Before he became a cruising sailor, Aussie yacht designer and boatbuilder Richard Ward was a surfer. Yes, the driving force behind Seawind Catamarans for more than four decades now was already more than a little familiar with the abundance of inviting point breaks up and down the coast of New South Wales. His surfing experiences have played a major role in his design career. He creates clean, straightforward lines that translate into easily driven hulls. His innate love of the ocean, also informed from the nose and rails of a surfboard sluicing down waves, is icing on the cake. 

Seawind’s latest offering, the 39-foot Seawind 1170, is a compact package that combines well-tested features from previous models with a fresh helping of new technology. In spirit and layout, it is expressly geared toward cruising couples. Cruising cats seem to be getting larger and rangier; delivering all the necessary amenities and performance in a vessel under 40 feet is a challenge—one that the 1170 addresses quite nicely. 

In profile, the cat looks sleek and contemporary. The bows are raked slightly aft, and the generous freeboard is accented by a reverse sheerline. There’s a fixed carbon bowsprit for setting a code-zero-style screecher forward, and there are molded-in steps from the deck to the waterline in the transoms. A chine in the hull that increases the interior volume in the belowdecks staterooms extends almost the length of the waterline, and is aligned with the parallel windows in the hull. The solid coachroof extends aft over the entire cockpit, offering protection from the elements. The visuals all come together nicely. 

The first two boats off the line, including our test boat for the 2024 Boat of the Year contest, were built in Seawind’s longtime Vietnam facility. Going forward, the boat also will be produced in the company’s new boatyard in Turkey. The infused hulls and deck are vinylester with a PVC foam core that is cut with kerfs to accommodate the curved surfaces. The bulkheads are composite laminates, and there is carbon reinforcement in high-load areas. Molded ­channels in the coachroof serve as a gutter of sorts for catching rain, and a hose with a filter can be led directly to the water tanks to get topped off in the squalls.

The test boat we inspected had a CZone digital switching system, a set of lithium-ion batteries, and a full suite of coachroof-mounted solar panels (all options). A company representative said that this arrangement offers the juice necessary to power an air-conditioning unit overnight. 

The owner’s stateroom occupies the entire port hull, with an island berth forward and an en suite head with a walk-in shower aft. To starboard, the straight-line galley is sandwiched by a pair of double staterooms fore and aft. This galley-down plan opens up the main cabin, with a wraparound settee whose port side doubles as a day bed and the bench for the navigation station. An offset table can be spun around to seat guests or dropped down to make a double berth—a good option for the off-watch crew to stretch out on passage but still be close to everything. The coachroof windows can be raised to let plenty of fresh air course through. 

Topside, the features will be familiar to Seawind fans, including a trifold door that can be raised to the underside of the coachroof to integrate the cockpit and main cabin into an open space. The twin wheels are mounted well outboard and on the same level as the cockpit sole, providing terrific 360-degree visibility of the entire boat when sailing or docking. The mainsheet and traveler arrangement is overhead on the coachroof to keep the cockpit uncluttered. All the gear is top-shelf, including the Harken furlers, Gori propellers and Maxwell windlass. 

We sailed the boat on a pleasant fall Chesapeake Bay day with a breeze between 8 and 12 knots. The 1170 acquitted itself well. With the self-tacking Doyle jib employed sailing to weather, we touched almost 6 knots. When we stashed the jib and swapped over to the screecher, things got lively. On a tight reach sailing at about 60 degrees apparent, the boat zipped along at more than 7 knots. Cracked off to a beam reach, the speedo notched up to nearly 8 knots. Steerage was sweet and light, and it was a lot of fun dashing from one helm station to another on tacks and jibes. 

All in all, the 1170 did ­everything we expected it to do, with style and panache. The seasoned surfer responsible for it wasn’t around that day, but his spirit and intent most certainly were evident.

Seawind 1170 Specifications

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One of the things I like best about baseball is watching a batter swing for the fences, and at the crack of the bat, he knows that he can afford to take a leisurely jog around the bases because he just hit the sweet spot.

I had that same kind of feeling one day this past February when I stepped from the dinghy onto the transom steps of the new Seawind 1600 catamaran. Right away, I knew I was about to go for one fine sail—and on a near-perfect day to boot. Blue sky. Thirteen knots of breeze. Could it get better? Not until the sails were up.

Built in Vietnam, at 52 feet LOA the 1600 is ­Seawind’s largest catamaran. It was ­designed by Reichel Pugh as a luxury catamaran with equal measures of cruising comfort and sailing performance. Let’s talk about the sailing first.

The 1600 sports a square-top full-batten main and solent rig with a screecher for light-air reaching and a self-tacking jib for heavier breezes or sailing upwind. There’s an option for an inner forestay and furling storm jib, and also a sprit for flying a spinnaker, which we did on our test sail (more on that in a moment).

