AMERICA’S PREMIER MULTIHULL MAGAZINE
MULTIHULLSTODAY SAILING MULTIHULLS FOR 2022 UPGRADE YOUR SAILS OWN A CHARTER BOAT
INDIAN OCEAN ADVENTURE winter 2022
MULTIHULLS TODAY winter 2022
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
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ON THE LEVEL
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An Element of Risk and an Uncertain Outcome: a Whale’s Tale
Bitter End Yacht Club Reopens RIP: James Wharram 16
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Your Multihull
ON CHARTER Owning a Boat in a Charter Fleet
SAILING SMART How to Upgrade the Sails on
ON PASSAGE
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MODERN MULTIHULLS Annual Preview of Great New Multihulls, 2022
Cover shot: A Neel 43 showing off its paces
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New Trends in Multihulls for 2022 THE NUMBER OF NEW DESIGNS AND NEW BUILDERS entering the cruising multihull market astounds me. Who knew there were enough folks with the desire and the ability to buy a new boat that costs over half a million dollars. But the buyers are there, and the builders have stepped up to serve them with a wide array of designs, styles and prices. You can check out our Annual of New Multihulls for 2022 on page __. In the process of putting this issue together, we spotted some definite trends to look for in 2022. First, we are seeing the introduction of smaller and more affordable multihulls. Excess, a subsidiary of Groupe Beneteau, is launching their new 36-foot Excess 11; Leopard is out with their new 42; Seawind is launching their 39-foot 1370; HH will offer their new 44; and NEEL is replacing their original 45 with a 43-foot cruising trimaran. Of course, when we say “small” the concept is relative since a 36-foot catamaran has more living space than a 50-foot monohull. Lounges on top of the cockpit hardtop are in vogue. Leopard made this feature popular years ago on some of their large cats, but now they have it on even their new 42. And several other builders have picked up the feature in their new boats. Even Gunboat, not known for multiple lounges on their performance, rocket ship cruisers, have designed a sky lounge on their new VPLP designed 72V. Comfort and relaxation is now de rigueur. And, more and more new designs are eco-friendly. Two new examples this year are the HH44, which is a pure hybrid that has both electric drives and diesels, so when not sailing you can motor up to 20 miles without burning diesel but have the option to do so when motoring longer distances. Also, the Xquiste Sixty Solar uses very advanced solar and electric technology that powers their new design. As these technologies become more common and more reliable, I suspect they are in all of our futures. There has never been a better time to be in the market for a new multihull, even though in some models you may have to wait a while for delivery due to the pandemic and supply chain issue.
MULTIHULLS TODAY
Editor and Publisher George Day Ph: 401-847-7612 Fax: 401-845-8580 george@bwsailing.com Contributing Editors
Bill Biewenga Rebecca Childress John Neal
Sandy Parks Art Director Ph: 401-847-7612 Fax: 401-845-8580 sandy@bwsailing.com Advertising Sales & Tom Casey Marketing Consultant tomcat911@comcast.net
MT-Multihulls Today is published by Blue Water Sailing LLC in February, May, August and November. Copyrighted 2022. All rights reserved. Reprinting, photocopying and excerpting passages is forbidden except by permission of the publisher. Blue Water Sailing ISSN: 1091-1979
Fair winds,
4 Multihulls Today • Volume 12, winter
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Update on the Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda, BVI by Scott Akerman
I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO RECENTLY be cruising around Virgin Gorda’s North Sound and dropped in on the Bitter End Yacht Club to check on the progress of their rebuild since hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.
6 Multihulls Today • vwinter, 2022
Due to supply chain issues, the rebuild of this famous resort is going slower than anyone would like, but it’s on its way and is sure to impress fans who have been coming here by boat and ferry for decades.
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Lagoon 42 - February 2016 - Photo Credit: Nicolas Claris
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as many recycled materials as possible. You are literally standing on what was left after Irma. There are a few bungalows perched right over the water with views overlooking the marina and North Sound. Upstairs, the bungalows have a large bed and novel air conditioning system that sends cool air over the bed. Downstairs, there are two beds and when the doors open there’s
Time to Replace Your Multihull Trampoline?
