{"id":50002,"date":"2023-04-12T12:22:21","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T16:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=50002"},"modified":"2023-08-01T13:52:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T17:52:17","slug":"buying-a-multihull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/sailboats\/buying-a-multihull\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a Multihull Right for You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Woman <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Multihull sailing is an increasingly popular option for cruising and charter. Lots of space on board along with fast, stable sailing in far-reaching spots are a few of the pros that pull sailors toward multihull ownership.<\/span>\n Tor Johnson<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

One summer evening many years back, a friend invited me to sail on a new Leopard 47 off Newport, Rhode Island. Although daylight was slowly fading, there was still a tug of a breeze when we met on the dock. After 11 years of cruising on my 60-year-old, gaff-rigged double-ender Tosca<\/em>, just the ease of boarding the Leopard with a simple, normal step onto a stable platform\u2014with no life-threatening leaps, stern-boarding cardio or ultra-\u00adathletic bowsprit avoidance\u2014impressed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as we slid out of the marina and hoisted the main, bluewater-voyaging PTSD washed over me, and I fought the need to madly stow charcuterie boards and wineglasses, my bags, their bags, pillows, plates, everything. When the captain suggested we set the jib, I braced myself in the cockpit, a reaction from years spent sailing with tight sheets on a steep heel. I still remember the sensation as we caught the first gust on the fast cat: We lifted over the water and took off, flying across the bay. Nothing on the tables slid. Nothing down below moved. No one was sprayed or flung across the cockpit. It was so quiet. The moon rose, the stars came out. More bottles of wine appeared. I was all-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sunset sail decades ago brought me up to speed on what I\u2019d been missing about cruising multihulls<\/a>. My slow-but-much-beloved ketch provided full-contact sailing. I knew very little about multihulls, and the little I knew wasn\u2019t helpful. I\u2019d been cruising with friends on a wet Wharram cat in western Fiji and daysailing on a worn-down trimaran in Tonga. I\u2019d seen the French cruisers zip by on their multihulls in Tahiti, but none of my Pacific friends in 1990s had anything close to the Leopard 47 I sailed that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of my cruising friends had a million dollars either, so when asking if a multihull is right for you, let\u2019s get right to it: Multihulls are expensive. The five new multihulls in CW<\/em>\u2019s 2023 Boat of the Year<\/a> range in price from just under $1 million to just over $2 million. CW<\/em>\u2019s 2023 Best Cruising Multihull, the Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47, is listed at $825,000. And the pre-owned market is pretty competitive. The 23-year-old Leopard 47 model I sailed that night, after two decades of use, is listed for $350,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Phil <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Phil Berman founded The Multihull Company in 1999 and has watched the steady growth of the multihull segment over the past several decades.<\/span>\n Victor Tan<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

