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ORACLE TEAM USA stages massive comeback to win 34th America's Cup

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Oracle Team USA caps stunning comeback to win America's Cup

September 25, 2013 / 6:58 PM EDT / CBS/AP

SAN FRANCISCO Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA won the America's Cup on Wednesday with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

Spithill steered Oracle's space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States.

All but defeated a week ago, the 34-year-old Australian and his international crew twice rallied from seven-point deficits to win 9-8. Owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison, Oracle Team USA was docked two points for illegally modifying boats in warmup regattas and had to win 11 races to keep the Auld Mug.

After almost dunking its chances when it buried its bows in a wave shortly after the start, Oracle's hulking black catamaran - with a big No. 17 on each hull - showed its incredible speed when it reeled in the Kiwis while the boats zigzagged toward the Golden Gate Bridge on the windward third leg.

They fly across the water thanks to underwater wings called hydrofoils, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.

"You're hitting near freeway speed - over 50 miles an hour," San Francisco sailor Kimball Livingston told Whitaker. "These are the fastest boats ever built. We've never seen anything like this in any kind of sailing boat, much less the America's cup."

They don't just look spectacular, they're spectacularly expensive - $100-million to build and operate, Whitaker reports.

The New Zealanders were game despite being stranded on match point for a week. Spithill and crew still had to sail their best to end the longest, fastest and by far wildest America's Cup on a course between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.

Team New Zealand had the lead the first time the boats crossed on opposite tacks. By the time they crossed again, the American boat - with only one American on its 11-man crew - had the lead.

As Oracle worked to stay ahead, tactician Ben Ainslie, a four-time Olympic gold medalist from Britain, implored his mates by saying, "This is it. This is it. Working your (rears) off."

It had to have been a gut-wrenching moment in New Zealand, which has been on edge for a week as the Kiwis failed to close out the victory on a warm, sunny afternoon.

The Kiwis had been faster upwind in running away with races early, but Oracle constantly made changes to make its cat a speed freak.

As Spithill rounded the third mark onto the downwind fourth leg, his catamaran sprang onto its hydrofoils at 35 mph, its hulls completely out of the water, and headed for history.

There were hugs and handshakes after he steered the cat across the finish line, 44 seconds ahead of Team New Zealand. Ellison, who has spent an estimated $500 million the last 11 years in pursuing, winning and now defending the silver trophy, hopped on board and the crew sprayed him with champagne.

It wasn't always so jubilant, of course, but Spithill refused to let his team fold after the penalties were announced four days before racing started.

How big was this win?

In sailing terms, it was the equivalent of the Boston Red Sox sweeping the final four games of the 2004 ALCS over the New York Yankees, the only 3-0 comeback in major league history. It's also comparable to the Philadelphia Flyers overcoming a 0-3 deficit to beat the Boston Bruins in the 2010 NHL playoffs.

As stirring of a comeback as it was for Spithill and his mates, it was a staggering loss for Team New Zealand. Barker, 41, was looking for redemption after losing the America's Cup to Alinghi of Switzerland in 2003 and then steering the losing boat in 2007, also against Alinghi.

Team New Zealand was funded in part by its government.

This was the first time the America's Cup was raced inshore and San Francisco Bay provided a breathtaking racecourse.

The catamarans were the vision of Ellison and his sailing team CEO, Russell Coutts, who is now a five-time America's Cup winner.

Powered by a 131-foot wing sail, the cats have hit 50 mph, faster than the speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge.

After Artemis Racing's Andrew "Bart" Simpson was killed in a capsize on May 9, sailors began wearing body armor, knives, an air tank and breathing tube, self-lowering equipment and underwater locator devices.

The new, cutting-edge boats are not without criticism and Ellison defended what some call risky engineering and sailing tactics in an interview with CBS News' Charlie Rose last month .

"People really criticize professional athletes going into the Olympics," Ellison told Rose. "People don't like change. A bunch of people don't like the Olympics now because we've added skateboarding. ... We're modernizing the sport."

Ellison added: "We're competing with other sports to get kids attention. We've got to make our sport exciting and we've got to modernize it. ... It can't be unchanged since 1851."