a deck with a ladder for quick entry into the water. Food and beverage are going to be a signature item I’m guessing by the wood fired pizza oven and panini presses I spied. The Pantry grocery store has also been expanded with sailing guests able
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instructors who are always eager to please. I can’t give away all the secrets but there’s another bar that any cruiser will find incredibly cool. The plan is to expand the resort down the beach and around the corner, but in the short term the rebuild is really about just getting supplies and getting to provision their boats with a greater open to the public so that variety of items. once January/ February come they will ready for prime time. Down the beach, the water sports building will have toys as usual to keep you For more information and updates visit busy sailing, paddle boarding and kaya- the Bitter End Yacht Club’s website here. king and you will be hosted by super nice https://beyc.com/ www.hydrovane.com
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STEERING THE DREAM 12 Multihulls Today • vwinter, 2022
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on thelevel
A Living Legend Lives No More
WE ARE VERY SAD TO ANNOUNCE THAT on the 14th December James Wharram left this earthly world, joining Ruth, Jutta and his many close friends that departed before him. At 93 years old his spirit has set out on the voyage to sail the oceans of heaven. James was a trailblazer, a fighter with great determination and vision. From a young age he followed his passions - to roam the hills - for fair politics - for intelligent women - to sail the seas - to prove the Polynesian double canoe an ocean worthy craft - to become a Man of the Sea. These passions made him into a pioneer of catamaran sailing and a worldrenowned designer of unique doublecanoe catamarans that now sail the oceans. He designed for people who wanted to break out of mundane lives, gave them boats they could build at 14 Multihulls Today • vwinter, 2022
an affordable cost and gave them the opportunity to become People of the Sea like himself. His chosen life was never easy, he would always fight convention and conventional thinking head on. His passionate and multi-faceted personality was very attractive to strong, independent women who helped him in his pursuits, starting with the steadfast Ruth, without whom he would never have reached his goals. Young Jutta joined them on their pioneering ocean voyages and was the mother of his first son. Sadly she died very young from mental illness as a result of her traumatic WWII childhood experiences. James lived his entire life openly with more than one woman at the same time, as many as five in his prime in the 1970s, with whom he built and sailed his boats. Alongside Ruth, who died eight years ago at the age of 92, I was his other life partner
and soul mate. I first met James when he was in the full flow of designing his range of Classic Designs in the 1960s, which led to him becoming a cult figure in the alternative society of 1970s. In time I became his design partner and together with Ruth we were an unbreakable unit. I gave birth to his second son and together we gave birth to many new double canoe designs. James achieved everything he set out to do in this lifetime, but only received public recognition from the establishment in more recent years. The final project was his autobiography, published a year ago as ‘People of the Sea’, on which he worked for many years, as he was very critical of his own writing. We worked together to complete it and to get it published.
disintegration and made the very hard call to end it himself. It was with great courage that he lived his life and with great courage he decided it was the time to finish. In this moment of great loss we should all remember the good and glorious times of a life fulfilled. This is not the end, I, we, all the Wharram World will keep his work alive. With my fondest regards, Hanneke
People would refer to James as the great James Wharram, the living Legend, but he didn’t see himself as such. He was aware it was his large following of builders and sailors, their beautiful boats and great voyages that created the famous Wharram World. He saw them as the real heroes. Sadly in the last few years James’ brain, which he always talked about as a separate entity, started to fail him due to Alzheimer’s. He was very distressed by losing his mental abilities, and struggled with his diminished existence. He could not face the prospect of further www.MultihullsToday.com 15
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How to Upgrade the Sails on Your Multihull Modern design and fabric can really add to you by Brian Hancock multihulls sailing performance MULTIHULLS, BY THEIR VERY NATURE ARE A cruiser’s cruising boat. They are spacious, they don’t tip (much), they have a shallow draft and they are relatively fast. What’s not to like? It’s not surprising then how cutting-edge multihulls have become when it comes to innovation and their embrace of new technology, especially when it comes to sails. The first experience most multihull sailors have with sails are the standard crosscut Dacron sails that come with most production multihulls. They may be practical, but they are not very exciting and cheap construction and price take precedent over durability and performance. Usually the main is pinhead, meaning that there is an acute angle at the head of the sail and it does not incorporate a large roach or, as is increasingly popular, a square or a round head. Same too with headsails. They are usually unimaginative triangular sails there to suffice the requirements of a new owner being sold a boat. Multihulls are unique in that they are rigged in a tri-pod configuration, that is there is a headstay and two shrouds. The shrouds are attached as far outboard as possible, and aft of the mast so that there is no need for conventional spreaders. The tri-pod rig configuration supports the mast. This configuration has one big advantage and one, well not so great drawback. With just three pieces of 16 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
rigging supporting the mast there is no need for a backstay meaning that you can create just about any kind of mainsail that you like. There is no backstay to obstruct things when you need to tack. The drawback, however, is that because the shrouds are so far outboard you can’t have any kind of overlapping headsail. This is not really a bad thing because most multihulls are mainsail driven, meaning that the principal sail is the main and the headsail is there to provide a little extra sail area and to provide a bit of ‘slot effect’ when sailing to windward.