If there\u2019s a silver lining here, it\u2019s that multihulls hold their value. But the first step in determining whether a multihull is right for you is to talk to a builder or broker about your budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People, Plans and the South Pacific<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve made peace with the buy-in and you\u2019ve budgeted for the boat of your dreams, there are a lot of people with you. The 2022 State of the Sailing Industry Report numbers show that despite the cost, plenty of people are choosing the multihull path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most recent statistics show that 980 of the 4,937 new sailboats sold in the United States in 2021 were \u00admultihulls. That\u2019s just shy of 20 percent. The \u00admultihulls break out as 654 domestic \u00adp\u00adroduction and 326 imports. And \u00admultihulls make up 45 percent of the sailing charter fleet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe multihull movement started in earnest in the early 1990s, when The Moorings put catamarans<\/a> such as Lagoon in the charter fleets, and Fountaine Pajot brought out the Venezia 42,\u201d says Phil Berman, founder and president of Balance Catamarans. Berman founded The Multihull Company in 1999 and watched the steady growth of the multihull segment over the next several decades. The market struggled in 2008-10 with the financial crisis, but it exploded after that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Leopard <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Leopards at rest during an owners\u2019 flotilla in the Exumas.<\/span>\n Courtesy Patrick Bennett@Uncommon Caribbean for Leopard<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cOver the past 10 to 15 years, the market itself has matured quite a bit, with the retirement of the baby boomers,\u201d he says. \u201cThe multihull market was growing steadily, but it really exploded during the pandemic. Balance Catamarans has grown from building two or three boats a year to 24 boats a year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while The Moorings was the biggest player to popularize catamarans in the charter industry, Berman says, Hobie Alter did more than anyone for the catamaran industry as whole. Alter brought Hobie Cats to the public in the 1970s, and introduced fun, \u00adcompetitive sailing to young people outside of yacht clubs or any formal sail training. Many of those early Hobie Cat racers are owners in today\u2019s cruising- and \u00adperformance-multihull fleets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Owners Say<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grew up around monohulls and powerboats,\u201d says circumnavigator<\/a> Amy Alton. \u201cMy dad bought a Hobie Cat, and then a Maine Cat 30, where I had my first cruising experiences, and later, the one that my husband first sailed on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boat she has today is a Fountaine Pajot Helia 44: \u201cWhen we picked out our cruising boat, we were looking for good performance for downwind sailing and comfortable living space. Starry Horizons <\/em>has been our home for eight years and is the boat we circumnavigated on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance, comfort and stability are the top reasons many cruisers choose multihulls. Faster offshore passages with downwind speed and overall higher cruising speeds are priorities. Mile for mile, multihulls are simply faster. Decades earlier, cruisers worried about how a multihull sailor might manage extreme weather conditions at sea. Advances in weather technologies such as Predict Wind have eliminated surprises during shorter passages, and the technological advancements in communication and route planning allow cruisers to track and avoid extreme weather during longer crossings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This matters if you\u2019re eyeing the Coconut Milk Run westward across the Pacific. There\u2019s a lot<\/em> of downwind miles, and a multihull will eat them up faster. In a blow, multihulls might be able to cover more miles faster, toward safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about going to windward? Realistically, cruising multihulls can struggle; they typically sail close-hauled at 55 to 60 degree true wind angle. Performance catamarans can cut those angles a lot closer, sailing 45 to 50 TWA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarry Horizons<\/em> doesn\u2019t point very well to the wind, but you know what? Neither do I,\u201d Alton says. \u201cWe rarely rush our weather windows, so uncomfortable passages are few and far between.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For cruisers looking to spend a season or two in the Bahamas<\/a> or Caribbean, a multihull\u2019s shallow draft and open, airy living quarters are a popular choice. With flights to the United States a short hop away, onboard space for guests is also ideal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Sailboat <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Amy Alton\u2019s FP Helia 44 Starry Horizons<\/i> hides in a quiet anchorage in Fiji. Alton chose the cruising cat for downwind sailing performance and comfortable living space.<\/span>\n Amy Alton<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

If you\u2019re considering a multihull, where do you intend to spend most of your time? While the Caribbean trade winds and downwind sailing through the South Pacific<\/a> make sense, the Roaring 40s might not. The French Riviera and the Italian Riviera simply might not have the space, and other destinations such as Spain and Scandinavia require research if you hope to secure a marina berth or schedule a haulout. In many places, end caps or slips with wide enough space for a cat\u2019s beam might be close to twice the price, if you can find one open. Know before you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also the need to adjust to handling such a beamy boat. I remember the joy of flying down Florida\u2019s Caloosahatchee River in a 50-foot power cat over a Thanksgiving weekend, heading for a reserved spot at Sanibel Marina. But when we arrived at the dock with the light fading and the current and wind against us, I was relieved to see the dockmaster standing ready with a line. \u201cIt\u2019s like \u00adparking a tennis court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave Newman, a cruiser who sails the Balance 442 performance cat Umoya<\/em>, says that the trade-offs he and his wife have made for the multihull life are worth it. He acknowledges that slips cost more and are harder to come by, but he usually anchors out. \u201cMore living, less camping,\u201d Newman says. \u201cOur boat\u2019s comfortable on long passages and is a relatively flat sailing platform. The salon provides lots of light, great views, and headroom for taller people. We have redundant power with two engines, more coachroof space for solar panels, and a galley that is very pleasant to cook in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although they need to manage weight sensitivity and clean two hulls instead of one, he\u2019s happy with the design and sailing performance of his cat and, after a couple of years of cruising the Caribbean, hopes to head to the South Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cDon\u2019t wait too long to buy a boat,\u201d he says. \u201cBuy what you can afford and just go. Multihull or monohull, whichever sparks your desire to sail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCatamarans have been in my DNA since 1970, when I was racing Hobie Cats in Southern California,\u201d says Kevin Hutton, who recently joined Newman, Berman and others at a Balance Owners Rendezvous in St. Maarten. \u201cHowever, in those days, cats were still unique, and our family sailed monohulls, specifically Catalina yachts. Our last boat was a Catalina 440, but to be honest, I never gave up my Hobie Cats and have a few of them stashed in the Bahamas and Baja that I still sail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his wife, Sandy, chartered catamarans a few times, but they missed the performance of Hobie Cats, so they decided on a new Balance 482. Sandy loved the idea of being part of the development of a new performance cat, and liked the ability to stow everything a second home requires. Stability, ease of anchoring, and ease of sail-handling became more important over time too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Balance <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Sandy and Kevin Hutton trained with professional captains to better understand their Balance 482 performance cat, Golden Hour<\/i>.<\/span>\n Jon Whittle<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