More from CBS News

The yachts of America’s Cup are faster and weirder than ever

Thanks to science (and a lot of money).

By Tamara Warren

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When I think of yachts, there are billowing white sails helmed by a steady skipper from the stern, smart deck shoes, and Hemingway’s macho protagonists who toil under harsh conditions in briny sea air as they muse, "A man is never lost at sea."

My vision stands in sharp contrast to the current state of elite sailing at the America’s Cup. The 165-year-old contest is yachting on the next level, a cross between X Games adrenaline and a Formula One face-off. Much like modern day motorsports, sailing is a sport steeped in science.

I recently had an up-close view of the Cup’s yachts, among the most technically advanced in the world, in New York City. From the vantage point of Battery Park in lower Manhattan, I watched Team Oracle USA’s crew, dressed in snug nylon uniforms stamped with sponsor emblems, hurriedly prepping a sleek space-aged AC 45 catamaran to compete in a weekend regatta. Their coordinated movements had an almost mathematical heave-ho rhythm in the sloshing salt and fresh waters. The 45-foot boats (hence the "AC 45" moniker) were all hard lines — their tall, angular sails were menacing; their edges sharp, the space-age hydrofoils jutting like vampire teeth.

The extraordinary design of these boats is not for looks, but to maximize aerodynamics, giving them the supernatural ability to skip along the water like a school of feasting barracudas. The sport of sailing has undergone massive transformation in recent years, largely due to the advent of hydrofoils known as "daggerboards." By minimizing drag and engaging power, these daggerboards lift the hull out of the water, speed increases, and the boat starts to skim the surface and basically fly through the air, riding waves and wind. (At full tilt, it’s almost unfair to call these flying machines "boats.") Speeds have doubled since the America’s Cup added daggerboards into the rulebook and they continue to increase.

In 2013, Team Oracle USA, founded by the modern-day yachtsman and internet billionaire Larry Ellison, took foil design to the next level in its 72-foot catamarans and is going into the current Cup race as the defending champion. The next America’s Cup final will be held in 2017 in Bermuda. (Costs for the 2017 will actually be about half, due to the smaller boats that measure 50 feet instead of the previous 72 feet.) The sailing teams are currently in the midst of World Series races in 45-foot yachts that impact position and qualifying for the final, where 50-foot yachts will be raced.

"In the one design, it’s not so much about technology. It’s more about sailing and how you use the equipment," says Grant Simmer, Team Oracle USA’s Chief Operating Officer. "In the final match, it will be about how good is our development program and how good is our sailing team to compete to make the right tactical decisions and the right performance decisions."

It’s the blend of cutting-edge and historical pedigree that give sailing its cultural distinction

It’s the blend of cutting-edge and historical pedigree that give sailing its cultural distinction. Surrounded by giant skyscrapers, New York City has a particularly illustrious history in the sport. Dutch seamen sailed as a pastime in the 17th century, the same era that Dutch settlers first landed in New York Harbor. From the very beginning, yachting was a sport for the upper crust, and its exclusivity was part of its attraction. A 1914 issue of The Lotus Magazine , a New York-based art and culture publication, described its origins : "But let there be no mistake about this word yacht. Of Dutch derivation and related to the Norwegian word jaegt, the word in the XVII century signified a transport for royalty or someone of distinguished rank."

But despite its history as a sport for the wealthy, real sailors aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Sailing is a pastime that gets in the blood; the competition fuels technological advances, which fuels even more exciting competition, and so on, in a perpetual cycle of adrenaline. Ian Burns, the Australian-born director of performance for Team Oracle USA, has been sailing for over 50 years. He was enthusiastic about racing in New York City, where the America’s Cup was first conceived. "The original challenge of the America’s Cup that went over to England was from the New York Yacht Club," he says. "It was a bunch of guys who got this boat they thought was pretty good. They gave 13 of the best British yachts a thorough thrashing. That story is what the America’s Cup is today. The queen asked who’s second, and her footman said, ‘There is no second.’"

Some things in the sport haven’t changed — sailing remains a high-cost endeavor, but instead of royalty, its purveyors are now simply rich. Much like the NFL, yachting relies on the investment of results-driven billionaires. The boat that Team Oracle is using in the World Series has a $1.1 million price tag, and the boat in the final will cost upwards of $6 million. (This figure is actually half of the cost of the bigger boats used in 2013.)

