The multihull cruiser's destinations, experiences and lifestyle.
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
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
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
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
Four decades after his time drifting about the islands of Caribbean, a lifelong sailor returns to the waters he once loved so much.Read the story A Multihull Boat Delivery to St. Maarten here ...read more
In the late 1970s, I spent a few months cruising the Windward and Leeward islands, gunkholing remote anchorages and living off the land, fish and fruit mostly. Sure, I was broke, but I was living like a king. Earlier in the year, I had raced across the South Atlantic from Cape ...read more
Even after more years of sailing than I care to admit,I can honestly say I learn at least something new every time I get out onto the water. This goes double whenever I have an opportunity to venture offshore aboard a brand-new boat: triple when I recently had the chance to help ...read more
Captain’s log, Different Drummer, Swansboro, N.C., 6-10-2011: “Well, well, well…limped back into Swansboro, tied up at Casper’s Marina. Sam’s alive, but sick. Heading back to River Dunes.”Sam’s our port engine, Dave’s our starboard engine; twin Yanmar three-cylinder diesels. Sam ...read more
The Cat Sailor’s Bucket ListHere are some ideas that will get you to some new cruising grounds that are guaranteed to make your twin-hulled excursion an adventure.Click here for details and links to these exciting travel destinationsby Zuzana ProchazkaMHS Fall 2016 ...read more
A great pioneer of multihull voyaging, James Wharram sailed from Las Palmas toward Trinidad two days before Christmas 1955. His crew consisted of two girls, Ruth and Jutta, and Pepe the dog. His boat was the 23ft catamaran Tangaroa, which he had designed and built himself. ...read more
An eye-opening East Coast delivery aboard a performance trimaranBy Adam CortSeptember 2016 ...read more
Are you the sort of person who asks boatbuilders for performance polar diagrams? Do you measure a catamaran’s power-to-weight ratio? Do you spend hours poring over multihull-related owner’s blogs or forums? Do you know the difference between various foam cores, glass materials ...read more
My good friend Tim Ainley asked me to take our 43ft catamaran, Destiny II, on a two-week expedition through the Bahamas from Grand Turk Island to Ragged Island. His plan was to retrace the first landfall made by Christopher Columbus on Grand Turk, according to Josiah Marvel, a ...read more
Imagine you’re about to make landfall in the South Seas after a 21-day odyssey on a not-so-Pacific ocean. You’re envisioning lush mountains, beautiful beaches, turquoise water, a bright blue sky and local beauties awaiting you with baskets full of tropical fruits and fragrant ...read more
As the sun dropped below the western horizon one evening in December 2014, we watched the parting glow from the cockpit of Archer, our Outremer 51 catamaran. We were anchored in Bequia’s Admiralty Bay, our first island stop after completing the ARC+ rally from Gran Canaria to ...read more
Though never really long enough for a decent vacation, a week is a longer time in some Caribbean destinations than others. In the compact BVI, for instance, you can go a lot of places in a week. It’s the same in the Grenadines. In St. Lucia and Martinique, not so much. ...read more
As multihull sailboats, particularly catamarans, have become increasingly popular, multihull designs have grown richer and more varied. Once it wasn’t too hard for an aspiring catamaran buyer to sort through the options presented by the marketplace. But these days there is such ...read more
I was a mechanic in my previous life. Not a lab-coat wearing “technician,” but a two fisted, knuckle bustin’ mechanic with a hundred-dollar-a-week triple-chrome-plated Snap-On tool habit. For 40 years I worked on trucks, cars, school buses, motorcycles and farm tractors, one ...read more
I bought Caesar’s Ghost, my Gemini MC105 catamaran, 10 years ago at the age of 75, and have had many adventures during various trips from Massachusetts to the Bahamas and back. This year, my annual trip to Hope Town in the Bahamas would be different, thanks to an added side ...read more
I’ve been fortunate to have owned numerous sailing vessels during my more than 50 years on this planet, and the time spent on them has rewarded me with many fantastic experiences, not all of which have been under sail. In fact, some of the most memorable times (including good, ...read more
I have often finished a yacht charter thinking that I missed more than I saw and find myself planning to come back even as I board the plane home. It’s not easy to find the perfect weeklong charter destination—one where you can see everything but are kept busy every day—but the ...read more
As the sun kisses the horizon and fills the sky with translucent colors, the first star of the evening makes an appearance. It is still light, but the day is quickly giving way to the night and within a few minutes darkness envelops the boat. The horizon then disappears and a ...read more