43, and while it might be the smallest yacht in the lineup, it’s big on performance. Designed by Marc Lombard, it continues with the Neel tradition of being fast and safe, and easily operable by a shorthanded crew. The helm station, to starboard, has a triple seat for comfort and commanding views.

neel-trimarans.com

Oyster 495

With its new 50 footer, Oyster, in collaboration with Humphreys Yacht Design, has shifted gears to focus on couples and other shorthanded crews headed for bluewater adventures. An in-mast furling main and electric winches are standard, 

as are twin wheels in the cockpit, located a bit forward on the clutter-free deck. The 495 features three cabins and creature comforts aplenty.

oysteryachts.com

Salona 46 

Built in Croatia to exceedingly high standards with vacuum infusion and vinylester resin, the Salona 46 is strong, stiff and reliable. Like every Salona, those traits are reinforced with an internal steel frame that anchors the keel and mast. An electric winch hoists the main, which drops into a sweet stack pack when the day is done. A fractional rig enhances sailhandling.

salonayachts.com

Tartan 245

When Tartan’s estimable naval architect Tim Jackett sat down to draw the next addition to the line, he had something substantial in mind. But when the opportunity arose to build a fleet of tidy craft for instruction, club racing and even adaptive sailing, he tacked in a different direction, and presto: the 245. Pretty and peppy, and of course well-built, it’s fun and alluring.

tartanyachts.com

Vision 444

South Africa’s Vision Yachts has launched a 44-foot cat that’s designed to keep things simple for owners or charterers. A raised helm station ensures good visibility underway and when docking, while a self-tacking jib takes the effort out sailhandling. Among the notable ­features are side doors in each transom for better access from a dock.

visionyachts.com

Voyage 590 

Voyage, a South African builder, has been crafting oceangoing cats since 1994. Voyage, the Caribbean charter ­company, maintains a fleet of those same boats, including the new 590, which can ­accommodate up to 14 guests on a sun-splashed holiday. The boat features an open floor plan, with multiple spaces to relax, ­including a flybridge.

voyageyachts.com

X-Yachts X5⁶

The X-Yachts X range of ­performance cruising sailboats just got a big new addition with the launch of the flagship X5⁶, a vessel as sleek-looking on deck, with its twin wheels and solent rig, as it is luxurious below. Check out the considerable variety of options by clicking through the X5⁶ configurator tool online. Warning: It can lead to serious dreaming. 

x-yachts.com

The post A First Look at the New Boats of 2022 appeared first on Cruising World.

In the sport of sailing in 2021, foiling is all the rage and has completely revolutionized our game. Catamarans have been foiling in the America’s Cup for nearly a decade and have since spawned an entirely new breed of foiling monohull. Partially as a result of these unprecedented investments in foiling technology, the trickle-down has been rapid, widespread and eminently consequential. From the explosion of the foiling Moth dinghy and foiling beach cats and monohulls to the adaptation of hydrofoils on everything from surfboards and SUPs to Vendée Globe solo offshore rockets, kiteboards, and one-design racers—and even some cruising yachts—foiling has touched every aspect of yacht design. However, long before foiling went mainstream, there was one famous French foiling trimaran blazing its own bold path well above the ocean’s surface: l’Hydroptère.

The History

When the 60-foot l’Hydroptère was originally conceived in the 1970s, she more closely resembled a far-fetched futuristic concept of what a racing sailboat might one day look like than an actual boat. Compared with the heavy-displacement keelboats of the day, l’Hydroptère appeared to be something off the TV show The Jetsons. Conceived by the godfather of French offshore racing, Eric Tabarly, the initial concept of l’Hydroptère was simple. With wings riding under the water, the boat could achieve lift and then rise above its surface, thus greatly reducing the boat’s hydrodynamic drag while exponentially increasing its speed potential. Simply put, the idea was to marry sailing and flight; appropriately, l’Hydroptère’s name is a combination of the Greek word hydros, for water, and the French term, ptère, for wing.

