Balance Catamarans has announced two models that are expected to launch in 2025 and 2026: the 502 Carbon Core and 464 Carbon Core, both of which are available with standard diesel engines or the new VersaDrive diesel-electric hybrid propulsion system.

The yard designed these models to accommodate the Integrel E- Drive hybrid propulsion system, to produce better after-end weight distribution, add battery and solar payload capacity, and increase power and speed with larger sail plans and carbon composite construction.

The Integrel E-Drive has dual 45 hp Yanmar diesel engines, and up to 30 kW of power charging and 40 hp of electric drive.

“While the hull window lines have changed a bit, the new models retain the same du Toit- styling DNA of our original models,” Phil Berman, president of Balance Catamarans, stated in a press release. “Classic, clean, bling-free and sleek. All the best features of our boats have been retained in these new designs, but we’ve supercharged performance voyaging by building these new models longer, leaner, faster and capable of carrying additional payloads without penalty.”

The boats also have a new carbon core framework, which is 100 percent carbon fiber. Bulkheads, partition boards, primary beams, chain plates, cabin soles, daggerboards and trunks, along with rudders, are full carbon construction. Real wood is used for the handmade cabinetry.

In terms of sailing components, these models have a high-performance-oriented forebeam, crossbeam and longeron, combined with a taller mast. All of that is intended to supercharge light-air and top-end sailing performance.

The VersaStern lets boaters fully secure the cockpit in a matter of seconds by lifting and attaching a door. To dock or simply leave the stern steps open, boaters drop the door over the engine hatch. This feature eliminates the need for washboards or stern screens to stop waves from coming into the cockpit, and helps to keep kids and animals safe.

A newly designed coach top carries molded airflow solar cavities and built-in handholds, while the stern ladder now deploys inside the transoms. The models also have Balance’s version of galley dish storage and a drying rack, while the master head’s vanity and toilet spaces have been expanded and improved. The salon entrance door is wider for increased ventilation, and the builder increased the forward stateroom’s ventilation with custom opening ports that can stay open at anchor, even when it’s raining.

For better visibility, Balance removed the central mullion post in the salon, and designed larger ventilation hatches and a bigger wind-catching salon roof hatch.

The interior décor has an Italian inspiration with frameless cabinets, a lounge-style salon with a convertible table, and a nav station that can double as an office with a hideaway charging station.

“At Balance, we have always valued innovation in design, seeing it as critical to driving change in an industry that tends to look backward,” Berman added. “The award-winning and widely copied VersaHelm is just one example. But of course, all the great things sailors love about Balance designs remain: the VersaHelm, all-glass windows, handmade cabinets, striking interior design, and the superb ergonomics of moving about Balance catamarans, outside and inside, and the smart ease of sailing hallmarks throughout the vessel.”

Take the next step: Click over to balancecatamarans.com.

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A funny thing has happened in the evolution of cruising catamarans. The category, at the outset, was defined by straightforward simplicity. This was true going back to the double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoes, through the iconic designs of the visionary James Wharram, on to the custom cats built on Caribbean beaches by Peter Spronk, and including the early production cats of the modern era from Fountaine Pajot and Lagoon. Cruising catamarans were basically a pair of narrow hulls with a rather minimalistic living and working space sandwiched between them. 

It wasn’t too long before builders and designers realized that if they added a bit of volume to those hulls and stretched them, they could fill them with comfortable double-berth staterooms, en suite heads and other amenities. And, thanks largely to the ­catamaran’s emergence as an excellent platform for bareboat charter, designers could also make them taller (the “wedding-cake effect”). That brought us not only upper-deck lounges with day beds, grills and refrigerators, but also dedicated flybridges with steering stations that were once the exclusive domain of trawlers and sport-fishing craft.

Everything’s gotten bigger these days. Certainly, here in my hometown of Newport, Rhode Island, and in nearby destinations including Long Island, Cape Cod and Nantucket, modest seaside homes have been razed to make room for garish mansions with gyms, pools and astronomical square footage. In contemporary cruising cats, I’m feeling comparable vibes. 

As a judge for the 2024 Boat of the Year awards, I was struck by the technology, sophistication and similarities of the contestants vying for Best Cruising Catamaran Over 50 Feet. Both were from French builders, both were 51 feet, and both had seven-figure price tags. The Lagoon 51 was a very different beast than the first Lagoon I ever stepped aboard, the compact Lagoon 37. And the winning boat, the Fountaine Pajot Aura 51, was a far cry from the basic Louisiane 37 that launched the company’s foray into cruising cats back in 1983. 

Fountaine Pajot has certainly placed a big bet on the Aura 51, as it’s replacing the Saba 50, of which some 300 hulls were sold. Describing the overall aesthetic by Berret-Racoupeau Design is no simple task. The lines are actually pretty sweet for a gargantuan 51-footer with a beam of more than 25 feet. As with all contemporary cats, the waterline is maxed out, with a plumb bow and an extended boarding step in the squarish transom. The hull windows and the wraparound window treatment in the coachroof complement each other well.

Clearly, the goal was to optimize comfort at anchor. There are cushioned seats in the forward deck, just abaft the trampolines. What the company calls the “sky lounge” is topside on the roof of the Bimini hardtop over the cockpit, with a 2,000-watt array of solar panels sharing this space.

The steering wheel is to starboard, a few steps up from the cockpit, putting the skipper in a strategic location to communicate with mates on the lower or upper level, which is another four steps up from the wheel. Everything’s a compromise when it comes to boats, and the drawback here is that there are blind spots to port, particularly if coming along a portside berth. You’re going to want a mate calling out the distance. (There is no flybridge wheel.)

That said, I’m actually a big fan of the split steering station, with the wheel, engine controls and Garmin instruments on a pedestal under a canvas Bimini top, and a trio of Lewmar self-tailing electric winches, a pair of Spinlock rope clutches, and all the running rigging led to a dedicated pod just forward of the helmsman. This is a signature Fountaine Pajot feature on several models. Frankly, with imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I’m surprised more builders have not adopted this layout. It really does allow for solo sailing; the driver can put the boat on autopilot, slip a couple of steps forward, and trim and reef to the heart’s delight. 

Unfortunately, for our sea trial on Chesapeake Bay, we didn’t have the double-digit windspeeds needed to put the Aura 51 through its proper paces, but the boat moved well in the 5- to 8-knot northerly, making over 4 knots closehauled, and an even 4 when cracked off on a beam reach. A company rep suggested that in better breeze, the boat would generally make speeds about half that of the true-wind pressure. There’s an optional bowsprit arrangement with all the associated hardware to set a code-zero-style headsail.