The Verge first visited with Team Oracle USA during the the 2013 America’s Cup final . It was a dramatic moment in the sport as the ultra-fast new boat designs tested the limits of safety and the interpretation of the rulebook. One British sailor, an Olympic gold medalist for Swedish team Artemis Racing, died in a tragic accident after his boat capsized during testing in the San Francisco Bay. Later, Team Oracle was docked points for its weight distribution. However, when the final results were tallied, Team Oracle USA walked away victorious. Subsequent safety measures were put into place. Crew members now carry air, knives, and body armor that can help save them in the event of an accident.

Yet the danger is still real as speeds continue to rise. Burns notes that sailors have broken the 50-knot barrier, which is about 55 to 56 miles per hour. "To achieve that speed is testimony to these high-efficiency, high-power boats that we’ve got," he says. (To put this gain in perspective: in 2013, boats were shattering records at 40 knots.)

Burns is not nostalgic for the old ways of boat building. Like many of the sailors I spoke to, it’s the bleeding edge that captivates him. Team Oracle’s 15-person design team is half made up of PhDs who have no sailing background. "In the olden days, in previous Cups, we’d be lucky to make a one percent gain. We’re talking about 10 percent a year, maybe 20 percent between the cups. It’s an incredible change and that’s because we’re in this new whole way of sailing the boats."

Several of the yachting teams have turned to the automotive industry to boost performance. Sir Ben Ainslie, the well known English sailing champion, fielded the British Land Rover BAR Team. Team Oracle worked with engineering experts from BMW, a team sponsor, to get access to the company’s wind tunnel, 3D-simulation capabilities, and software to study turbulence and airflow. BMW also helped perfect the design of the crossbeams of the hulls. "The boats are very powerful, but the actual weight of the boats is very low, which means they’ve got a great power-to-weight ratio. That’s what allows them to fly," Burns says.

Even with the science, the crew members must face the intangible elements of planning

Even with the science, the crew members must face the intangible elements of planning — the precarious nature of the weather, for instance. When the New York races got underway, the winds shifted constantly. That day, the luck of the sea was not on Team Oracle USA’s side, as Emirates Team New Zealand took the win.

There’s still time for Team Oracle to catch up for the final in Bermuda next year. The stakes will be higher, the boats will be bigger, and the speeds will continue to break new records. "In the one design, it’s not so much about technology," says Simmer. "It’s more about sailing and how you use the equipment. In the final match, it will be about how good is our development program and how good is our sailing team to compete to make the right tactical decisions, the right performance decisions."

The World Series makes its next stop in Chicago June 10th. Meanwhile, the 50-foot carbon fiber catamarans that will be used in the final are still in development. If all goes according to plan, the day of the final in Bermuda will be the day boats can fly.

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Oracle Team USA reveals America's Cup racing boat

The Defender, Oracle Team USA, has revealed its America's Cup raceboat, which has been named 17 . The foiling catamaran measures 15 metres LOA and should be capable of a top speed of roughly 54 knots.

Speaking at the launch event, skipper and Boat International columnist Jimmy Spithill was in a typically confident mood, saying, "This is the boat we’re racing to win the America’s Cup. We need to get this boat out on the water and put the hours in getting it ready to race. The long days will continue."

More than 85,000 man hours of design and development have gone into 17 , including input from 15 designers and 50 boat builders. Airbus, BMW, Parker and Yanmar are among the technical partners who also contributed their expertise.

17 was built to America's Cup Class standards, which dictate the design of the hulls, crossbeams and wings. However, there is still significant room for each team to modify the rudders, daggerboards and internal systems to gain that all-important competitive advantage.

Grant Simmer, chief operating officer at Oracle Team USA, hailed the launch as a "major milestone" for the Defender. "These boats are highly-engineered, with complex systems, and built to perform under extreme conditions," he explained. "It’s a great achievement by our designers, builders and engineers to get us to this point where the race yacht gets handed over to the sailors.”

Oracle Team USA will race in Bermuda this summer as they attempt to retain the America's Cup, with the decisive match due to take place from June 17-27.