To pioneer the concept of a flying boat isn’t easy, and the many failures—and hard-earned victories—of l’Hydroptère are a testament to this fact. Working in conjunction with the now-dominant design firm VPLP and some of France’s top boatbuilders, project manager Alain Thébault, Tabarly and their collaborators worked through several evolutions of the basic l’Hydroptère concept before building the boat that would eventually crush world sailing speed records, inspire legions of sailors, and become the subject of sailing folklore.

After beginning with a simple wooden version of the concept in 1976 using a Tornado catamaran hull as the main central hull, by the mid-1980s, the team moved on to small, remote-controlled prototypes, followed by a one-man, one-third-scale flying boat by the early 1990s. In 1994, the dream literally took flight when a full-scale prototype was hovering well above the water off the coast of France. But in 1995, while sailing at close to 30 knots of boatspeed, l’Hydroptère suffered the structural failure of a port crossbeam and quickly crashed down to the water’s surface. Fortunately, the boat was salvaged and brought back to port.

Half a dozen years later, in 2001, the fourth and final iteration of l’Hydroptère was launched. Almost immediately after hitting the water, its increased speed potential was evident. In 2005, l’Hydroptère sailed across the English Channel at a sustained average speed of nearly 40 knots, eclipsing Louis Blériot’s first record for flying across the English Channel in an airplane in 1909. Two years later, in April 2007, l’Hydroptère sailed into the record books as the fastest sailboat over both 500 meters and 1 nautical mile, earning its first (but not last) World Sailing Speed Record.

In December 2008, Thébault and his men peaked at more than 56 knots, ­briefly, before breaching l’Hydroptère’s foils and then immediately pitchpoling into a capsize. Undaunted, the team came back in 2009 stronger than ever and set another World Sailing Speed Record, this time covering 500 meters at an average speed of more than 51.3 knots of boatspeed with a peak of nearly 59 knots; it was an incredible achievement, and marked the first time a boat officially crossed the near-mythical 50-knot barrier for a sustained period of time. Coincidentally, this 50-knot barrier represents the current speed limit for the America’s Cup and Sail GP catamarans. Any faster, and foil ventilation and cavitation begins to rear its ugly head.

Highs and Lows

Entering a new decade in 2010, Thébault and his men secured another injection of funding for an entirely new adventure. With one World Sailing Speed Record firmly in hand, tri now aimed toward an infinitely larger racetrack: the Pacific Ocean. In May 2012, the boat arrived in the port of Long Beach, California, on a container ship to undergo further optimization before embarking on an ambitious record attempt to sail some 2,215 miles to Honolulu, Hawaii. With consistent trade winds and the long, groomed swells of the Pacific, the Transpac Race course was identified as the best potential venue to prove the concept of flying across an ocean—a goal that l’Hydroptère’s visionary, Tabarly, who had since passed away, had been pursuing since before the early 1980s when he sailed one of the world’s first ocean foilers, Paul Ricard, across the Atlantic and into the record books.

With a crew that included Vendée Globe legends Yves Parlier and Jean le Cam, as well as round-the-world multihull ace Jacques Vincent, l’Hydroptère was well-primed to fly to Hawaii in record time. Unfortunately, the 2012 record attempt was scrapped, and l’Hydroptère was instead moved to the San Francisco Bay area. On the hunt for sponsorship dollars there and in nearby Silicon Valley, l’Hydroptère began preparing for another assault on the Transpac course record the following year in 2013. The record, held by Frenchman Olivier de Kersauson and his crew on board the maxi-trimaran Geronimo, was set at just 4 days, 19 hours, 31 minutes, 37 seconds—certainly a very quick time to cover over 2,000 nautical miles, but it was well within the scope of a big, modern foiling trimaran.