There certainly is no lack of sail area, particularly the square-topped full-battened mainsail that’s set off a whopping 76-foot spar. We see quite a few sails from French sailmaker Incidence on French-built boats, like the ones on our test ride, and they are always top-notch. The boat we tested also had optional twin 75 hp Volvo Pentas with saildrives (60 hp engines are standard). The boat galloped along at over 8 knots at 2,400 rpm. Decibel-wise, it was one of the quietest in the entire 2024 Boat of the Year fleet. The composite construction is a rather straightforward combination of resin injection and infusion with balsa core in the hulls and Divinycell foam in the deck.

All of which brings us to the vessel’s true raison d’être: the open floor plan with condolike cabins and accommodations, which are impressive. 

The sliding doors separating the main cabin and cockpit can be fully opened. The main dining table is in the cockpit and can be fully enclosed with canopies. The straight-line galley is inside and to port, bordered by an island that doubles as counters and a workspace for the cook. There’s plenty of seating, and the views through the coachroof windows are terrific. Surprisingly, there is no dedicated navigation station, which to me seems like an oversight on a boat of this size.

Several layouts are available. Our test model had the “double maestro”: a master stateroom aft in each hull, accessed from the interior or through a pair of gullwing doors in the cockpit. Guest staterooms are forward. Boat of the Year judge Mark Pillsbury noted that this could be a nice setup for two owners to share, whether sailing separately or together. Regarding our choice of the Aura 51 over the Lagoon for Boat of the Year, our panel collectively felt that both boats would do well in charter, but that the Aura was better suited to real cruising as opposed to being aimed more toward vacation sailing. 

No pun intended, but there’s a definite aura to this rangy cat that separates it from the other models that Fountaine Pajot produces. This is a boat meant to be lived on and in, for extended periods, in high comfort bordering on true luxury. Bring friends and family. On the Aura 51, there is definitely room for the whole gang. 

Herb McCormick is a CW editor at large and was a 2024 Boat of the Year judge.

Did You Know?

■ Fountaine Pajot is pioneering a “zero-emission energy system” in the Aura 51. The Smart Electric version of the boat incorporates electric motors, folding props, solar panels, a generator, and a pair of lithium-ion battery banks capable of storing 54 kilowatt hours. Under sail via hydrogeneration, the system can recharge the batteries in 48 hours. 

■ Founded in 1976 by a quartet that included Olympic sailor Jean-François Fountaine and offshore racer Yves Pajot, Fountaine Pajot specialized at the start in racing dinghies and IOR-rule monohulls. The company later delved into large, record-setting transoceanic catamarans and trimarans. It wasn’t until 1983 that the yard pivoted to cruising cats, beginning with the Louisiana 37. 

■ During the past four decades, Fountaine Pajot has produced more than three dozen models, many named after the destinations or islands that inspired them: Tobago 35, Saba 50, Eleuthera 60 and so on. Today, the company also includes Dufour Yachts, a range of power cats, and eight cruising/sailing cat models from 40 to 80 feet.

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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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With  a bright and inviting interior, numerous on-deck places to relax or socialize, good sailing manners, and a versatile array of layouts for couples, families or chartering, the Lagoon 51 does a number of things right.

The 51, designed by Lagoon’s longtime naval architect collaborators at VPLP Design, replaces the Lagoon 50, which was introduced roughly five years ago. The new model lands dead center in the company’s lineup of cruising catamarans that range from 40 to 77 feet. The Lagoon 50 is the largest model intended for an owner-operator; starting with the Lagoon 55, there’s likely to be a captain and/or crew involved.

The company, which builds some 275 boats a year, projects that it will build 45 to 50 hulls of the new 51, with about a third sold for private use and the remainder going into charter. With that in mind, it makes sense that the interior design of the 51 includes multiple accommodations layouts. 

The four-stateroom version is more likely to appeal to a private owner, whose suite takes the entire starboard hull. It has a queen-size berth aft that’s adjacent to one of three rectangular ports in the hull, providing a tremendous view of the world outdoors. Amidships, there’s a desk and seating area outboard with a view. Opposite are hanging lockers along with a walk-in closet/dressing room. A head and shower are forward, and are kept bright in daylight hours with natural light.

Three guest staterooms occupy the port hull. The aft stateroom has an en suite head and shower. The remaining two staterooms—one ­forward and the other located inboard and amidships—share a head and shower. 

A four-stateroom, ­four-head version is also available, and there’s a charter-friendly six-stateroom, four-head option as well.

The 51 is built in Lagoon’s yard in Bordeaux, France, on the same production line as the Lagoon 55. Lagoon infuses its balsa-cored composite hulls and decks, a process that helps to control weight during construction. The Bimini top over the flybridge is injection-molded. The 51 has a 12-volt electrical system.

On recent Lagoon models, VPLP designers placed the mast farther aft than on older models, employing a shorter boom and high-aspect main, a trend made popular on big racing multihulls. On those boats, race crews rely on a quiver of headsails, often set on furlers, to quickly power up or down the sail plan to match conditions. Most cruisers and charter boats, though, are rigged with a single jib or small genoa, a setup that can affect performance in light conditions. On the 51, Lagoon returned the rig to a more forward position, and the mainsail will be cut for a bit more power. This should mean better performance in light air. Moving the mast ahead also opens up space in the salon. 

Another interesting design choice on the 51 is the placement of large transoms on either side of a swim platform that can be lowered into the water at anchor, or be raised and used to store a tender underway. The oversize transoms extend abaft the sides of the hull, making it easier to step aboard from a dock or tender. And they make a good place to sit and dangle your feet in the water. 

There are essentially four places to congregate on the 51. A padded, U-shaped seating area is on the foredeck, with a window abaft it that opens from the salon, and through which snacks can be passed. That window also provides increased indoor ventilation.

The open salon has a galley aft with L-shaped counters on either side of the sliding cockpit door. Stove, oven and sink are to port; fridges and freezer drawers are to starboard. There is a side-facing nav desk in the forward starboard corner, adjacent to a dining table with seating all around. Visibility is great forward, aft and to either side, thanks to Lagoon’s signature vertical windows.

The cockpit offers a second alfresco dining option, with a table to port. A sun lounge is opposite, and more couch-style seating is across the stern between transom stairs. There’s an outdoor sink too, along with a fridge and ice maker.

The real party place, though, is one level up, on the flybridge. My guess is that’s where people will hang out most of the time. 

There is access to the ­flybridge from the cockpit below via steps on the port side next to the outdoor dining table, or from the starboard deck. The helm station with a bench seat is forward; abaft it is U-shaped seating surrounding a cocktail table. A pair of sun pads is forward of the helm on the cabin top, on either side of the mast.

I know there’s debate about whether flybridge steering is better for chartering than long-range cruising, when a helmsman might prefer to be more protected from the elements, but on the 51, I really liked the flybridge setup. First off, there’s good all-round visibility. Second, the person driving has space to work but can still be part of the conversation. 

