Table of contents for Multihull Sailor Winter 2021-2022 in SAIL

This spring, two double-hulled canoes, Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia, will set off for what organizers are calling the Moananuiākea Voyage—a 41,000-mile, 42-month circumnavigation of the Pacific. The boats will visit 46 countries and archipelagos that are home to nearly 100 indigenous territories and 345 ports. The goal of the voyage? Education about oceanic and environmental health and the impact both have on the indigenous people of the region. “Today we find ourselves facing some of the most challenging threats we’ve ever faced. From this global pandemic to burning forests, emptying oceans, melting glaciers, rising seas, and storms that will change both the Earth and humanity,” says Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, the group in charge of the Hōkūle‘a project, and a Pwo, or master, navigator. “With the Moananuiākea…

If you’ve watched America’s Cup or grand prix sailboat racing you may have noticed the mindboggling technology that goes into moving a mass of magnificently crafted composite around some buoys or around the globe. These machines are otherworldly. But in case you think those speedsters have nothing in common with boats that are available to mere mortals, think again. Your family SUV probably benefited from advances made for Formula 1 racecars, and today’s performance-cruising boats leverage trickle-down technology from the racing circuit to become sophisticated platforms that are within reach of the average sailor. Take, for example, the Rapido 60 bluewater cruising trimaran from Vietnam-based Rapido Trimarans (rapido-trimarans.com), which looks like a rocket ship, but was just purchased by Riley and Elayna from Sailing La Vagabonde for their family of…

Imagine a sailboat under 60ft with private en suite accommodations for five couples plus professional crew. Add to that enough space to allow those same lucky guests their own private lounging areas outside. That’s a lot of room. That’s the Fountaine Pajot Samana 59. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION The design emphasis of the Samana 59 is on easy maintenance, a welcome feature to any boat owner. The fiberglass hulls and structural bulkheads are molded with balsa cores and reinforced with carbon. The interior joinery is Alpi wood laminate, the countertops are made of synthetic resin, and the only visible solid wood in the entire boat is a few tabletops and doors. The primary structural member of this big vessel is a husky, welded aluminum truss that passes under the bridgedeck to…

HH44 PARALLEL HYBRID The HH44 sits in a sweet spot at the center of the two axes of ideal yacht design: performance versus comfort; safety versus innovation. Despite the sporty look of its reverse sheer bows, elegantly sculpted cabintrunk and a sailplan with options to spare, the boat also offers the comfort and quality sailors have long come to expect from veteran builder HH Catamarans. Construction is in carbon and epoxy, deck hatches are mounted flush and lines are led to the helms under the deck in the interest of freedom of movement. An enclosed aft cockpit makes for a secure space for both living aboard and operating the boat. Closeable, dropdown transoms and unobstructed side decks, which serve to reduce tripping hazards, complete the safety package. On the technology…

Many have tried, but virtually all have failed and none have sustained. Now, finally, there is one circuit that might just have hit on a formula to make sailboat racing a mainstream sport. This means not just a one hit wonder held every few years, but a series with mass appeal that can maintain and build an audience via an annual circuit of repeated events, just like motor racing’s Formula 1 or sports like golf and tennis. Well on its way to achieving this is SailGP (sailgp.com). Unquestionably, it helps that it is bankrolled by one of America’s richest men, Larry Ellison, and masterminded and executed by one of the world’s most accomplished sailor/pioneers, Russell Coutts. But there’s no denying the thing itself has serious legs. SailGP has been in…

The new MiniCat 460 Elite is the largest of the four MiniCat models, and it’s a souped up version of 460 Esprit. We had a chance to test it on the Gunpowder River on the Chesapeake, and the consensus was that this is one smart boat that’s also a kick in the pants to sail. Designed for a maximum of four people, the 460 Elite can also be singlehanded, which is arguably the most fun. The MiniCat’s builder is based in Bolevice, which is between Prague and Bratislava in the Czech Republic. Construction includes a powder-coated aluminum frame attached to twin gray floats made of abrasion-resistant, reinforced Heytex. It’s the same kind of material many river rafts are made of. The single-chamber floats are just over 15ft 1in length and…

I’m sure many readers have heard of the dinghy test, in which it’s considered important you be able to admire your own boat as you’re dinghying ashore. Taking things up a notch, I’d say there’s also a kind of vanity test underway, whereby it ain’t half bad finding yourself sailing around on a boat so cool you can’t help thinking you’re pretty cool as well. Case in point, the new South African-built Balance 482 catamaran. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION A collaboration between Balance president Phillip Berman and naval architect Anton du Toit, the Balance 482 features a pair of narrow, slippery hulls that include either high-performance fixed keels or dual daggerboards (the latter far and away the more popular of the two); wave-piercing bows, to reduce hobby-horsing; a nicely drawn reverse…

Since you’re reading this in a multihull magazine, chances are you’re already a fan of catamarans and are familiar with their advantages. They offer more room than same-length monohulls, they have system redundancy built in, they tend to produce less seasickness because they don’t heel much, and they can be faster since they’re not dragging a heavy keel through the water. At the same time, though, cats also offer a number of challenges that may have you rethinking how you manage a weeklong charter or an offshore passage. The lessons below (some hard won) are my personal tips on becoming Zen with two hulls and getting the best out of whatever multihull you may find yourself on. The right direction Unless you’re sailing a high-speed racing cat, chances are you…

My wife, Carla, and I had no intention of going to the Berry Islands. I had never even heard of them. We were at anchor in Nassau, though, when the pandemic finally reached The Bahamas. Immediately, everything started to close down. We needed a new plan, and we needed it fast. We were due to leave New Providence for Miami, by way of Bimini and the Gulf Stream, but with the lack of a visa for Carla due to the U.S. embassy closing, our dream of sailing the Florida Keys was over. It was still too early in the season to head out into the North Atlantic and make our way back to Europe, even if the islands of Bermuda and the Azores would take us. We were going to…

I’ve often written in boat reviews over the years that pretty much any boat sails well in 15 knots of breeze (typically as a word of explanation as to why sail trials done in drifting conditions are as relevant as those done in a small gale). However, it recently occurred to me there is an exception to this rule, and that is aboard a performance trimaran like the Corsair 880. The reason for this is the basic nature of tris. Aboard a monohull (especially one with a keel), things may get a little hectic in the event you’re ever hit by an unexpected gust. But the fact that a monohull heels before the breeze provides you with a kind of automatic safety valve. Not so a tri. The tremendous form…