MAINSAILS
So, let’s see what we can do with the main. You can add as much roach as you like. This increases sail area while still having a fairly manageable sail. You can, if you like, make the sail square-headed, meaning that the top of the sail, rather than being pinhead, is square, or at a right angle to the mast. This provides an overall better sail profile but it comes with a couple of issues. One of the issues is the compression load on the “gaff” batten, the one that is angled to support the square head. Because of it’s configuration the “gaff” batten has to deal with much more compression than the other battens but this can be managed with a sturdy car on the inboard end, preferably one that runs on some kind of bearing system, either balls or rollers.
The other issue is that with the gaff batten in place you can’t furl the sail flat on top of the boom. This batten, rather than being parallel with the boom, is at an angle. In order for it to lay flat the headboard needs to be released from the headboard car. On a small boat where you can easily reach the headboard this is not really a problem but on a larger boat you may need to rig a bosun chair and get hoisted to detach the headboard. This is obviously a lot more work. There is a system where the main halyard is deadended at the headboard and runs over a sheave that is part of the headboard car and loops back through the headboard. When the halyard is tightened it pulls the headboard into a slot on the headboard car. When it’s released the headboard falls away from the headboard car and can then lay flat. Having a mainsail-driven boat is not a bad thing, especially one with a large roach. Your sail designer will design a certain amount of ‘twist’ into the sail. Twist is the amount a sail opens up to the wind angle the higher up the sail you go. Twist is necessary because the wind flow across the sail is effected by friction caused at the lower end by the wind passing over the deck and superstructure. You can also add twist by bringing the mainsail traveler up to windward and easing the main sheet. This puts you in a controlling position when it comes to balancing the overall sail plan as the conditions vary. I would suggest contacting the designer of your multihull before going too crazy adding sail area either in the form of a larger roach or
a square head. Boats are designed to be balanced with the center of effort of the sail plan specifically placed to provide the best performance. If you arbitrarily add sail area you may add unwanted weather helm to your boat.
HEADSAILS
Headsails on a multihull are pretty much a second thought. They are restricted in size because of the wide shroud base that restricts overlapping sails. Many are fractionally rigged which also reduces the size of the sail. Having said that, I suggest that you try and make the most of it by adding battens to the sail. These battens can be parallel to the headstay so that when the jib is rolled up the battens will not be an issue. By adding battens you are able to fill the foretriangle and improve the ‘slot effect’ between the headsail and mainsail. These are two very good and quite simple improvements over the standard production sails that come with a new multihull. You will definitely see an increase in performance.
SAIL CLOTH
You can add additional performance by upgrading the fabric and engineering of your sails. Cross cut Dacron has worked for decades but a tri-radial laminate is a much better way to build sails. The laminate, which incorporates mylar there to counter off threadline stretch, can be used to build radial sails. Not only does the laminate have better strength and stretch characteristics than Dacron, you can place a heavier fabric www.MultihullsToday.com 17
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in the high load areas like the leech and foot and a lighter fabric through the body of the sail where the load is greatly reduced. Many multihull sailors are opting for membrane sails. This type of engineering, once limited to racing sailors with deep pockets, has become increasingly popular with cruisers mostly because the price has dropped significantly and the engineering results in significantly better sails. With a membrane sail the sail and the fabric are made at the same time. There is usually a substrate upon which fibers are laid. Each individual fiber is placed precisely along the anticipated load path in the sail. The fibers can vary with more exotic yarns being placed in the high load areas and less exotic yarns in the body of the sail and along the luff which do not see the same kind of loads. External taffetas can be added to give the sail some grunt and to protect the delicate loadbearing fibers. This is optional but recommended especially if you plan to sail in the tropics. The taffetas can be treated with UV inhibitors.