Three Harken electric winches are within an arm’s reach of the wheel, and all sail-control lines except for the traveler are led to them (there’s a Harken side-wind winch for the traveler nearby). During my trick at the wheel, I found that tacking the boat singlehanded was quite easy. Underway, a window overhead in the Bimini top gives the skipper a clear view of the square-top mainsail. That’s a nice feature when trimming or hoisting sail. One caveat, however: The combination of flybridge and Bimini top means the height of the boom is fairly high off the water.

Though it was not available on the boat that our team got aboard in Annapolis, Maryland, a unique roller-­furler boom is available for the 51. Lagoon developed it in conjunction with Wichard and Incidence Sails. Buyers can watch a video of it in action.

As I said at the start, the 51 has good sailing manners. In 10 to 14 knots of breeze, we saw speeds in the low 6s closehauled and nearly 7 knots on a broad reach. The top speed of the day that I jotted down in my notebook was just over 7.5 knots. In these conditions, it would have been fun to roll out a big reaching sail, if we’d had one. The boat is set up for it with an aluminum sprit.

With the 51, Lagoon has what I might call a Goldilocks boat: not too big, not too small, capable for cruising, and comfortable for chartering. In a lot of ways, it’s pretty much just right.

Mark Pillsbury is a CW editor at large and was a 2024 Boat of the Year judge.

Toward a Green(er) Machine

From resin and cloth to solar power and more-efficient systems, the Lagoon 51 takes advantage of ongoing development work that Groupe Beneteau employs across its many brands to make boats cleaner to construct and operate.

Let’s face it: While the act of sailing might be considered a green pastime, building boats definitely isn’t. A lot of resin, fiberglass, adhesives, and sealants are required to build a structure that’s 50 feet long, nearly 27 feet wide, and three stories tall—and strong enough to hold its own in a bluewater environment.

A boat that size needs a pair of beefy (80 hp) diesel engines for motoring. And it has numerous energy-gobbling systems and appliances such as air conditioning, fridges and freezers, a washer and dryer, and the like, all of which need to be fed.

Any steps toward greater sustainability are strides in the right direction. With the 51, Lagoon began to add bio-sourced resin when laying up nonstructural small parts. In place of fiberglass cloth, the company is experimenting with natural fibers such as hemp and linen. And for years now, Lagoon has infused its hulls, which allows better control of the resin while reducing vapors released into the atmosphere.

An array of custom XXL solar panels—more than 3,400 watts’ worth—line the perimeter of the flybridge and its hard Bimini top, helping to reduce (or eliminate, if the air conditioner is not on) the amount of engine (or diesel generator) run time needed to keep the battery bank topped up. Adding to the power equation is the use of more-efficient cooling units and LED lighting.

Throughout the boat, Forest Stewardship Council-approved Alpi wood is used, and upholstery is made from 100 percent recycled materials. New Lagoons come with eco-friendly cleaning products. Starting this year, the boats also will be equipped with UV water filters to reduce the need for single-use plastic bottles for drinking water.

“In a nutshell, Lagoon is committed to sustainability through various initiatives such as using FSC-certified wood, recycled materials for upholstery, and bio-sourced resins,” says Lagoon Americas director Andre Hernandez. “Our production sites are ISO-certified for environmental management. We incorporate XXL solar panels on our boats and offer biodegradable maintenance kits. Lagoon also invests in hybrid-propulsion research and supports projects such as Anima Mundi and Escape to Nature to promote environmental conservation.” —MP

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At the dawn of Chinese New Year in February, Jennifer and Peter Francis were hiding out in the Marquesas aboard Saphira, their 70-foot catamaran named for the strong, loyal blue dragon in the book Eragon. Saphira is their second cat designed by Chris White, but it’s a whole different species adapted for their current phase of life. On the first morning in this Year of the Dragon, Jennifer says, “It should be a good year for Saphira.”

The Marquesas wasn’t in their plan for this cruising season, until El Niño generated rougher weather than usual in French Polynesia. “We decided to leave Tahiti and sail 750 miles northeast to the Marquesas to avoid a busy year for tropical storms,” Jennifer says, adding that they made landfall at the island of Fatu-Hiva. They had just set Saphira’s anchor when a dinghy came by—a Vancouver couple they’d met in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, cruising on another catamaran from the same designer.

White is known for his Atlantic series of cats, and for innovations such as the MastFoil rig and forward-positioned cockpit. The Francises’ previous cat was an Atlantic 55 (their first Saphira). Their 70-footer came to life starting in 2010, the year that White says Peter told him: “When our kids head off to college, Jen and I are going back to the cruising life. We’ll be in touch later.” The next summer, Peter visited White’s shop in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, with broad ideas for a cat that could do it all. “Their concept was a boat with the space of a 40-footer built for two people to sail easily by ­themselves, but with hulls of about 60 to 70 feet to safely make 300 miles in a day,” White says. “Anything less than 250 would be a failure. And they were interested in a free-standing rig. More than most clients, they had deep experience and knew what they wanted.”

Combined, Peter and Jennifer have logged around 100,000 miles on the oceans. Peter started sailing as a kid, when his family had a Cape Cod 30. At age 12, he’d cruise to Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts, and the nearby islands with friends. At 16, he raced trans-Atlantic and was on the US Admiral’s Cup team. He completed three trans-Atlantic crossings by 20. In 1974, he met Jennifer, a local gal and fellow sailor. That same year, Peter and his friends sailed his first boat, the 50-foot Aage Nielsen sloop Nunaga, through the Panama Canal and beyond to the Galapagos, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Alaska and Seattle. Jennifer joined them in Alaska.

At various times since then, the couple has spent years together—alone and with their children—living aboard boats. In 2009, Peter retired from his position as a corporate CEO, and Jennifer took a sabbatical from her job as a ­professor of atmospheric sciences at Rutgers University. They pulled their children out of seventh- and ninth-grade classes, and sailed their first Saphira for 14 months from Massachusetts up to Nova Scotia, then south to Colombia, and finally back home. Ever since, they’ve lived in Massachusetts—or wherever they’ve pointed the new Saphira’s bows.

Conceptual work for the 70-footer began in earnest in 2011. First, they bought two 23-foot Stiletto catamarans and modified one to take various rigs. For three summers, they hired a friend who was a good sailor to evaluate each rig. They also invited sailor friends to match race—singlehanded, to emphasize ease of handling. White also tested his MastFoil rig on the Stilettos. 

“First they tried two masts positioned fore and aft, then with them side by side,” White says. “They experimented with normal booms as well as wishbones.”

Peter says that 14 sailors tested all the rig configurations. Each day, after collecting performance data, the couple asked those sailors to rank the setup on a scale of 1 to 10, for how likely they would be to recommend the rig to an older couple going offshore cruising. 

