Indholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2022 i Cruising World

There’s more than one way to design a cat, so the team at Nautitech asked owners and dealers what they would like to see in a midsize cruising multihull from the yard in Rochefort, France. The result is the 44 Open, a fine sailing catamaran that’s fit out for owners on the go. “It’s a catamaran designed by sailors for sailors,” Nautitech general manager Gildas Le Masson said during the boat’s introduction at the Miami International Boat Show in February. This is the first new Nautitech model since the company reintroduced the brand three years ago, and it reflects a decision to focus on the needs of private owners— often couples, families or other shorthanded crews. Previously, perhaps 60 percent of Nautitechs ended up in charter; going forward, a company…

MY first real taste of the rarefied world of contemporary performance-cruising catamarans was precisely 15 years ago, midway through the 40th-anniversary edition of Antigua Sailing Week, aboard the Gunboat 62 Looking for Elvis. It was a surreal, memorable experience on several fronts, not the least of which is that the big, rangy cat’s owner—a Las Vegas guy called Bruce Slayden—had emerged from his quarters that morning decked out in full Elvis Presley regalia, right down to the tight jumpsuit and fake sideburns. But the real revelation came on the last race of the day, when Slayden’s pro skipper asked me, “You want the helm for this one?” I’d driven big cats before, including British legend Robin Knox-Johnston’s 60-footer, British Airways, on a trans-Atlantic voyage, so I understood the basics: Fast…

MAINTENANCE 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 similarsize 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…

The sun had just come up, and the stovetop espresso maker was already in action. Even though it was early—and we were on vacation—everyone was eager to get underway to the Dry Tortugas, an island group 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. William was in the cockpit sorting out the snorkeling gear, while my husband, Green, was plotting the day’s route. Giulia and I were getting some breakfast sandwiches on the table. And the four teenagers aboard? Still sleeping, of course. Our ride for the week was a Fountaine Pajot Astréa 42 catamaran chartered from the Dream Yacht Charter base in Key West, and it was perfect. It had four staterooms and en suite heads, dining tables inside and out, and enough room for eight of us to stretch…

The sea will allow you to encounter yourself, if you let it. At age 16, James Frederick traveled to San Francisco, stood on the beach, and saw the ocean for the first time. “I just stared at it,” Frederick says, recalling the moment. “All I could think was: This water has never stopped moving.” Frederick grew up in the California desert. At 15, he dropped out of high school and lived on the streets of Los Angeles. In the ’90s, he worked as an artist and musician, performing experimental soundscapes at galleries and museums across Europe. Today, at 47, with tattooed hands and gauged ears, Frederick looks more punk rock than Polo. But he’s an ocean sailor. And his recent 32-day solo voyage from Los Angeles to Hawaii is about…

In February, French boatbuilder Lagoon brought Hull No. 2 of its 55-foot luxury catamaran to the Miami International Boat Show. I can easily see this long-legged blue-water cruiser finding a niche among its siblings that range in length from 40 to 77 feet. The 55, designed by VPLP, has an interior by Nauta and exterior styling by Patrick le Quément. Given its size and systems, the 55 will likely be a boat that many private owners will staff with a captain and mate, though it’s well-laid-out for a shorthanded crew, and certainly would be suitable for an owner-skipper who is up for the job of maintenance. And in charter, where Lagoons have long been popular? Well, let’s count the ways the 55 could be enjoyed. First, there’s the flybridge, where…

Today’s rich market of cruising catamarans spans a broad spectrum from payload to performance. On the one side are boats whose credentials as well-appointed floating condominiums outshine their sailing performance; on the other are souped-up hull-flying speedsters with load cells and dump buttons more suited to a young, athletic professional crew than to the average cruising couple. For more than two decades, Phil Berman has sought to find a satisfying middle ground in the world of cruising catamarans. His latest offering, the Balance 482—with its downwind sail area of 2,900 square feet and a light-ship displacement of under 25,000 pounds on a 48-foot waterline—might not be the most extreme thoroughbred catamaran on the market, but it has power and sophistication, and a backstory worth understanding. In 1999, Berman—Hobie Cat world…

2013 SHANNON 52 RDP CUSTOM $975,000 Miramar, a fitting name for a yacht of this caliber, “to look at the sea”. The name Miramar had special meaning for the owners of this incredible Shannon, as during her extensive build and outfitting process it formed the baseline for the yacht’s design. The Shannon 52 RDP is a pilot yacht designed for those looking for a modern styled, luxurious, short-handed ocean cruiser that allows them to get out of the weather. Miramar is fitted with the Walter Schultz designed ‘Sketch’ rig. This allows the yacht to sail well in a wide range of wind speeds without putting crew outside of the cockpit. Double head stays are fitted with furlers for a full size 135% genoa and yankee. Leisurefurl booms for the mainsail…

Monohull sailors can sometimes become bemused when thinking about catamarans. Attributes such as size, performance and cost are all relative. Consider, for instance, the Isla 40, the newest model from French builder Fountaine Pajot. At a little more than 39 feet length overall and with just under 22 feet of beam, the Isla takes up a fair share of watery real estate—about 850 square feet. That’s roughly the size of many urban apartments, and considerably more than the footprint of a similar-length monohull. Still, the builder calls this model a “gateway” boat, and it’s the smallest in the Fountaine Pajot sail range. With cruising cats, trying to go much smaller would mean that the hulls, to perform adequately, would not be beamy enough to fit a double berth. Besides that,…

The first time I experienced a fully lit-up, high-performance cruising catamaran was in Hawaii’s Molokai Channel aboard a Gunboat 66. The crew and owners knew how to live. The first mate served a sumptuous lunch as we rocketed along at a close reach under mainsail and a fractional screecher, with the autopilot driving through 5-foot seas. Humpback whales spouted nearby, and 21.7 knots never felt so civilized. § While this experience was eye-opening for me, it was the usual stuff for the owners and crew, who regularly ticked 300-plus-mile days. The boat’s off-the-wind inventory—including the fractional screecher, a masthead screecher, two asymmetrical spinnakers, and a symmetric kite—helped facilitate these big-mile days. Sailing off-the-wind angles efficiently aboard a multihull requires different sails than a standard main and a self-tacking jib combination.…

ONBOARD SYSTEMS For most sailing vessels, keeping batteries charged is among the most pressing of cruising challenges. In the majority of cases, the primary charge source is a standard, engine-m.anufacturer-supplied alternator, which is controlled by an integral, and thus unsophisticated, regulator. While this setup may work, when it comes to charging large, deep-cycle house banks, it’s far from ideal. Most deep-cycle battery manufacturers—and especially those of the sealed-valve, regulated lead-acid variety (such as absorbent glass mat and gel batteries)—recommend “smart” three-stage charging for maximum longevity and warranty coverage. If your bank is made up of lithium-ion batteries, then sophisticated, intelligent charge control is not only recommended, but it is also mandatory for efficiency and safety. Virtually every vessel with a house battery bank will benefit from an alternator/regulator upgrade. Standard…