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
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: ...read more
Just when it seemed impossible for another event to describe itself as the “Everest of round-the-world yacht races,” one has popped up on the radar that is, well, the Everest of round-the-world yacht races. The Brest Ultime Challenge is due to take place in 2019 and will be like ...read more
Multihulls are famously stable. But the fact that they don’t heel also means their rigs carry higher loads. Unlike a monohull rig, a multihull rig must stand up to gusts and changes in wind direction. With regard to running rigging, most modern catamarans now also sport large ...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
An eye-opening East Coast delivery aboard a performance trimaran By Adam Cort September 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
What does a pair of enthusiastic Texans do when they can’t find anyone to race against aboard their full-foiling Flying Phantom catamaran? Go where people are racing them, in the south of France. This past April, John Tomko and Jonathan Atwood, both of the Lone Star State, ...read more
Last November, while most people were sitting around the table with friends and family digging into a Thanksgiving turkey, I was putting my bags down for the first time in three days in a little bungalow overlooking Knysna Lagoon on South Africa’s southern shore. I had arrived ...read more
As sailors, every day we survive school, our jobs, the monthly bills—and some of us may eventually face disease, crippling accidents or some other crisis. Still, nobody wants to obsess about surviving at sea. Nobody wants to spend a fortune on a liferaft or other safety ...read more
The brainchild of veteran multihull maven Jens Quorning, managing director of the Danish boatbuilder Quorning Boats, the Dragonfly 32 is the latest in a long list of trimarans providing a combination of exciting performance and more-than-adequate accommodation space for cruising ...read more
The first time I laid eyes on Phoenix, my 1976 Mark II Telstar trimaran, she was being smashed against a concrete harbor wall near my home in Emsworth, England, during a Force 10 storm in January 1990. Declared a total loss by her insurers, the boat was rescued by a keen ...read more
NEEL TRIMARANS NEEL Trimarans is designing and building cruising Trimarans. We offer a new and unique concept in cruising: All the sensations of a monohull with the comfort of a multihull (fine helming, exhilarating performance and generous interior volume on single deck ...read more
September 1 marks the beginning of lobster season in the Grenadines. I’ll never forget that, because it was on September 1 that I ate a most unforgettable lobster. It came out on a massive platter: a half-dozen fire-red crustaceans piled high, served beside mounds of steamed ...read more
From a trainer cat with attitude to a crop of all-carbon, high-performance cruisers, the diversity and quality of the latest new designs from the world’s builders illustrates the strength of the multihull scene. Gunboat 78 The third in the new line of Gunboats designed by Nigel ...read more
Put your shoes on, Captain. And button your shirt.” These were the first words I heard when we stepped ashore at the dinghy dock in Washington, D.C., on the Fourth of July, 2012. It was 104 degrees. It had taken Marlene and me eight days to sail up the Potomac River, just so we ...read more
My eyes open after only one deep droning buzz from my alarm clock. I’m already half awake, my mind focused on a strange noise outside the shabby two-story Myrtle Beach hotel. As I stare at the cracked popcorn ceiling, I realize what it is: the sound of a northwesterly whipping ...read more
“Did you hear that?” asked my husband, Mark. “What?” I looked up from scribbling notes in the logbook. “I think somebody is calling us on the VHF. But it’s in French. And I don’t speak any French, remember?” Mark sounded a bit more annoyed than necessary, but after cruising ...read more
There’s no holding back these multihull designers and builders. New designs are proliferating. Here are just a few of the latest. Aero 48e Long-term energy independence and a minimal carbon footprint were high on the brief given to French designers Martin Defline and ...read more
When cruising sailors talk about crossing the Atlantic Ocean, there are a few things they’re all sure to mention: they ate, they slept, they sailed. But in many ways, the similarities end there, and the individual stories unfold with their own cast of characters, each pledging ...read more
A couple of years ago, in the dying days of a beautiful September in the Florida Panhandle, my friend Doug and I decided to try a tricky weekend sail into a part of St. Andrew Bay, near Panama City, where sailboats never go. The wind and currents here cause strange things to ...read more
You’re trying to decide the best way to rig your new multihull, or you want to replace the original rigging with something more up-to-date. There are a lot of rigging technologies available these days, but are they affordable and cost-effective? We spoke with two pro riggers in ...read more