Then they plotted the results. On ease of handling, the biplane prevailed. They also found some unexpected sailing characteristics. 

“Catamarans don’t tack particularly well, especially not light ones,” Peter says. “When sailing the biplane, we trim the leeward sail more than the windward one because the breeze ‘bends’ around the windward rig and presents a narrower apparent-wind angle to the leeward sail. When they tacked, the prior leeward sail became the windward sail and started earlier to ‘sail’ the windward hull around.”

Another advantage appeared when sailing dead downwind, Peter adds. “You can wing-on-wing with both sails out at 90 degrees because of the full mast rotation, making for a very stable rig and also allowing you to steer up to 80 degrees on either side of the course without jibing.” 

Nevertheless, the initial biplane Stiletto lost in the first trials. It didn’t match the standard rig’s performance. The team realized, however, that the biplane could handle longer booms than the sketch, and thus larger sails on same-height masts.

At first, this switch didn’t help ­performance, but once they made larger daggerboards to counteract the leeway from the increased sail area, the performance significantly bested all other rig configurations. 

The couple preferred this setup too, especially for safety in the event of squalls. 

The masts rotate 180 degrees each way but can rotate up to 270 degrees, so if you do need to release them to 180, nothing can break.

 “With no standing rigging, you can depower on any point of sail by quickly easing,” White says. 

The masts will rotate into the wind—what sailing instructors call safety position. When the couple tested the biplane again with larger sails, it blew away its competition.

“The final version on Saphira is a ­biplane with two big mainsails,” Peter says. “The masts rotate 180 degrees each way in normal operations but can rotate up to 270 degrees, so if you do need to release them to 180, nothing can break.”

Jennifer adds: “We have unreal ­visibility from the cockpit. There’s ­nothing to ­obstruct the field of view.” 

Having settled on the rig, they focused the design process on three concepts: the biplane rig with fully rotating masts for safety and maneuvering; 70-foot-long narrow hulls with a beam, weight, and righting moment about the same as an Atlantic 55; and only two staterooms, to free space for comfort and ease of maintenance.

Saphira’s wing-shaped masts make up 7 percent of her sail area. At the first reef, the mainsails are normal in size, but when fully raised, they have the total area of an Atlantic 55 with its main and largest spinnaker flying. “Hull length leads to higher hull speeds and also seakindliness,” Peter says. 

Combined with the narrow 28½-foot beam, this design also allows access to slips and Travelifts that often max out at 30 feet. And the extra length allowed White to design the hulls’ interiors
similarly to the Atlantic 55’s but with more space. For example, Saphira’s engine rooms occupy areas where aft staterooms would normally be, and four adults can stand with full headroom around the engines.

To balance speed and comfort, the couple assembled a team from the racing and cruising worlds, including experts from Doyle Sails, Southern Spars and SDK Structures.

“We’d sit at their dining table for hours, the room full of experts who have worked on America’s Cup boats for decades,” White says. “I was the mom-and-pop cruising boat designer guy.”

Peter says that the couple wanted White’s deep experience from decades of designing and building multihulls. 

“We valued this for many reasons,” Peter says. “One additional design criterion was to make the living space practical and focus on ease of maintenance, given that Jen and I would be sailing on our own or with friends.”

The couple’s 750-mile passage to the Marquesas is the longest they’ve ­completed alone aboard Saphira, and it reconfirmed some goals that went into the design. With the cat’s stability at speed and shallow draft, it can go most anywhere. If one of French Polynesia’s tropical cyclones had whipped up, the couple would have been able to sail quickly to safer waters. As Peter says, “With our 11-knot average speed, we could escape the cone of probability in just two days.” 

Recently, amid the craggy Marquesan coves and bays, they were treated to a shark feeding frenzy about 20 yards from their stern. They’re not entirely sure what’s next, but they love knowing that they can spread Saphira’s wings and take flight to wherever the weather looks fine and their whimsy desires.

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There are many outstanding, even outrageous, things one can say about the HH44-SC catamaran. It’s the latest in a series of upscale boats conceived by HH CEO Paul Hakes, with structural engineering by the naval-architecture duo of Melvin & Morrelli and built in China by the Hudson Wang manufacturing conglomerate, which sold more than three dozen hulls on drawings and renderings alone, before a single boat was built. The waiting list is now about two years long.

I’m no math whiz, but with the boat’s sticker price, all up, of over $1.6 million, it’s safe to say that HH Catamarans had something like $50 million of orders on the books in advance of a sole customer actually pushing the button on an electric winch to raise the hefty, full-battened mainsail. Which leads to a pretty simple question: Who are those guys?

In an interview I conducted with Morrelli several years ago, he spoke about the sort of buyer drawn to the HH brand: “It’s unbelievable to me the percentage of newbie owners we attract to HH. More than 50 percent are first-time boat owners, guys who are buying $2 million and $3 million boats. I find that a bit shocking, but they were successful at something at some point in their life, and they’re trying to roll that success and confidence into something else.”

Allow me to take that one step ­further, because I’ve met a few HH owners, and I believe that the boat is catnip to a certain type of tech-savvy consumer. They definitely find the boat’s clean lines and tantalizing performance sleek and sexy, but they also are passionately drawn to the forward-thinking technology itself. I’ve heard folks refer to certain products in the marine sector as something Elon Musk might’ve dreamed up, but the HH44 may in fact be the closest thing there is to a Tesla of sailboats. I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that more than a few HH owners have one of those parked in their driveway. 

What, exactly, are those folks getting for their seven figures? There are two versions of the boat: the HH44-OC (Ocean Cruising), a dedicated bluewater cruising cat with mini keels instead of daggerboards; and the HH44-SC (Sports Cruising), a no-holds-barred rocket ship with C-shaped carbon boards, a solar array, and the company’s EcoDrive auxiliary propulsion package, which we’ll delve into shortly. The SC is the model we tested for the 2024 Boat of the Year contest. Spoiler alert: We were fairly blown away by the boat, and honored it with a Judges Special Recognition Award. Our sister publication, the performance-oriented Sailing World, named it overall Boat of the Year and described it as “the performance sailor’s retirement race boat.”

Aesthetically, in theme and execution, the HH44-SC presents a futuristic appearance. There’s a fixed bowsprit forward; ample freeboard in the relatively narrow hulls (at least compared with your average cruising cat from mainstream builders); a slash of integrated hull windows that offer natural light in the staterooms and double as a nice visual accent; a pair of drop-down swim platforms in the transoms; and a set of dinghy davits in between. The coachroof extends well aft and doubles as a hardtop Bimini over the cockpit, while serving as the base for the traveler and mainsheet arrangement, and as the base for more than 4,000 watts of mounted solar panels. 