18 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
One of the beauties of multihulls lies in their simplicity and frankly you can go far and wide with a full or partially fully battened main, a solid jib on a furler, and some kind of reaching and/or downwind sail. The reaching sail can be made of either nylon, which has served the purpose for decades, or something a bit more exotic like a laminate or membrane. The more money you invest in fibers and engineering, the more performance you will see from your sails. I like to say that you should measure the length of the life of a sail by how long it holds its shape and not just by how long it holds together. If you go for a good quality laminate or even a membrane, the sail will hold it’s shape longer than a standard cross-cut dacron sail - but of course it will cost more. An investment in fabric and engineering up front will pay dividends down the road. Brian Hancock is the principal designer at Great Circle Sails. He has many tens of thousands of miles offshore under his keel and makes his home in Marblehead, Mass.
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onpassage
An Element of Risk and an Uncertain Outcome: A Whale’s Tale
IT HAD ALL OF THE TRAPPINGS OF an adventure unlike any other I’d undertaken: a delivery from Cape Town, South Africa to Dubai – during a period of increasing reports of piracy along the most direct route. While I’m more than merely familiar with weather routing, this would certainly add a new spin to the art of selecting a route. And piracy wouldn’t be the only factor in determining how we’d proceed from Point A to Point B. 20 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
Part One: The author and crew have an adventurous rounding of South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope on their way up the Indian Ocean to Dubai by Bill Biewenga
Nirvana is a Gunboat 48 catamaran. Purchased in Newport, RI, the vessel was sailed to Cape Town by the owner, Monish Saini, and several crewmembers. I met Monish in Cape Town to help with the remainder of the trip halfway around the world. While in Cape Town, the vessel had the routine maintenance chores attended to, the rig inspected by Gunboat’s riggers, and re-provisioning was begun. The team was complete when
Lia Ditton arrived on the scene at the Cape Grace Marina. Provisioning, stowing gear and further inspections of the boat were completed as we awaited a suitable weather window for our departure. Within a week we were underway, heading south towards the Cape of Good Hope, the Agulhas Bank, the stop in Mauritius, the Chagos Banks, The Maldives, and Lakshadweep before arriving in Dubai, northwest of the Gulf of Oman in the Middle East. As a parting gesture while leaving Cape Town’s Table Bay, we were bid farewell by a humpback whale breaching and waving his tail at us. In retrospect, I’ve come to wonder if he might have been issuing a warning – or perhaps mooning us for leaving on a Friday. Seas on the Agulhas Bank can be exceptionally rough. The water becomes relatively shallow and the Agulhas Current runs southward along S. Africa’s eastern coast, bending towards the southwest along the southern tip of Africa. It’s a brisk current, reaching four to six knots and more, and when the wind is against the current, the waves can become particularly steep. Along the eastern South African coast, there are places where 100-foot standing waves will materialize during storm conditions. In an area of the world where winds can be strong, the waves can
achieve monumental proportions. Our preference, of course was to await light to moderate winds to minimize the drama and get us out of Africa. Monish wore a sweatshirt that read, “Africa For Life”. Over the next few weeks we would wonder if that was a sentence handed down by a judge on high. For the most part, the weather cooperated, and as we progressed across the Agulhas Bank, it appeared that we would make good time towards our initial destination of Mauritius. At 9:00 pm one night, less than a week into the trip, we were jolted into a hard reality. We hit something with our port hull. I ran forward, out onto the nets with Lia close behind me. While running, I quickly
onpassage
watertight bulkheads forward. We would need to stop, and with Port Elizabeth to our north, we altered course. The folks at Gunboat have been exceptionally helpful to owners of their boats over the years. When the need arises, they rally to offer whatever assistance they can. This was no exception. Following a few emails via our Iridium connection and a few voice conversations, they were able to sort out some talented assistance for us in Port St. Francis, southwest of Port Elizabeth.
looked up, and the rig was OK. With light in hand, it was quickly apparent that there was damage to the sacrificial bow at the waterline. Whatever we’d hit – whale, log, or other flotsam – it had been hard enough to cause damage that required attention, but soft enough or a glancing blow that didn’t break through the Port St. Francis is a small enclave of chokka boats (vessels designed for squid – calamari – fishing) and multihull boat builders. Somehow friends of mine whom I hadn’t seen since the 1985 Whitbread Round the World Race, had also fetched up on this fine shore years earlier. Armed with friends of the people at Gunboat, former shipmates, and their neighbors, we were able to employ some creative thinking to get Nirvana back in action. The damage was below the waterline, and we needed to get the port hull up, out of the water so the fiberglass could be ground back and repaired. I’d heard about some people in St. Maarten using airbags to lift boats out of the water 10 or 12 inches, and thought that might be one way to get us up and the repairs started. The local talent had a better idea. Using a “mini drydock” of sorts that is normally used to store small power boats out of the water, we were able to submerge the contraption, move it under the port hull, and inflate the PVC pipes that 22 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
made up the “mini drydock”. The hull was lifted the 12 inches that was necessary to work on the problem. Working with 220v power tools in that wet environment is not for the feint of heart or the casual user, and I doubted whether the technique would have been OSHA approved. Care was exercised, however, and the task was completed within a week of our original altercation with the whale or floating debris. Following a farewell South African braai - otherwise known as a BBQ - that will be long remembered, we were back underway. Once again, we would need to face the Agulhas Current and time our crossing to the vagaries of the weather. Similar to the Gulf Stream along Florida’s eastern coast, a counter-current exists between the Agulhas Current and South Africa’s eastern coast. The lighter, counter-current is located within the first few miles of the coastline. While we awaited more favorable northerly winds to cross the south-flowing Agulhas Current, we would motorsail along the coastline.