Headsail sheets are led to winches adjacent to each helm station. There is no traveler. Instead there are two mainsheets that run through blocks on either side of the stern and then to a central winch on the transom, where reefing lines are also led. This mainsheet arrangement provides lots of control over a big and ­powerful sail.

On a beam reach with the screecher set, our GPS speed hovered in the high 7-knot range, and when the chute went up, so did our speed, to 8.5 knots and a little higher in any puff we caught. The 1600 uses Lewmar Mamba steering, and the helms felt as smooth as could be. Headed ­upwind and home, we rolled out the self-tacking jib and still made a respectable 6.6 knots, and thanks to ­retractable ­daggerboards, were able to point quite well.

So now, on to the comforts.

The Seawind comes in either a three- or four-cabin layout. On this boat, the owner’s hull was to starboard and included a queen bunk aft, lots of storage, and a spacious head and shower up at the pointy end. The opposite hull had two cabins. The forward one felt a bit narrow because of the fine entry of the bows, but still, it had a double berth and adequate storage space. The aft cabin had two single berths and a filler that turned them into a double. A shared head was amidships.

With windows all around, the saloon was a bright and sunny place to be. ­Opening ports forward allow a breeze to blow through, and large ­sliding windows at the ­aft-facing ­galley permit the cook to join any party ­taking place at the large dining ­table located to starboard out in the cockpit. There’s an ­indoor table with U-shaped seating as well to port of a ­forward-facing nav station.

The cockpit is covered by a Bimini that is supported by stainless posts aft and short carbon-fiber risers forward. It provides lots of shade, and the breeze blows through the space between the hard awning and cabin top. This space can be closed off, as can the cockpit sides and back with clear panels. Eight solar panels sit atop the Bimini and keep the battery bank fed (though AGM batteries are standard, the boat we sailed had an ­optional lithium-ion system).

Furniture throughout the boat is built using a honeycomb foam core and ­veneers to save weight and for strength. Hulls, deck and Bimini are all cored and infused using vinyl ester resin. An outside layer of Kevlar is added to the hulls for protection and to strengthen the areas around the daggerboards; carbon fiber reinforces the chainplates, bulkheads and stiffeners.

For power, the 1600 comes standard with 57 hp Yanmar diesels; the boat in Miami had a pair of optional 80 hp Yanmars that pushed us along at just over 8 knots at cruising speed and better than 9 in get-home-fast mode. With the larger engines and lots of other options, the 1600 carries a price tag of right around $1.2 million, delivered to the US East Coast. For that, you can enjoy your own sweet spot.

Mark Pillsbury is CW’s editor.

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If Goldilocks were in the market for a cruising catamaran, I’d advise her to check out the new Seawind 1260. At 41 feet length overall, it’s big enough for a couple with kids or occasional friends aboard, small enough to be easily handled and maintained by a shorthanded crew — and it can sail, which to my mind makes it “just right,” as the storybook gal is known to say.

On a boisterous morning last winter after the Miami International Boat Show, I jumped aboard for a short sea trial on Biscayne Bay, just before the boat was due to cross the Gulf Stream to winter over in the Bahamas. In the protected waters of the bay, a northeast wind gusted to 20 and higher and sent the Seawind surging ahead with every puff. These were fine conditions for a test sail, but a lousy prospect for crossing the stream, although I learned later that the boat fared just fine.

With the full main ­hoisted and the self-tacking jib ­unfurled, we had no trouble pushing the speedo past 8 knots closehauled while the breeze was up. Later, with the wind down to about 14 knots, the speedo still hovered at a little better than 8 on a broad reach back toward the barn. Better than the speed, though, was the feel of the wheel as the boat sliced through the water. Sports car were the words that came to mind as I jotted down notes so I’d recall the feedback that came from the helm.

Seawind builds its catamarans in Vietnam, along with Corsair trimarans, a brand it also owns. The Seawind range includes the 38-foot 1160, the 1190 Sport (a 39-footer) and the 1600, a Reichel/Pugh-designed 52-footer that is its flagship.

The 1260, outfitted as the boat we sailed was, carries a price tag of $525,000, delivered to the United States with optional 39 hp Yanmar diesels (29 hp is standard). The boat shares many of the same attributes as its smaller siblings, notably a trifold hinged saloon door that lifts and is stored on the underside of the ­Bimini for true indoor/outdoor ­living; twin wheels affixed to the main bulkhead to either side of the door, just behind electric windows that lower to further open up the interior; large glass ports at the front of the saloon that open to provide excellent ventilation throughout the boat; and a galley-down design (more on that in a moment), which is somewhat of a rarity on cats these days.