Quick aside: The hulls are painted, and I reckon that more than a few owners will go with colors not usually found in genteel yacht surroundings. Our test boat, Titan, the first HH44-SC off the line, is bound for the Caribbean with a magnificent bright-red exterior. The intent is clear: You can go garishly or go home.  

Forward-facing windows in the main cabin can be opened to allow the fresh breeze to course through. M&M employed forward cockpits for steering and sailhandling in many of their previous designs, but eschewed that layout here. Instead, there’s a set of Jefa helm stations well aft that can rotate outboard for increased visibility when driving upwind, or that can be tilted inboard under the Bimini top in inclement conditions or to access line handling by gaining proximity to the winches. It’s a versatile, well-reasoned solution that I like a lot. I wish more cats were laid out similarly. 

Below, a dedicated en suite owner’s stateroom runs the length of the starboard hull. A pair of double-berth staterooms to port share a central head and shower. 

So, that serves as the basic overview of the 44-footer. But what about the ­technology? The big stories there are the propulsion and construction.

The most eye-opening feature is the hybrid auxiliary setup. Boat of the Year judge Tim Murphy is the educational director for the American Boat and Yacht Council and our go-to expert for all technical matters. Here’s his take on the system developed by UK firm Hybrid Marine: “It had the most sophisticated house systems and propulsion we’ve seen in the contest, starting with their parallel hybrid drive, a system unlike any we’ve inspected on any boat before this one.” 

Electric motors are built onto the back of the twin 30 hp Beta Marine diesels (or optional Yanmar 40 hp engines) with a coupling to the transmission. The electric motors can effectively be used as a pair of 5 kW generators to charge the battery bank. Adding regeneration while sailing provides up to 2 kW per shaft at 10 knots of boatspeed. An additional 43 kWh of energy is produced by the solar array on the cabin top.

What this translates to is silent ­operation under power in full electric mode, augmented by hydrogeneration to top off batteries while sailing, with the good old-fashioned reliability of those diesel engines as a backup, or for motoring through high pressure on passages. 

It’s a boat that covers a lot of bases, though Murphy is also quick to note that it will be interesting to see how all this translates to real-world operations, given that it’s new tech. He wouldn’t be ­surprised if, at the outset, there are ­growing pains bringing it all online (though company representatives note that the system has been used in European canal boats for more than 10 years). 

HH president Seth Hynes says: “At full battery capacity, you can run the boat at full throttle using the two 10-kilowatt electric motors and get 7 knots of boatspeed for approximately two hours. In light air, you can even keep your leeward electric motor running to build yourself some apparent wind.”

Murphy is also impressed with the build quality: “It’s thermal-foam construction with panels of Corecell foam core that’s heated up to make the complex shapes of the hull with no slits or kerfs in between. So you’re using those flat sheets to construct complex curves, and then you’re using the best resin ­available—which is epoxy—in the laminate, which also employs carbon cloth. This is infused epoxy construction, post-cured after that fact, so they are very, very high-quality hulls.” 

Carbon reinforcements are also used in high-load areas such as the wing deck, coachroof and daggerboard trunks. The Marstrom rig on the HH44-SC is all carbon (the OC version has a standard aluminum mast with the option to upgrade). 

At the end of the day, the reason one is attracted to a light, fast cat is pretty simple: performance. HH has been well-represented in previous Boat of the Year competitions, with its HH66, HH55 and HH50 all previous nominees (the latter two won awards in 2018 and 2021, respectively). To be honest, I’ve always been startled by the fact that many of these cats have gone to first-time boat owners with varying degrees of experience. I’ve been sailing for decades, and I’d be fairly intimidated to head offshore with a shorthanded crew on the larger HH cats, which are not simple vessels, but rather extremely powerful boats where things can escalate quickly if the first domino falls. 

One doesn’t need to be Superman, however, to sail the scaled-down HH44. Our test boat arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, with only a set of basic ­working sails (main, self-tacking ­staysail), so we didn’t get the full-on, off-wind power-reaching sleigh ride that is essentially the boat’s reason for being, but the sailing was still fast and sprightly. (A hat tip to the HH commissioning team, who had the boat sailing just two days after it was offloaded from a freighter in New Jersey.) Closehauled, with the deep, nearly 10-foot boards deployed, the boat tracked like a train and quite easily flirted with 10 knots of boatspeed. I can only imagine what it would be like to set a kite, then turn and burn, but it’s safe to say that you’ll regularly be registering double-digit boatspeeds. HH reps say that our test boat hit 23 knots on the delivery south to the Caribbean. 

All in all, the HH44-SC is quite a machine to behold. The story of ­production-boat building, starting way back in the 1960s, has been an ongoing evolution—piece by piece, boat by boat. Now this very cool cat has penned its own chapter. There’s really nothing else like it.

Herb McCormick is a CW editor-at-large and was a 2024 Boat of the Year judge.

FYI

The “HH” in HH Catamarans represents the initials of Chinese businessman and ­manufacturer Hudson Wang, who founded the company, and CEO Paul Hakes, a New Zealand boatbuilder who joined forces with Wang in 2012 to launch the brand. There are currently eight models in the HH lineup, ranging in size from 44 feet to 88 feet, including the HH50, which was named the Best Luxury Cruiser in the 2021 Boat of the Year contest. The HH Catamarans design team of Melvin & Morrelli is well-known for their America’s Cup contenders, maxi offshore cats such as the 125-foot PlayStation, the pioneering Gunboat cruising cats, and the current line of Rapido performance trimarans. 

The post Sailboat Review: HH Catamarans HH44 appeared first on Cruising World.

The Windelo 50, which first grabbed our editors’ attention at last year’s Cannes Yachting Festival, is an eco-conscious cruising cat that prioritizes functionality in a comfortable package that’s capable of crossing oceans. Add to that a powerful rig, modest displacement, daggerboards and genuine electric autonomy, and it’s easy to understand why the boat turned heads at its US premiere in Miami this past spring. 

Since Hull No. 1 rolled off the factory line in Canet-en-Roussillon, France, in fall 2019, the Windelo naval architecture team of Christophe Barreau and Frédéric Neuman has given this crossover cat a racy, stylish look. The new version is billed as the Windelo 50 Yachting, and it underscores a substantial move upmarket with a sleek, dynamic appearance and solid craftsmanship. Significant upgrades have been made to the decks and superstructure, and the layout is reimagined for greater comfort and flow. 

The aft deck is expanded to create a more comfortable relaxation area with enhanced protection from the elements. The builder uses large molds, which is why the surfaces have a notably smoother finish. A new nonslip surface, with a more attractive diamond-shaped texture, is directly integrated into the mold.

The Windelo 50 is also built with a composite sandwich structure that includes environmentally friendly materials, basalt fiber and PET foam, which reduce the boat’s carbon footprint by nearly 47 percent, according to the builder. The integration of two electric motors, 5,880-watt solar panels and an under-sail hydrogeneration system facilitates zero-emission sailing. The combination also allows daily recharging of the battery bank, providing up to four hours of autonomous ­propulsion using exclusively green energy sources when cruising at 6 knots.