time to pay attention. As we worked our way northward, we passed scores of them, each time looking to see if there were others in their respective pods which might be in front of us. Often, they waved their tails at us. Was it in a sort of mystical farewell sign or as a warning? The following two weeks of the trip seemed to imply it was more of the latter.
South Africa’s south eastern coastline is a beautiful expanse of endless sand dunes. Our late September passage along that coastline coincided with a whale migration coming down from Somalia. Friends with whom we’d been in contact regard- Part two will appear in the next edition of ing both repairs as well as piracy updates, Multihulls Today. mentioned that the waters we were traBill Biewenga has sailed more than versing would have quite a few whales. 400,000 miles offshore, racing and delivWhether that was good news or bad was ering boats. He is a moderator for the U.S. yet to be determined at that point. But Sailing Safety at Sea Seminars and an when one breached less than 50 feet expert weather router. He lives on Cape from us, flailing the air with his tale, it was Cod. www.MultihullsToday.com 23
oncharter
Owning a Boat in a Charter Fleet
What are the pros and cons of owning a boat in a bareboat charter fleet? THERE IS NOTHING QUITE LIKE WALKING down a dock in some exotic location with your sea bag on your shoulder and climbing aboard your own boat with the name you gave it and the hailing port of your hometown on the stern. This is your boat and you are its master. You look around and the boat is clean, everything is working, there are clean linens on the bed and the fuel and water tanks have been topped off. All you have to do is shop for groceries and away you go. That’s what it is like when you own a boat in a well-managed charter fleet. But how does the whole process really work and is it for everyone? The Deal: Each charter company has its own way of structuring the deal for those 24 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
who want to own boats in their fleet. In general, the owner will be expected to buy the boat and in most instances the owner will put down a deposit of 20 percent or more and then finance the rest through their own lending institution or through one affiliated with the charter company. The charter company will offer either a guaranteed income on the boat or a percentage of the charter revenue. Factored into the revenue plan will be the costs of maintaining and operating the boat, which will be deducted from the charter revenue. In exchange, the owner will get to use the boat either for a set number of weeks in most cases or, in other plans, for as many weeks as they
like, which in turn drives down charter revenue. The terms of the deal run from three to five years and in some instances are renewable. Making Money: In most cases, owning a boat in a charter fleet is not about making money on the boat. The guaranteed income or percentage of charter fees is usually about a breakeven proposition if the boat has been financed. If you pay cash for the boat, then the cash flow will be positive and you can expect a pretax income of around 5 percent. Tax Implications: The sales teams at the charter companies are not financial advisors or certified accountants and therefore most if not all will decline to give their customers tax advice. But, there may be tax implications to owning a boat in a charter fleet that will depend entirely on the buyer’s financial situation, where the buyer lives and the local tax laws. There may be ways to offshore the ownership of the boat but in today’s economic and tax climate that is something that needs to be discussed with professionals who are both ethical and well versed in tax law. Use of the Boat: The larger companies tend to restrict the number of weeks an owner may use their boat and the availability of the boat during the high seasons. This can mean that you may have to take your sailing vacations on the company’s schedule instead of your own. But since you get many weeks in your contract, this is often not a problem.
