Catamarans and trimarans have gone from occupying the fringe of the sailing world to the front and center. Whether it’s a cruising catamaran, a bluewater racing trimaran or the latest red-hot racing beach cat, you can always count on these boats and the people who sail them for some excitement afloat.
It was the summer of 2013 and Aussie sailor Bill Macartney was in San Francisco for the 34th America’s Cup—the summer of “the Comeback” and the moment when the Cup officially took to the air thanks to the efforts of Emirates Team New Zealand.“Seeing Team New Zealand come roaring ...read more
.This is the new foiling TF10 trimaran. A high-tech carbon fest, allowing sailors to foil easily from about 8 knots of windspeed. It was designed from scratch as a helluva fun foiling package. March 2018 ...read more
.This year’s Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswomen of the Year Awards, which went to J/70 World Champion Peter Duncan and Enoshima Olympic Week Laser Radial Gold Medalist Erika Reineke, were presented at the New York Yacht Club’s famed Manhattan headquartersMarch 2018 ...read more
Although sailing has always been inherently dangerous, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that in addition to elevating boatspeeds, today’s foiling multihulls are also dramatically upping the level of risk. In the run-up to the 35th America’s Cup, regatta organizers were fond of ...read more
GEORGE & JAN TODDPORT OF ORIGIN: DALLAS, TEXASBOAT: LAGOON 570, WILDCATWe began our sailing adventures while living and working in Dallas, Texas, cruising the Bahamas three to four weeks a year back in 1985 on Oh Kay, otherwise known as the (Not) Oh Kay, a 36ft Island Trader ...read more
Modern cruising catamarans and trimarans have unique requirements in terms of sail design and construction. The reason for this stems from the stability provided by their wide beams, which in conjunction with their lack of heeling can make it difficult to determine when to reef ...read more
Our bareboat charter in southwest Florida had crept up on me, and though I had a fair idea of what awaited us. I had not spent much time researching our destination or potential itineraries in depth. My crew had expressed a desire to spend as much time as possible “off the grid” ...read more
Our whistle-stop tour of French multihull builders begins in Bordeaux, famous first and foremost for its viticulture and also as the home of Lagoon Catamarans. If you’ve never experienced a major boatbuilding operation in its pomp, the row of aircraft hangar-sized buildings that ...read more
Banuls 60Financier Raphael Blot wanted a high-performance catamaran for family cruising, but couldn’t find an existing design that suited him, so he commissioned naval architects Renaud Banuls and Charles Simonin to draw a boat to his specifications. Banuls, who has worked with ...read more
There are few accolades in sailing more sought after than the title “record holder,” and there are few records more sought after than that for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, west to east. The record is for the fastest time from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, at the entrance ...read more
It was a dark and stormy night—OK, not really dark since it was day, but pretty stormy—when we cruised into Salt Whistle Bay on the Caribbean island of Mayreau aboard Indigo, our 46ft Leopard catamaran. We had just sailed north from Union Island heading for the Tobago Cays, but ...read more
The memories are vivid. Dolphins and diesel fumes. A blood-orange moon rising to starboard as engine trouble loomed to port. A spinnaker like a taut, glowing veil before a sun that shone down later on its wet, shredded remains. We were 30 days at sea, a virgin ocean-crossing crew ...read more
First Time with a Frenchman by Annie DikeMHS Summer 2017 ...read more
Vraiment Incroyable! It’s official, we have now truly entered a “Brave New World” of sailing; either that or the world has truly lost its mind.This past fall, SAIL magazine first covered the Brest Ultime Challenge, a singlehanded nonstop round-the-world event set to take place in ...read more
The French obsession with long-distance sailing, whether solo or fully crewed, has long been a phenomenon of superlatives. But even those superlatives pale in comparison to what French sailing legend Francis Joyon and his five crew managed to accomplish this past winter: smashing ...read more
If there’s one thing wrong with all too many sailors—sailing journalists, in particular—it’s that we often get to be way too serious about our sailing. Granted, there’s a good deal to be serious about, and if you aren’t careful you can get hurt and/or cause a fair bit of damage ...read more
Annie Gardner & Eric WittePort of Origin: San Diego, CaliforniaBoat: Catana 472, El GatoBlog:ElGatoAdventures.comLifelong sailors and racers who always dreamed of extensive cruising, we married two and half years ago and are finally doing it together. We both grew up in sailing ...read more
Australian sailors Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu are known around the world, thanks to their social media accounts and YouTube channel, Sailing La Vagabonde, in which they document their experiences afloat—at the same time using the power of crowdfunding to help cover their ...read more
A quartet of Morrelli & Melvin-designed Gunboats hits the racecourse in Antigua. Photo by Billy BlackWith the right mix of bleeding-edge technology and cheeky attitude, Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin have spent more than two decades creating a cult of personality. Starting with ...read more
A look back at how we got to full-foiling cats in BermudaEver since the schooner America won the “100 Guinea Cup” fated to bear its name, the America’s Cup has been as much about technology and change as actual sailing. America itself, for example, won in large part thanks not ...read more
You almost have to pinch yourself sailing around Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay. It’s like entering a lost world in a Hollywood movie. Rising dramatically from an emerald sea are surreal, gravity-defying limestone towers (karsts) which have been sculpted by millennia of monsoon rain ...read more
Five Farangs in ThailandA motley crew explores Thailand’s fabled Andaman Sea on a charter catamaranRead Paul Gelder's full story HERE. ...read more
The 8th edition of the International Multihull Boat Show at La Grande Motte in the South of France (from April 19-23) showcased around 60 catamarans and trimarans, with a couple of world premieres. What makes this small, intimate show unique, compared to Cannes and other ...read more