At the base of the mast, the forward cockpit centralizes all boathandling activity, while enabling the skipper to remain near the center of social activity. The cockpit can be fully enclosed, providing protection from the elements. The deck housing creates additional space for relaxation, and the living area can be transformed into a terrace via a winch mechanism and sliding or removable bulkheads, along with sliding glass doors. 

According to the builder, even in light air, the Windelo 50 can sail at true-wind speed, courtesy of the hull-design weight distribution.

The post Sailboat Preview: Windelo 50 Yachting appeared first on Cruising World.

As winds of change continue to sweep through our sailing community, and as more participants enter the world of cruising, a startling question has emerged: Could the traditional monohull actually lose its market dominance to the up-and-coming catamaran? 

For years, the monohull-­versus-cat discussion has ignited passion among sailors worldwide. As we all continue the great debate about which type of boat is better, sales figures offer a hint at what kinds of boats we might see along the docks in the future.

According to market research by the Maryland-based Fact.MR, the global ­catamaran market stood at $1.9 billion in 2023. It is expected to see an annual growth rate of around 5.6 percent during the next 10 years. Interestingly, although sailing catamarans held a share of more than 50 percent globally in 2022, power catamarans are projected to see a noticeable increase compared with sail.

Why the sustained rise in popularity? In my experience, there always seems to be a “wow” moment whenever a monohull sailor sets foot aboard a catamaran for the first time.

Who can blame them? These sporty, twin-hulled vessels have spacious layouts, stability, and impressive speed. Catamarans come with expansive accommodations, making them ideal for extended cruising with family and friends. Their shallow drafts enable better access to skinny water, opening up new horizons for adventurous cruisers. Some proponents go so far as to suggest that catamarans represent the future of sailing.

But there is also reason to pump the brakes on wild-eyed predictions. Even amid this catamaran craze, the venerable monohull refuses to be sidelined. With its time-tested design and seafaring heritage, the monohull remains the stalwart of the sailing world. Monohulls are renowned for their stability and seaworthiness. They excel in challenging conditions. They are a dependable choice for extended offshore journeys. They slice through waves with grace and precision. Many sailors favor monohulls for their responsiveness and feel, making them the preferred option for racing enthusiasts and purists alike.

According to Grand View Research, the monohull segment dominated the overall market with a share of 59 percent in 2023 and will grow at an annual rate of 4.4 percent through 2033. That steady growth suggests that, while multihulls undoubtedly have carved out a significant niche in the sailing market, ­monohulls continue to hold their own. 

Yet, it would be remiss to ignore the challenges that monohulls face in the age of catamarans. As demand for spaciousness and comfort grows, some monohulls might struggle to compete with multihulls. Catamarans’ stability at anchor and under sail has prompted many sailors to make the switch—raising questions about the future of monohull design and innovation. But that’s a conversation for another day. 

The debate about ­catamarans and monohulls extends beyond mere preference. It’s a reflection of the evolving landscape of sailing. Both types of vessels have their strengths and weaknesses, catering to different sailing styles, preferences and priorities. But the question of whether catamarans are killing off traditional monohulls is more nuanced than it might seem. While catamarans have shaken up the sailing scene, monohulls continue to endure, driven by the timeless art of sailing. 

As for me, give me a favorable breeze, a big patch of water and some Bob Marley, and I’ll gladly take the helm, whether it’s one hull or two.

The post Are Cats Killing the Monohull? appeared first on Cruising World.

It was a stunning, sensational, even quintessential December morning off Jost Van Dyke in the always alluring British Virgin Islands. Back home in New England, I’d just learned, the season’s first nasty nor’easter had kicked in—a preview of winter’s coming attractions. But there I was in shorts, and barefoot, warm and happy. I had a hot cup of coffee in my hand, and someone was thoughtfully streaming one of my favorite recording artists, Tom Petty, whose “A Higher Place” was the perfect soundtrack on the inviting forward trampoline of the Moorings catamaran. 

A good 15 to 25 knots of staunch, easterly trade winds—the so-called Christmas trades—were in full voice. With my hair whipping in the breeze, it occurred to me that it was an absolutely stellar day to reef down, strap up, and go for a cracking-good sail.  

But there would be no sailing for me on this day, or on any of the ensuing ones during our quick charter trip through the BVI. No, the twin-hulled vessel on which I was perched was­—gasp!— a Moorings 464PC power cat. 

Suddenly, I came to the sobering realization that, at least ­temporarily, I was likely in the midst of abandoning my very roots and selling my sailing soul. And I was having a decidedly difficult time coming to terms with it.

I’ve always fancied myself an all-around waterman. I got my scuba diving card decades ago, and I really enjoy open-ocean swimming. My current personal armada includes three kayaks, two surfboards, a good rowboat, and two sailboats: a daysailing Pearson Ensign and a full-fledged Pearson 365 cruising boat. Note what isn’t there, and never has been: a powerboat. Alas, I’ve spent my entire career advocating for and endorsing the sanctity of sail. 

Well, all that said, a guy has to make a buck. I’d been hired to host a pair of Moorings videos for the company’s two new power cats, the 464 and the 403PC. So, this was a press junket of sorts, giving me an opportunity to become familiar with the boats. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t a little unsettled by the experience. Then again, I was in the BVI. It was time to buck up, old boy, and get on with it. 

Virgin Gorda is a pretty good place to do just that. After we dropped the mooring in Jost and made our way up the windswept, whitecapped Sir Francis Drake Channel, I had my first revelation regarding my current situation: No, we weren’t sailing. But neither were any of the sailboats darting hither and yon, all of which were proceeding under power, just like us. It was too darn breezy. 

We tied up at the Bitter End Yacht Club, and it was truly great to see the iconic island destination slowly coming back to life after getting flattened a few years back by Hurricane Irma. The highlight of our overnight stay was the next morning’s sweaty hike up the hill behind the resort, followed by a refreshing dip and a couple of eye-opening bloody marys at the convenient bar right alongside the beach. My trepidation about my situation was slowly beginning to wane. As it did on the next leg of our journey. 

Thanks to a tip from a local, we exited Virgin Gorda through an extremely narrow, very shallow cut between Anguilla Point and Mosquito Island, something we never would’ve gotten away with on a keelboat. Advantage, power cat. From there, we were bound for one of my favorite islands in all of the Caribbean: low-lying Anegada, the outlying isle encircled by coral reefs some 10 miles north of Virgin Gorda. I’d not visited the place in my previous pair of trips to the BVI simply because of a time crunch. You really need to invest three days for an Anegada visit—a day over, a day there and a day back—which is often a bridge too far when trying to cram all sorts of activities into a weeklong sailboat charter.