In fact, owners often don’t use all of their weeks every year. In some of the smaller companies, the number of weeks you can use the boat is not restricted. In these deals, the company acts as a yacht management company that offers your boat for charter. You are responsible for all of the fixed costs of running the boat and you can either just pay these or set up the charter schedule to cover the costs. It’s your choice. Most owners in this situation opt to offer the boat for charter most of the time and then lay out two or three longer vacations per year to spend aboard. Locations: If the company you choose to work with has only one base, then that is where you will start and end each of your sailing vacations. If your boat is in the BVI, for example, your sailing grounds will be restricted to the islands you can reach day sailing, which will be the BVI, the USVI and the Spanish Virgins. Some companies will allow you to do one-way charters and will arrange for the boat to be delivered back to the main base. This is a good option for boats based in Antigua since you have Nevis, St.Kitts and Saba a day sail away and St. Barths and St.Martin are a day sail from there as well. A cruise through these www.MultihullsToday.com 25
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islands over a week or 10-day period can cat in Tahiti, or Greece or Southeast Asia. make for a really fun vacation. There are many owners of charter boats who have circumnavigated the planet Another one-way cruise that is very by chartering boats in all of the world’s popular in the Caribbean is from St. best cruising grounds and skipped sailing Vincent to Grenada through the across oceans to get there. 747s do that Grenadines. With islands like Bequia, job just fine. Mustique, Union and Carriacou and the amazing diving and snorkeling of the For many owners, this ability to explore region, the Grenadines rank as one of the world is the compelling reason to the planet’s best cruising grounds. And own a boat in a large charter fleet. both St. Vincent and Grenada are two of the loveliest and most interesting of all Getting real: The benefits of owning a boat in the charter fleet really come the Caribbean islands. down to four basic criteria: 1. You have The larger companies offer an option that to be a dedicated sailor who is eager to makes their deals particularly attractive. If spend most if not all of your vacation time you own a boat in a fleet in one location, sailing (if you are still working); 2. You have you may use an equivalent boat in the to have the cash on hand to put down a company’s other locations around the 20 percent deposit and qualify for a boat world. So, if you buy a 44-foot cat in the loan (if you aren’t paying cash); 3. You BVI, you have the ability to use a 44-foot have to love to travel and explore new 26 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
places, peoples and cultures, even if you don’t leave the Caribbean; and 4. You need to have the time to make use of your free weeks since owning a boat in charter really doesn’t make sense of you can’t use it or a sistership. If you own a 44-foot cat in charter, a week on your boat has a value of roughly $10,000 so if you use it for six weeks a year for the five year duration of the contract, you will have derived $300,000 in value from your initial purchase. At the end of the contract you can either just take ownership of the boat, sell it and pay off the boat loan (if you have one) or arrange for the boat to go into another charter program. If you do decide to sell the boat, you will likely
be able to pay off the remaining balance on the boat loan and recoup most of your down payment. Owning a boat in a charter fleet is not for everyone but there are aspects to the proposition that are very appealing—particularly if you love sailing, travel, cruising and boat ownership.
Nanny Cay, BVI www.MultihullsToday.com 27
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Welcome to the 2022 Annual Preview of Great New Cruising Multihulls Here are 16 new sailing multihulls that will be the standouts for the year ahead by George Day Balance 442 The all-new Balance 442 is the smallest design in the Balance line but it bears a strong family resemblance. It has neat reverse bows, a short bow sprit and slightly reverse sheerline. The cabin is boxy but attractive and behind it to starboard is the Balance-invented articulated helm where you can steer either in the raised helm position or from the cockpit where you’re protected from the elements. The layout has the master suite in the starboard hull and the two guest cabins, which share a head, in the port hull. Balance founder and president Phil Berman has created a performance passagemaker with daggerboards for a couple that is a true balance between high-speed sailing, luxurious accommodations and great value. www.balance catamaans.com Bali 4.2 The new Bali 4.2 is the replacement for the existing Bali 4.1 and has many additions and innovations that make this upgrade worthwhile. Like all Balis, the 4.1 has a ton of deck space and lounging areas, including a forward cockpit that now has a door leading to it from the saloon. The new boat has a raised helm on the flybridge where this is another lounging area. The saloon has the galley and L-shaped dinette to port and 28 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