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USA 17 at The Mariners’ Museum. Photo Oracle Team USA.

ORACLE TEAM USA’s AC72 catamaran to anchor new America’s Cup exhibition at The Mariners’ Museum

It was the boat that powered one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history and soon you can visit it at America’s National Maritime Museum, The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia.

“USA 17” was ORACLE TEAM USA’s AC72 catamaran that raced in the 2013 America’s Cup in San Francisco. With the defending champion on the ropes, down 1-8 and facing match point, the team turned it around and won eight consecutive races to win the America’s Cup over Team New Zealand 9-8.

Now the boat the team designed, built and raced in that storied comeback has a new home, at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, as the centerpiece of a new exhibition – Speed and Innovation in the America’s Cup.

The storyline of this exhibition is dedicated to reliving ORACLE TEAM USA’s amazing comeback in the 34th America’s Cup and what it took to develop, design, build and race the AC72 catamaran.

“To win the America’s Cup, you need to have a boat that gives you a chance on the water,” says ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill. “In San Francisco we designed and built the fastest America’s Cup boat in history. It took us a little while to figure it out, but once we realized the potential of “USA 17” we were confident we could win.

“This AC72 represents the pinnacle of America’s Cup – and American – technology and innovation at the time. The 2013 America’s Cup was the first foiling Cup, the first time the boats would lift out of the water on hydrofoils and fly.

“But already, the new boats we’re sailing now are so much more advanced. We’re still on foiling catamarans, but the technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. We’ve gone from fighting to get up and stay on the foils to the point where we can fly around the entire race course, including through all of the maneuvers. We’re in a new era of sailing now and USA 17 represented that leap into the unknown.”

The 2017 America’s Cup will be raced in a new America’s Cup Class, 15 meter (49.2-feet) foiling, wing-sailed catamarans. The change to the new class of boat meant the winning boat from 2013 needed a new home.

“We’re thrilled to be able to contribute to the Mariners’ Museum by donating “USA 17” for this exhibition,” said Grant Simmer, the General Manager and Chief Operating Operator of ORACLE TEAM USA. “The story behind this boat and the comeback in 2013 is one that deserves to be shared widely, and we’re happy to be in partnership with The Mariners’ Museum to help educate people about the America’s Cup and the technology and human achievement that is the cornerstone of the event.”

Speed and Innovation in the America’s Cup will bring the excitement of the America’s Cup to The Mariners’ Museum and Park, which draws visitors from across the nation and the globe. Visitors will enjoy an engaging and immersive experience as they explore the science and technology behind the fight to win the oldest trophy in international sport.

The Mariners’ Museum President & CEO, Howard Hoege, said this about the exhibit, “ORACLE TEAM USA has given our Museum the opportunity to provide the hundreds of thousands of people that will visit this exhibit over time an experience that they can get nowhere else: standing underneath the actual AC72 platform that won the 2013 America’s Cup. I cannot wait to see our visitor’s imagination take flight as they come into contact with the sleek, elegant – and MASSIVE – USA 17.”

The exhibition opens on May 27, the same week that racing gets underway in the 2017 edition in Bermuda where ORACLE TEAM USA sails its first race in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers on May 26.

“The donation of this extraordinary yacht to the Museum’s collection, greatly enhances our capability to relate current and exciting stories about the America’s Cup, and about the progression of maritime technology for years to come. It’s truly awe-inspiring to walk into the gallery and experience this boat.” said Lyles Forbes, the Museum’s Vice President of Collections and Chief Curator.

In addition to showing the 2017 America’s Cup races from Bermuda, there will be various interactive pieces throughout the exhibition, inviting visitors to learn more about the event and what it takes to be a sailor in the America’s Cup, including:

  • An activity table with the various materials used in the construction of the AC72 catamaran;

  • A grinding station, and;

  • Thirteen videos exploring the history and technological advances of the America’s Cup over the past three centuries, including ORACLE TEAM USA’s comeback win in 2013

ORACLE TEAM USA is a two-time winner of the America’s Cup, having first won the event in 2010 in Valencia, Spain. In San Francisco, the team needed to win eight consecutive races to retain the trophy, marking one of the greatest comebacks in international sport. www.oracleteamusa.com

The Mariners' Museum and Park connects people to the world's waters because through the waters – through our shared maritime heritage – we are connected to one another. The organization is an educational, non-profit institution accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and preserves and interprets maritime history through an international collection of ship models, figureheads, paintings, and other maritime artifacts. The Mariners’ Museum is home to the USS Monitor Center, and is surrounded by the 550-acre Mariners’ Museum Park, the largest privately maintained park open to the public in North America. The Mariners’ Museum Library is the largest maritime library in the Western hemisphere. The Mariners’ Museum has been designated by Congress as “America’s National Maritime Museum.”