However, the 2013 record attempt was also aborted. Perpetually strapped for cash and seemingly swimming against the tide in many respects, l’Hydroptère wouldn’t set sail for Hawaii until 2015. That year, with meager funds and their high-profile, rock-star sailors back in France, l’Hydroptère crossed the starting line with a crew of lesser-known, less-­experienced sailors. Both the team and the weather window proved suboptimal. Attempting to run downwind in light air, this hydrofoiling reaching monster was relegated to drifting toward the islands at a relative snail’s pace, firmly stuck to the surface of the water. No foiling equals no fun. And certainly no speed record.

After an unsuccessful and embarrassingly slow Transpacific record attempt that took nearly 11 days—well over twice their goal—l’Hydroptère was left unceremoniously tied alongside a dock in Honolulu’s Kewalo Basin. The French program, already severely underfunded, eventually abandoned the tri in Hawaii. After a prolonged spell at Kewalo Basin, she was eventually moved to a state mooring ball in Keehi Lagoon. For most boats, this is akin to receiving a slowly implemented death sentence featuring no shortage of cruel and unusual punishment along the way.

Of all the seedy harbors in the state, perhaps no place is worse than the Keehi Lagoon mooring field. Located right ­beneath the flight path to the ­international airport, Keehi is loud, dusty, smelly and incessantly windy. Notorious for its derelict boats, floating meth labs and gross mismanagement, it’s a place where once-great boats go to die. Way in the back, just astern of the two submerged rigs of a sunken ketch, lay one of the fastest sailboats the world had ever seen, on its own downward spiral toward an ignominious death. To a passionate racing and cruising sailor like me, this was about as sad as it gets

No doubt about it, l’Hydroptère had hit rock bottom. Which meant there was only one way to go: up.

The Dream Renewed

For l’Hydroptère to be rescued and resurrected at this juncture, a savior was required. Luckily for the ­down-and-out vessel, not one but two such souls ­miraculously appeared.

“I had first seen l’Hydroptère several years earlier in Southern California while preparing for a Transpac race, and she certainly piqued my curiosity,” says Chris Welsh of Point Richmond, California. In June 2019, the abandoned l’Hydroptère went up for public auction, and Welsh was on an airplane to Honolulu to look her over more closely and place a bid on the boat. Owner of the Spencer 65 Ragtime—a veteran of more Transpacs than any other boat in history, and not coincidentally purchased from a police auction—Welsh had some history with massive multihulls as well. He owned Steve Fossett’s old maxi-catamaran Playstation, which had been converted to a powerboat named Cheyenne. Welsh clearly wasn’t afraid to take on an ambitious project with a famous and historic old boat. A prominent West Coast yachtsman who also owns Point Richmond’s commercial Sugar Dock ­marina, Welsh had both the resources and the vision to bring a boat like ­l’Hydroptère back to life.

But he wasn’t the only one.

“It was always in my heart to follow this boat,” Frenchman Gabriel Terrasse says. “I had discovered l’Hydroptère at the Paris Boat Show in 1998, and then I went on the internet to learn more and I could not find anything, so I built a website about the boat. A few months later, the l’Hydroptère team had me build their official web page.” Fast-forward nearly two decades, and Gabriel’s interest in the boat had not dwindled. “In 2016, when the boat was first abandoned and for sale in Honolulu, I thought to buy her, but I was not quick enough. I knew l’Hydroptère had more inside her, more to accomplish, so when I heard that the boat was up for auction in 2019, I flew to Honolulu to buy her.”

The two competing bidders met the night before the auction. “That is when I first met Gabriel,” Welsh says. “We were both there to buy l’Hydroptère. After talking, we shook hands and decided to team up.” This would prove to be the beginning of a very special, if unlikely, friendship. Welsh says, “With my yard in the Bay Area, it would just be so much easier and cheaper to refit the boat there, so we figured out what she needed to make the trip, hired a delivery captain, and then spent most of the summer getting the boat ready to sail back to San Francisco.”