storage to starboard. The layout has the owner’s cabin and head to port and the two guest cabins to starboard. With large fuel and water tanks, this will make both a fine charter boat and a roomy cruiser for a large family. www.balicatamarans.com Catana OC 50 The new Catana 50 Ocean Class has been in the making for the last three years and its appearance promises to be greeted enthusiastically by Catana admirers around the world. Known as great sea boats and fast passagemakers, the new 50 OC will not disappoint. It has fine hulls with a chine to reduce wetted surface, a fully netted foredeck for light weight and a tall, powerful cutter rig. With deep daggerboards, the design will sail upwind like a champion. The raised helm to starboard is nearly on
centerline so visibility will be excellent. The layout has the galley aft next to the huge sliding cockpit doors and the dinette forward. You can have three or four cabins. The boat is built with infused carbon reinforced GRP. It is gratifying to see this new Catana 50 OC on the market since it is a true couple’s or family world cruiser. www.catana.com Dragonfly 40 Trimaran Introduced in 2020, the new Dragonfly 40 is the flagship of the Danish builder’s fleet of folding tris. These unique designs combine great sailing performance and upwind ability, with the classic Scandinavian elegance in the fit and finish. Plus, the folding amas allow the
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36 feet, the 11 is one of the smallest production cruising cats and that will appeal to a wide swath of those entering the multihull market. Introduced in 2019, it has already developed an enthusiastic band of owners. An indoor-outdoor boat, the saloon and aft cockpit are joined through a huge sliding glass door and there dining tables in both spaces. The layout shows the owner’s cabin to starboard the two guest cabins to port. Fun, adventure, and enjoying the marine environment are the themes of the Excess line and that has attracted a lot of younger cruisers. www. excess-catamarans.com
boat to be moored in a standard marina slip. Designer and builder Jens Quorning wanted the boat to be a capable and very seaworthy fast blue water cruiser with comfortable accommodations and large enough fuel and water tanks for self-sufficient sailing. This aim was met in dramatic style. The 40 is a go-anywhere cruiser and will definitely appeal to sailors Gunboat 72V who love to sail all the time and sail as The Gunboat 68, which is built in France fast as the wind. www.dragonfly.dk under new ownership since 2019, has reestablished the brand as a leader in highExcess 11 tech design, construction, sailing perFollowing in the wake of the Excess 12 formance and luxurious living. It is also and 15, the all-new 11 is the first of the one of those boats that if you have to line to be designed from the keel up. At ask the price, you probably can’t afford
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it. Coming soon is the all new VPLP designed Gunboat 72 V, which will be the first in the line with a flying bridge. The new design will be a high-performance cruiser, without doubt, but it will also add the cruising comforts, lounging areas, tankage and accommodations that owners of luxurious cruising yachts want. Built on a semi-custom basis, you basically can have the boat configured the way you want it. www.ginboat.com HH 44 The all new HH 44 cruising cat from Hudson Marine in China, is a thoroughly modern hybrid yacht with both electric and diesel engines, a huge solar array and an efficient water generating charging system. But the 44 is really all about performance sailing with a carbon hull, daggerboards and a 62-foot mast. Even if you can motor very efficiently, you probably still be sailing most of the time. An exciting concept for ecoconscious cruisers, the HH 44 is going to be a model for many new designs ahead. www.hhcatamaras. com
entries in the luxury, performance cruising market. The new 54 is very much the little system (if you can call 54 little) and no more so than in the configuration of the saloon. Both boats have forward sailing cockpits accessible via a door in the front of the saloon and have the helm in the front of the saloon a la many of Chris White’s Atlantic designs. Also, the 54 has enormous headroom in the saloon so the wrap around windows are huge. The sense of light and visibility in the saloon is unparalleled. The 54 has wide sidedecks and a sumptuous cockpit, so there is tons of space for sunning, relaxing and sail handling. The 54 is a true couple’s
Kinetic 54 The South Africandesigned and built Kinetic 62 and brand new 54 are very interesting new www.MultihullsToday.com 31
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boat that offers a great turn of speed truly luxurious yacht that has the accomunder sail and excellent layouts for living modations and amenities of a mega aboard. www.kineticcatamarans.com monohull of 80 feet or more. While the new 55 will serve as a great crewed charLagoon 55 ter yacht, it will also be a much-admired The new Lagoon 55 is not the first 55 private yacht for a family. From the covfooter from the builder. In fact, the first cat ered flybridge to the huge cockpit and Lagoon built 35 years ago was the origi- the spacious saloon, the 55 has everynal 55 that set the company on a path thing a family will need for extended pasto become one of the largest production sagemaking all about the world. www. cat builders in the world. The new 55 is a cata-lagoon.com Leopard 42 The new 42-foot cat from Leopard, built by Robertson & Caine in South Africa, is the little sister to the 45 and 50 and has many of the same design features, albeit in a more compact package. Notably, the 42 has a flybridge lounge yet the helm is positioned in a traditional raised seat to starboard where it is connected socially to both the cockpit and the upper lounge. All sheets and lines lead to the helm so the boat 32 Multihulls Today • winter 2022