You know where I’m going with this. The power catamaran solved this dilemma posthaste. With the throttles down at 3,100 rpm, we flew to Anegada at a tidy 16-plus knots. Once there, our photographer proclaimed that he was enjoying our steed for a reason that never would’ve occurred to me: It’s much easier to catch a drone without a mast.

Our quick trip over meant we had plenty of time to do all the things one wishes to do in Anegada. Rent a car. Hit Loblolly Beach for a snorkel and lunch. Search for the pink flamingos. Patronize a couple of beach bars. Your basic perfect day. 

Back on the boat, hanging off the mooring lines after yet another wonderful swim, I could glance back with a view through the twin hulls to catch the sunset framed between them. Pretty cool. And once darkness settled in, the underwater lights off our transom proved to be a tarpon magnet. We sipped our drinks with the super-cool water-world show just a few tantalizing feet away. We’d basically brought our own aquarium with us. 

With our abbreviated trip coming to its conclusion, we had one more stop, at the Bight on Norman Island. Ironically, by this time, the breeze had temporarily frittered away, and guess what? In these calm conditions, the sailboats still weren’t sailing. 

The harbor was chock-full of vacationing mariners, but thanks to our big twin diesels, we were there in time to pick up one of the last moorings. I’m not always the sharpest tool in the shed, but I was beginning to see the advantages of this power-cat situation. If anyone ever asked my advice about a BVI charter for a first-timer, here’s what I’d say: If you’re a sailor, unequivocally, you must book a good sailboat for your adventure. There’s too much nautical history and lore not to sample the archipelago’s joys and challenges as the first explorers did, under glorious sail. But if you’re on your second or third or fourth visit? Hmm. Those power cats are pretty convenient.

Still, I was seriously conflicted about writing a magazine story espousing the benefits of power cruising. Our photographer was sympathetic and said, “You could title it ‘Low Sodium: The Retractions of a Salty Man.’” Even for me, that sounded pretty pretentious. Then he broke it down into something simpler to understand: “Look, man, you were afloat.”

And that struck a chord. His simple statement has really been the common denominator of my entire existence. I’ve always been an equal-opportunity lover of the water, whatever the conveyance, from my own eclectic fleet to a bloody pool toy. Whatever gets you out there, gets you out there. There’s no wrong way to do it. 

And that was that. I had reached the happy and consolable conclusion that I hadn’t really been power-cat cruising, not at all. No, mon, as they say in the islands. I’d been floating.

Herb McCormick is a CW editor-at-large.

Power-Cat Ownership The Moorings’ Way

As of this writing, The Moorings has a pair of power catamarans available in its yacht-management program at Tortola. Both were built in South Africa by Robertson & Caine, which also produces the Leopard line of sail and power cats. The Moorings 403PC is powered by a pair of 320 hp Yanmar diesels and has a cruising speed of 15 knots. The Moorings 464 is also powered with a pair of twin Yanmars and is laid out in a four-head, four-stateroom configuration.

Franck Bauguil, Moorings’ vice president of yacht ownership and product development, says that it’s a great program for mariners who charter multiple times each year. “If you’re going to go only once a year, or every other year, just charter a boat, don’t buy it,” he says. However, if you go three or four times a year, on trips that can cost up to $25,000 apiece, the Moorings package is well worth considering.

“The program has been around for a long time,” he says. “So it’s well-known among sailors, but not as much with powerboaters. Our fleet of boats is all privately owned, but we take care of operations and management. You buy the boat, you own it and name it; it’s very much a regular purchase. But with that purchase comes a management agreement where we maintain the boat on behalf of the owner and charter it to a third party when they’re not using it.”

As with any boat purchase, owners can lay down the cash or go the finance route. For the latter, what’s the cost? The numbers as of this past fall showed that most owners put down 20 to 25 percent of the cost of the yacht, which, in the case of The Moorings’ 403PC, was about $1 million, with a down payment just shy of $200,000. At 8.25 percent interest on a 20-year loan, the monthly payment of about $6,700 was offset by the guaranteed income of just under $7,500 per month. Management contracts generally run five or six years, after which the owner can keep the boat, trade it in, or have The Moorings’ brokerage operation place it for sale.

For personal usage, owners receive 84 points per year, with the cost of trips equating to two points per day. Of those 84 points, 42 can be used to reserve trips in advance, and 42 can be employed on short notice. Generally, this breaks down to four to six weeks per year of in-season trips, or up to 12 weeks per year of cruising in the off-season. —HM

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Several months after visiting the Vision 444 at the Annapolis Boat Show with my colleagues on the Boat of the Year judging team, three things still stick out when I think about this South African-built entry that we named Best Cruising Catamaran Under 50 Feet.

First, unlike any other production ­catamaran that I can think of, the Vision has a full-size, forward-facing navigation desk to starboard, just inside the sliding glass door that separates the cockpit and salon. The desk is a few steps removed from the raised helm station in the cockpit, and about the same distance from the owner’s stateroom below it in the after portion of the starboard hull. In other words, it’s immediately accessible from both key locations. At the desk, the skipper is surrounded by instruments and electrical switches to control the boat’s systems, and there is a clear view forward for being inside to stand watch, work out waypoints or update the log.

Second is the workshop, which has a workbench, vice, shelves, and bins for tools and gear. It’s located in the forepeak of the starboard hull, forward of the owner’s head and shower. After seeing it, all I could think was, What cruising sailor wouldn’t want one of these?

And third: The Vision is a cat that can sail. Jubilee, Hull No. 8, was picked up at the Vision yard in Knysna by her owner, David Stein, in 2022. With a hired captain aboard to help him learn about the boat, he and his daughter set out on a shakedown cruise to Mozambique before returning to South Africa. From there, Jubilee set sail for Grenada, via Saint Helena, and averaged 7.6 knots during the crossing. By the time they arrived in the Caribbean, Stein was ready to take charge. His need for hired hands was over.

In Annapolis, with some 14,000 miles under the keels, Stein was still excited to talk about his boat, and after the show, he was more than eager to take us sailing. Out on Chesapeake Bay, I found it enlightening to watch him at work getting Jubilee underway, since one of the criteria we use when judging a sailboat is how well it measures up to its design brief. In the case of the Vision 444, the boat is intended to be an efficient, safe liveaboard boat for a cruising couple or otherwise shorthanded crew.  

To raise the main, Stein set the autopilot to head-to-wind, which freed his hands to attend to the halyard, reef lines and whatnot. For upwind sailing, the Vision has a self-tacking jib, which means coming about is as easy as turning the wheel. Stein says that in apparent wind of 16 knots or better, the boat can hold a course with an apparent-wind angle in the high 30s, which is respectfully close-winded for a roomy cat with short, fixed keels rather than daggerboards.

