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.
Let’s face it—as much as we love the shiny topsides and new-boat smell of a brand-new catamaran, not everybody is ready to pay the premium such demands. You can save a lot of money by finding a well-equipped older boat in good condition. The classic catamarans mentioned here fall ...read more
With 118 islands and atolls stretching over 1,200 miles of the South Pacific Ocean, French Polynesia has a long and intimate relationship with the sea. When my photographer, Michaela, and I finally found time to put this epic destination into our sailing calendar, it was both a ...read more
Thirty-three years ago Jimmy Cornell launched a rally for boats crossing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. The pitch was safety in numbers and resonated with sailors who were seeking adventure but also looking for a bit of a safety net. It was a monohull ...read more
If a boat show could be described as intimate, the annual Salon International du Multicoque in La Grande Motte, on France’s Mediterranean coast, is it. Held in the latter part of April, the multihulls-only in-water show is a boon for builders, because the people who attend come ...read more
Long ago, back in the last century, I had my first introduction to dinghy theft when we lost our new Achilles RIB and 20hp outboard in California’s Catalina Harbor on New Year’s Eve, 1984. It was the only one stolen among about 50 dinghies at the town docks that night. Maybe the ...read more
With all the rallies to choose from, there’s a perfect route for every sailor in every corner of the world. While all rallies take pride in creating community, providing logistical support and most of all making sailing safer for their participants, they each have their own ...read more
Variety is the spice of life. That said, surrounded by the seemingly endless variety of boats now plying the world’s oceans, it can be easy to take them for granted. It can also be easy to forget that many different sailboat types look the way they do not just “because,” but ...read more
Dragonfly 32 Evolution Denmark’s Quorning Boats has been systematically upgrading its line of folding, performance-cruiser trimarans in recent years as part of a long-term effort to incorporate the latest developments in yacht design, with the latest to receive this treatment ...read more
Many multihull aficionados are familiar with the sad tale of Donald Crowhurst, the ill-starred Englishman who took part in the 1967-68 Golden Globe round-the-world race on a trimaran. The story was told in an excellent book by a pair of British journalists called The Strange ...read more
If anyone doubted that the ocean racing multihull scene was a hotbed of innovation, the new Sodebo Ultim 3 trimaran will lay those questions to rest. The demand from Sodebo, sponsor of veteran solo sailor and sometime Jules Verne record holder Thomas Coville, was for a boat that ...read more
When I boarded Fountaine Pajot’s new flagship, the Alegria 67, at the Cannes boat show last September, the first thing I noticed was that several groups of people were carrying on private conversations in separate lounging and seating areas in the saloon—that’s how big this boat ...read more
It was after midnight when I realized my daysail with Tony Bullimore aboard his giant record-breaking catamaran, Team Legato, was not going to plan. The big cat was en route for a December dash from England across the Bay of Biscay to Barcelona and the start of a drag race ...read more
After completing the European Great Loop on our 1987 40ft Catalac catamaran, Angel Louise, my wife, Sue, and I sailed home to the States and spent two years sailing up and down East coast between Maine and Florida, like migratory waterfowl. Eventually, though, we decided to ...read more
Next time you climb on board a Lagoon in the Caribbean or spy a Prout bobbing in the harbor, spare a thought for James Wharram. Though this somewhat froward Englishman won’t thank me for saying so, he is partly responsible for both—and indeed, all the other modern catamarans now ...read more
As our boat was readied for our Tongan adventure, we sat at Mango, the waterfront restaurant at the Sunsail base. We were relishing the free Wi-Fi when the checkout manager, Raymond, came by our table, stuck his hand out to the nearest graybeard and said, “You must be the ...read more
Wondering what it’s like to cast off permanently? These full-time cruisers share a glimpse into life onboard Audrie & Seathan Smith Port of Origin: London, ENGLAND Boat: Rehua, Antares 44 It all started after a sailing holiday in Croatia in late October 2013 ...read more
Farrier F-22 New Zealander Ian Farrier ushered in a new genre of sailing with his folding-ama trailerable trimarans, the best-known of which are the Corsair designs. Farrier’s last project before he passed away last year was this sweet little tri. Available in three versions, ...read more
If you’re looking for a decent sub-40ft cruising cat, you have few choices when it comes to new-boat offerings. It is a well-known fact that the multihull market has taken off in a way very few could have predicted. Despite Hurricane Irma’s recent destruction of a large part of ...read more
Any time I put a helmet on I become hyper-aware of every step I take. Precaution means there’s an alternative to a happy ending. On one of my last rides of the 2018 summer season, the helmet was mandatory, as was the life jacket. A new, foiling trimaran called the TF10 was the ...read more
Never let it be said that the World Cruising Club (WCC) rests on its laurels. Always looking for fresh ways to add more spice to the world’s longest-running and most popular cruising rally—the first was held in 1986, and entries regularly exceed 200—the WCC this year added a ...read more
Flying into Tortola in the British Virgin Islands one December morning, three months after Hurricane Irma, I felt like a war correspondent dispatched to the battlefront rather than a sailing magazine writer on an assignment to go cruising. As my LIAT plane descended toward Beef ...read more
It’s hard to believe how far foiling has come since the Moth class figured out how to reliably take to the air in the early 2000s. Was it really only in 2013 that the America’s Cup was dragged kicking and screaming into the foiling world by Emirates Team New Zealand back in San ...read more
I always wanted to see with my own eyes the places where Western history was made. Since most of our forefathers were explorers by ship, it seemed fair for me, as an American, to discover those lands just as they’d left European shores to discover ours hundreds of years ago. So ...read more
Randy & Lennie Smith Port of Origin: Delray Beach, Florida Boat: Happy Together (Leopard 48) We are all about the education and entertainment of this awesome watery lifestyle. This adventure began in July of 2015 aboard Happy Together and has taken us all around ...read more