can effectively be operated by a singlehander. Like the bigger boats, the 42 has a door leading to the foredeck lounge from the saloon. The layout offers three or four cabin plans in the hulls, while the galley and nav station are positioned forward in the saloon and the dinette is aft. The is a fine couple’s or family’s cruiser that packs all the features you will desire. www.leopardcatamarans.com NEEL 43 Ten years ago, the introduction of the NEEL 45 revolutionized the concept of cruising trimarans by combining the innate great sailing performance of tris with the full width saloon placed atop the three hulls instead of buried in the center hull. Now, NEEL has phased out the 45 and replaced it with the all-new 43, which incorporates all that the NEEL team has learned in the last decade. The 43 has two double cabins integrated at deck level into the saloon and three more sleeping cabins in the bows of the hulls. The saloon and cockpit flow together nicely as one living space and the raised helm to starboard offers great visibility forward and one-person sail control. Innovative, commodious and a fine sailing machine, the new NEEL 43 is a cruising boat like no other, except the larger NEELs. www. neel-trimarans.com Outremer 5X The new 60-foot Outremer 5X is a stunning new addition to the Outremer fleet and manages to combine Outremer’s legendary sailing performance with true world cruising accommodations and systems. Designed by VPLP, with
styling by Patrick le Quement and Darnet Design, the 5X looks similar to the 51 and 45 but is a bigger beast in every way. The saloon is large and spacious and connects seamlessly with the large cockpit. The sleeping cabins are capacious and there is plenty of stowage for living aboard and voyaging far. If you can imagine cruising at speeds close to the wind speed, with all the excitement and rigor such sailing spawns, then the
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hulls benefit from the boat’s ample beam and the large windows that fill them with natural light. If elegance and comfort are important qualities, then the Privilege 580 may be the boat for you. www. hanseyachtag.com
5X should be on your short list of boats to consider. www.catamaran-outremer. com Privilge 580 The new 580 from Privilege introduces a few new features while staying true to the brand’s high-end luxury build and styling. Notably, the signature deck-level master stateroom is gone and was replaced by a larger saloon, a door leading to the forward lounge and a lounging area that your family and crew will enjoy. The cockpit is huge and laid out for outdoor living and there is another lounge on top of the flybridge. This roomy layout would allow you to entertain a party of 20 friends with no crowding. The sleeping cabins in the
Seawind 1370 The Australia-based builder, now building in Vietnam, introduced the design of the new 45-foot 1370 a couple of years ago following the enormous success of their new 1600. But, the pandemic hit Vietnam hard and the launch of the new boat has been delayed, despite huge anticipation in the multihull market. The new design is thoroughly modern with swept back bows, fine entries, lightweight construction and a powerful rig. Seawinds are known for their great sailing capabilities and the 1370 will enhance that reputation even farther. Like her sister cats, the new boat has an indooroutdoor layout so the large cockpit flows together with the saloon through the huge, folding glass door. The standard layout has the master suite to port and the guest cabins to starboard. The 1370 was the choice of the vloggers Sailing Ruby Rose so it is already famous on sailing social media. www. seawindcats.com St. Francis 46 The South African builder St. Francis was one of the country’s original cat
builders and is credited with helping to start the blossoming of multihulls builders there. But, the design of their St. Francis 50 remained somewhat old fashion until now. The new 46, designed by Anton du Toit, retains the raised cockpit cover and raised helm station, but the boat is entirely new. It has swept-back bows, narrower hulls with fine entries, light infused construction and much more. The cockpit is spacious and the saloon offers great visibility from the dinette through the huge, wrap-around windows. The standard layout has the owner’s cabin to port and the guest cabins to starboard. Like the venerable 50, the new 46 is a couple’s world cruising boat that can be built on a semi-custom basis. www.stfranciscatamarans.com Xquisite Sixty Solar Xquisite cats have always stood out from the crowd with distinctive styling, innovative layouts and an obsessive attention to details that make the cats so well suited to the cruising life. So, the
introduction of the new Sixty Solar should not be too much of a surprise. The boat will be a technological marvel, with massive solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, innovative charging systems and electric motors. The foredeck will have a forward lounge and there is a raised lounge on the flybridge. The cockpit and saloon flow together to form a giant living and eating space. Built in Cape Town, SA, the boat is very finely finished and full of small but important innovations that seasoned cruisers will truly appreciate. If innovation and eco-friendliness are your concern, then the new Sixty Solar is for you. www. xquisiteyachts.com
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