Nearly all the structural parts of the 1260 are foam cored. Hulls are infused with vinylester-modified epoxy resin. Elsewhere, polyester resin is used in the deck, Bimini (made in a two-sided mold so both sides are finished), bulkheads, and interior cabin and furniture modules. Compared to earlier models, Seawind has removed as much wood as possible, and now it tabs in items such as shelving in hull lockers to increase the overall stiffness of the boat.

A hallmark of earlier ­Seawinds was a large stainless barbecue grill integrated into the railing and seat across the back of the cockpit. That has been replaced on the 1260 by a couch across the transom. On its port side, a grill has been located in a covered locker; to starboard, there’s a sink in a similar space.

At either helm, windows have been installed overhead in the Bimini, which is particularly appreciated when hoisting sail to avoid snarling the main’s full battens in the lazy jacks. Underway, the person steering can sit and be protected from wind, rain and sun while still having a 360-degree view, or can perch atop the hull with one hand on the wheel and enjoy the breeze and a clear view of the telltales.

Indoors, a U-shaped couch wraps around the front of the saloon and surrounds a transformerlike table that’s mounted on a gas shock so it can be easily raised for dining, lowered and turned sideways for entertaining, or dropped farther still to make a large berth.

The sides of the saloon slope outward, so the space above the hulls is open amidships. This benefits the galley, located in the center of the starboard hull. The cook has room to work but remains a member of the party; food can easily be passed up, or after-meal clutter down. The standard galley comes with a stand-up fridge and 180-liter top-loading ­freezer on the inboard composite counter, and a double sink and stove-top outboard (an oven is optional). Standing at the sink, the view out of the large port in the hull is spectacular.

There’s a guest cabin with a queen-size berth and head and shower compartment forward of the galley. Aft, there’s a smaller cabin with a double bunk. Access to the port engine is beneath it. If I were the owner, I’d seriously consider using this space as a workshop/catch-all area because I found storage overall to be at a bit of a premium.

The owners have the port hull to themselves. A large head and shower compartment are located aft, with access to the starboard engine through a door in the shower’s wall. An electrical panel and storage locker are amidships. Forward, there’s another great view through a hull port located at the foot of the athwartship queen bed.

With performance that’s usually expected only in the realm of cats with daggerboards, comfortable living accommodations and fine finishing touches like triple lifelines on deck, the 1260 is the result of a number of good compromises.

And, it can sail.

Mark Pillsbury is CW’s editor.

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In recent years, Seawind Catamarans of Australia has ramped up its presence in the U.S. marketplace, and its efforts have been rewarded both commercially and critically: Its 38-foot 1160 model was named Most Innovative and Best Multihull in CW’s 2007 Boat of the Year contest. Its latest offering is the Seawind 1000XL, a 35-foot-6-inch cat that packs a lot of boat into a relatively compact package.

The XL might well stand for “extra long,” for the new Seawind is actually an offshoot of a previous version, the Seawind 1000, a 33-footer that was first introduced Stateside in the mid-1990s and that resonated with cat sailors in Florida, where many of the 50 boats sold in the United States can be found. The 1000XL gained its extra 2.5 feet aft via a set of extended transom boarding steps with added buoyancy; to port, a folding swim ladder has been incorporated into the extension.

There are several other fresh features in the XL as well, including a pair of large windows forward in the main cabin that were formerly fixed but now open and close on gas struts; a boom cradle on the hardtop, so the spar can be cinched down tightly when motoring or at anchor; and a single-line reefing system that, like all other sheets and sailhandling lines, can be controlled from the helm station.

Other rather nifty items include the twin 9.9-horsepower outboard engines, which are stashed under the dual helm seats and can be raised or deployed quickly and easily; the retractable bowsprit for flying downwind sails; and the drop-down forward ladder that’s accessed through a hatch between the trampolines, a particularly handy feature when nudged right up on the beach.

The layout is focused around the central cabin, with a huge, U-shaped settee that can serve as a giant berth when the dining table is lowered and inserts are added. It’s a versatile space that merges directly with the cockpit in an open floor plan when sailing or on the hook, but it can be closed off with a curtain for privacy. In the port hull, there’s a large double berth amidships, with a second double forward. The galley, with a 12-volt refrigerator and freezer powered by twin 120-volt solar panels, is to starboard, again with double berths found in the bow and stern.

We sailed the boat last October on Chesapeake Bay, and while the breeze hovered in the 8- to 10-knot range, the boat’s performance potential was readily on display. Though we were sailing without instruments, we estimated speeds when we were heading upwind under the self-tacking jib at just around 6 knots. Cracked off on a beam reach, with the unfurled screecher as well as the jib, we easily coursed along at a good 7 or 8 knots. This is a boat that we’d love to sail in some breeze, preferably across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, where it’s hard to imagine a better vehicle for a season in the islands.

Seawind 1000XL

Seawind USA
(619) 571-3513
www.seawindcats.com

Herb McCormick is a Cruising World editor at large.

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