His go-to sail when singlehanding or on passage when varying conditions are expected is a code 55 (he carries a larger code 65 as well) that can be easily furled. Conditions for our sea trial were fairly light, around 12 knots, so after a couple of tacks, we quickly furled up the small jib and rolled out the smaller of the two reaching sails because that was the one already mounted on the continuous-line furler. Cracked off slightly to a close reach, we jogged along at 7 to 8 knots.

And of course, we encouraged Stein to set his asymmetric spinnaker, just to see how it would go. With that sail up, we managed to gain another knot or so.

Vision builds just the one model. Hulls, deck and furniture are all foam-cored and infused with vinylester resin. Furniture is tabbed and bonded in place, becoming part of the structure of the boat. 

Stein says that each hull so far is a little different, thanks to owner input and advances in technology. Hull No. 1, for instance, was built for a mobility-impaired owner, and doors were cut into the cockpit coamings to add accessibility from the dock or a tender. The idea proved useful and was incorporated into the design of subsequent models. 

Another neat feature on the Vision is having washboards that can be fitted across the stern of each hull to prevent following seas from washing aboard over the sugar-scoop transoms. A third washboard can be placed across the door to the salon.

All Visions come with a 24-volt lithium battery bank. On Jubilee, the bank is recharged by alternators of the same voltage mounted on two 40 hp Yanmar diesels, as well as by power from six 370-watt solar panels. Stein says that the boat’s original alternators were early models and installed just as 24-volt systems were becoming popular. They stopped working in December 2022, around the time he reached the Caribbean. It took three months to get replacements, but he and his guests had plenty of electricity without them, even with an electric induction cooktop (there is a propane stove too), espresso machine, countertop electric toaster ovens (Stein passed on a built-in oven in order to gain stowage), air conditioning, and a full suite of electronics. 

More-recent Visions are fitted out with 38-Nanni diesels (simple engines that are easy to work on) and eight solar panels, providing even more power, he says.

The interior layout of the Vision is straightforward enough, but even so, there are noteworthy elements. The owner has the starboard hull. Guests get the port hull, with an athwartships berth forward, and a head and shower in the forepeak. Another stateroom is aft, with a second head and shower. 

Amidships in both hulls, there are outboard lockers where wiring, hoses, through-hulls, and machinery are all neatly labeled and easy to reach. Engine access is well thought out too. On most cats, engine rooms are accessed through hatches in the cockpit sole, where they’re exposed to the elements. On the Vision, the aft berths in each hull lift up, and the engines are right there, with plenty of room to work on them without worrying about what’s happening outside. Adequate soundproofing keeps the staterooms ­relatively quiet underway when motoring.

Topsides, large cabin windows let in lots of light and provide good all-round visibility. The center two forward windows have hatches that open for ventilation. The L-shaped galley to port has deep double sinks and plenty of stowage. A dining table is forward to port, and can be lowered to make a berth that would be a handy place for off-watch crew to rest while on passage.

Gear throughout the boat was top-notch and included North Sails, B&G electronics, four electric Harken winches, a fridge, and two freezers.

During most of our Boat of the Year inspections, the judging team has to wonder how a boat will hold up with a few thousand miles under its keel, and how its systems and layout will work when owners find themselves out there on some dark, stormy evening. Not so with the Vision. Jubilee and Stein have been out there and done that, and both looked just fine. 

Mark Pillsbury is a CW editor-at-large and was a 2024 Boat of the Year judge.

One Sailor’s Jubilee

On my first visit to David Stein’s Vision 444 catamaran at the dock during the Annapolis Boat Show this past fall, I got a kick out of a graphic on the bow with the boat’s name, Jubilee. Below it was a circle around the whimsical drawing of a bear playing some sort of crooked horn. Later, when we were out on Chesapeake Bay and sailing the boat, we hoisted the spinnaker and hauled up the snuffer, and saw the same quirky image, this time in white on the black asymmetric chute.

I had to ask the owner, “What’s up with the bear?”

Turns out, it’s a pretty good story.

Stein hails from western New York, where he had an ­insurance brokerage firm. Before buying the Vision, he’d done most of his sailing on smaller race boats, but in 2008, he took his family on their first charter vacation, aboard a 38-foot Beneteau in the Grenadines. And with that, he was hooked.

“As soon as I got home from that trip, I started building a spreadsheet on how, when my son graduated from high school, I’d be able to do this,” he said. He put down a deposit on the Vision in 2020 and took delivery of Jubilee in July 2022 at the builder’s yard in Knysna, South Africa.

Stein is a self-confessed (Grateful) Deadhead, and one day, he was listening to one of his favorite songs, “Sugaree.” Jerry Garcia sings, “Shake it up now, Sugaree/I’ll meet you at the jubilee/And if that jubilee don’t come/Baby, I’ll meet you on the run.”

Stein said he always thought a jubilee was a party, but then when he did a little research, he discovered that the word has an older biblical meaning: a person’s jubilee year, when you turn 50 or 51. At that age, if for some reason you had to lease your family land because of financial difficulties, you got your property back, or if you’d sold yourself into indentured servitude, you got your freedom.

“You were supposed to spend the entirety of your jubilee year not working, and getting good with God and the universe,” Stein said. “Therefore, I’ve got a Grateful Dead bear trumpeting a kudu shofar, which you’re supposed to do apparently to signal to everybody that you’re starting your year. My jubilee year is apparently several years long, but who’s counting?”

Stein retold the story when I spoke with him by phone in April. He was sitting aboard Jubilee at the dock at the Antigua Yacht Club, where he was tied up to repair the seawater pump on his watermaker. 

After Annapolis, his plan had been to sail south with the Salty Dog Rally, but instead, he took a left and headed for the Bahamas. He spent the holidays in the northern Eleuthera area with his wife and kids, and his parents came to sail with him in the Abacos.

From there, he headed south to St. Thomas. It was a five-day windward trip, but he and his crew endured the ordeal by catching four big tuna, four mahimahi and three marlin. They had so much fish, they had to pitch frozen pizza overboard to make room for it.

For passages, Stein brings friends aboard, and finds mates from the Vision owners group, which now numbers about 40 ­current and future owners. Around half have placed an order for a boat, and they’re eager to spend time aboard Jubilee while they wait for theirs.

After exploring the US and British Virgin Islands, Stein said, they had a perfect overnight sail to St. Maarten, where he caught the Heineken Regatta and the St. Barts Bucket regatta. 

Stein’s daughter will be joining him soon in Antigua to start the journey back north, where he plans to put the boat on the hard for the summer in Virginia. 

 “I feel like every day I’m doing stuff that’s physically and mentally engaging, so I haven’t gotten bored yet,” he said. “That absolutely hasn’t happened.”

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