A professional racing sailor on the West Coast, Hawaii and Asia, Mike Price was the delivery skipper tasked with getting l’Hydroptère back across the Pacific. “At its worst, l’Hydroptère was in very poor shape,” he recalls. “The coffee grinders had been stripped, the clutches and winches were removed, and the steering system, which was hydraulic, was ripped apart on one side but left intact on the other. Someone had bashed in the entry hatch and stolen the chart plotter, GPS and electronics. They left in place most of the hydraulics for the flight-control systems, but the sails and everything else were gone.”

A lesser sailor might’ve walked away, but even in her dilapidated condition, for Price, the sheer brilliance of l’Hydroptère shone through. “Structurally, the boat was very well-intact,” he says. “The hull was built a long time ago, and it was uncharacteristically overbuilt out of carbon. There were no breaks or cracks in the laminate or between structures. Being made completely out of carbon and titanium, everything seemed very solid. The mast and the standing rigging looked fine.”

Even so, before embarking on the trip to California, l’Hydroptère underwent a Honolulu refit that included a new diesel engine, some cobbled-together delivery sails, fresh deck hardware and winches, new backstays, and a lot of new lashings for the sail controls and rigging.

Then, Price says, “we brought a ton of diesel fuel, lashed it down everywhere we could find room, and left on the most benign weather window that presented itself. We had very flat seas and light air for the first 800 miles. We motored for six days at 5 to 6 knots, and it was nice for most of the passage. But it’s a very wet boat! At some point, every piece of electronics crapped out and had to be rewired at sea. The most wind that we ever saw was 25 knots, and we sailed the boat super conservatively with the foils all the way decambered to keep l’Hydroptère firmly in nonfoiling mode. We cruised under jib only when it was windy and made the passage in good shape. But it was something like science fiction, man. What a cool boat!”

Shortly after the boat returned to California, the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the world to a halt, though this would prove to be a blessing in disguise for the newly reassembled l’Hydroptère team. “It was strangely good fortune that we ended up with five people all stuck together for 90 days,” Welsh says. “We got a lot done because we didn’t have a lot of distractions, so we just made the most of it. We cleaned up the boat and got everything out of it. It needed to be disassembled in a way that you could inventory the condition of things and restore them before putting it back together. In doing so, we were pleasantly surprised that the boat had survived the sun in Hawaii better than we expected.” Unfortunately, due to visa restrictions, Terrasse had to return to France, where he’s pursued new technical partners.

“L’Hydroptère is a big, tough boat,” Welsh says of the vessel he’s still learning about. “She is not some delicate wallflower that takes 25 guys to run. She was solidly constructed out of carbon and titanium, and is built for real sailing. She’s strong enough to try other foils, and there are some clear pathways to making her lighter. And l’Hydroptère is an interesting platform to move forward with, and there is still potential for some record breaking, particularly with point-to-point passages.”

Likewise, Terrasse insists that there is a lot more left in l’Hydroptère’s tank and that there remains a world of possibility. “We want to make her fly again,” he says. “To improve her. I’m working on the R&D to make her faster, with new technology. L’Hydroptère was built with 20-year-old technology. With rigid sails (a wing), with new foils for higher speeds, with more weight reduction…. There is a long list of possibilities. We have a big wish list. It is a nice and crazy project!”

Sailors are, by nature, dreamers. It’s one of the qualities that makes this sport so beautiful and keeps us all coming back. As well, the boats themselves, and the adventures that those vessels have inspired, have an uncanny ability to bring people together. From the forward-thinking sailors and engineers who first dreamed up this magnificent flying boat nearly 50 years ago to the unlikely cast of characters who are today bringing it back to life in Northern California and in France, ­l’Hydroptère has inspired legions of sailing fans for decades and continues to do so to this day. In a world in need of some good news right now, the unlikely renaissance of the world’s first famous flying boat—and the new bridges that have been built as a result—continue to remind us that anything is possible. What will ­l’Hydroptère’s next chapter bring? We don’t know. But we can’t wait to find out.

Offshore cruiser and racer Ronnie Simpson is a CW contributing editor.

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