They both love the integration of the cockpit and salon, which allows a greater area to socialize. And they both felt more comfortable with the boat\u2019s systems and performance after some training. \u201cThe days of singlehanding a monohull doesn\u2019t prepare you for singlehanding a \u00adperformance cat,\u201d Hutton says. \u201cAny sailor who has not had modern performance cat experience needs to be humble enough to seek experienced training, especially if your crew is new to sailing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, you learn that your boat will need repairs and things will get broken, he says, but you will also enjoy fixing things, eventually. All boats have frustrations; attitude is everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy wife and I have embraced the education and training, and I am glad that I took the ASA Course and hired professional captains to help us learn together. It\u2019s made us a better team, and that extends well past sailing. We\u2019re looking forward to expanding our experiences and capabilities. And we\u2019re hoping to add our dog, Roca, to the crew next year.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theresa Nicholson is senior editor of <\/em>Cruising World. She cruised the Caribbean, South America, South Pacific, Micronesia and Southeast Asia for 11 years on her gaff-rigged Atkin ketch, <\/em>Tosca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monohull Sailors Go Multi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Randy <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Randy and Lennie Smith were strictly monohull sailors but switched to cruising and performance catamarans.<\/span>\n Courtesy Randy Smith<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

I<\/strong>t all started as many sailing stories do: I raced monohulls as a kid in San Francisco with my dad. After Lennie and I married, we stepped away from sailing to raise a family, but we chartered in the Caribbean. After a few trips, Lennie suggested that a catamaran would be a good choice for our three kids. I was horrified and didn\u2019t want any part of it. Eventually I succumbed, and we realized just how great catamarans were for a crowd like us. But whenever Lennie and I charted without the kids, we sailed strictly on monohulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When our youngest went to college in 2012, we decided that it was time to buy our own boat. Neither of us even considered a cat. We bought a Hunter 49, which we could sail to weather, with a generator, air conditioner, a washer-\u00addryer and a \u00adwatermaker\u2014and the added bonus of headroom for me (I\u2019m 6-foot-4). We sailed the Caribbean for three years and loved every minute of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years into it, several couples who owned large monohulls started telling me they were switching to cats, for the creature comforts and the ease of sailing flat. \u201cSailing flat?\u201d I asked. \u201cWhat does that have to do with anything? To sail, you have to bury your rail!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, curiosity overtook us, and we did our research and visited Leopard Catamarans in Florida and really liked the forward cockpit. The designer, Simonis Voogd, said that they designed boats to sail and live on comfortably\u2014not the other way around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ordered a Leopard 48 and outfitted it in Fort Lauderdale with Just Catamarans. By the time we took delivery, half of the new Leopards were going to private owners instead of into the charter fleets. We sailed that boat 18,000 nautical miles. The leg from the Caribbean to the Panama Canal would have been a rocking-\u00adand-rolling mess on our monohull. On our cat? A calm, luxurious trip. We averaged around 7.5 knots under sail and had some thrills at 12 to 14 knots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After three years, we pulled the trigger on a new Leopard 50. Its design and construction made the boat stiffer between the hull and bridge deck. We took delivery in 2019 and were set to sail to the South Pacific with a rally in 2020, until the pandemic canceled those plans. Instead, we sailed to New England and then throughout the Caribbean again. We had a great time. Our five years of experience sailing catamarans gave us time to consider upgrading to a performance cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, we have ordered a Kinetic 54, which we think of as the ultimate cat. It\u2019s solid carbon fiber and still full of luxury, another Simonis Voogd creation. When we sail this boat, it feels as comfortable as a typical cruising cat but performs like a speed machine. And tacking into the wind achieves 50 degrees easy, so we can leave the motor off and sail more. Our Kinetic 54 will be delivered in May. We plan to spend a month in Cape Town, South Africa, shaking her down. After that, who knows? We\u2019ve seen every island in the Caribbean thrice, so it\u2019s time to go beyond. -<\/kbd>Randy Smith<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy and Lennie Smith are serial entrepreneurs and commuter cruisers who live and work in South Florida. They\u2019ve been \u00admarried 25 years and spend the majority of their free time cruising.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catamaran owners and monohull converts look at the reasons they chose multihull sailing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":50003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Theresa Nicholson","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"167","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Is a multihull the right boat for you? Examining the variables that go into choosing a catamaran and deciding what is the best multihull to buy.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[167],"tags":[352,210,1954,195,291],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}