For hours and information, visit MarinersMuseum.org, call (757) 596-2222 or write to The Mariners' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News, VA 23606.

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Speed and Innovation in The America’s Cup

Get swept away in this awe-inspiring exhibit featuring the world's oldest international sporting competition.

About the exhibit:

Have you ever wanted to see a boat that can fly?

The America’s Cup isn’t just any run-of-the-mill yacht racing competition. Dating back to 1851, The America’s Cup has been the premier sailing event where the world’s top sailing teams battle it out on the water – putting their teamwork, athleticism, and engineering mettle to the test. In this exhibit, you can hear the story of one of the most notable moments in the history of the sport — Oracle Team USA’s victory in 2013 — an event dubbed “the greatest comeback in sports history!” 

Not only will you get the chance to hear this phenomenal story, you’ll also see the actual 72-foot catamaran that Team Oracle sailed to victory during that fateful race. Come witness the story, and find out what made these boats “fly” out of the water at speeds up to three times faster than the wind!

What to expect:

• Test your might and see if you have the endurance needed to be a member of an AC72 sailing crew.
• Get up close and personal with the AC72 that won the 2013 America’s Cup race, which is also the largest boat in our Collection.
• Watch boats “fly” – and learn how they do it.
• Touch sample materials from these engineering marvels, like carbon fiber and Clysar film.
• Walk on the same kind of netting that the crew members did.

Discover the objects related to this exhibit through our online catalog.

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This Could Be the Fastest Boat in The America’s Cup

Scott ferguson discusses his design for larry ellison’s oracle team usa.

Milan, Paris, London and New York hold their annual fashion shows. The same is true for the big art and design fairs; they happen annually. The world’s top designers and artists get to showcase their talents often.

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Not so for the talented designers of the world’s fastest sailboats. Their skills are only on display every four years. This is one of those years and the “runway” starts in a few weeks in Bermuda. There, six of the world’s fast sailing catamarans will be competing for sport’s oldest trophy: The America’s Cup.

Like fashion houses with larger-than-life personalities who love to succeed, the AC35 has Oracle Team USA’s Larry Ellison , one of the world’s richest men, behind it. Ellison has backed several previous Cup challenges, and he is coming to Bermuda with the fastest boat ever—or so he hopes. Oracle is defending the Cup against a yet-to-be-determined challenger who will emerge from the Louis Vuitton qualifying races.

To gain insight into what it takes to create a boat that sails at over 40 knots (46mph), I spoke to Oracle’s design coordinator, rockstar racing boat maven Scott Ferguson. This is Scott’s seventh America’s Cup. Along with contributing to the design, his job is to coordinate all the other design elements.

“The appendages [foils that lift the boat out of the water] are the most critical element of the boat’s design. There is no doubt that the fastest boat will win the America’s Cup, so getting the foils right and creating the lift will make the difference.”

We asked him why this was so and in his tactful reply he did not minimize the importance of the sailors’ abilities or other organizational strengths. Nor was the design aspects of the hulls and ridged sails unimportant. The foils, in addition to creating blazingly fast speeds, provide maneuverability around the tight turns on the short race course.

Scott clarified, “It’s all about controllability. A key function is trimming the fixed-wing sail and controlling the rise of the boat out of the water . The helmsman must be able to keep it all together. Capsizing is always a real possibility if something goes wrong.” By the way, Oracle Team USA has already flipped over three times in their practice races.

At these speeds, failure quickly becomes catastrophic. The crews wear crash helmets and body armor.

After the appendages, Scott feels “platform design”—the two hulls and the crossbeams—is the second most important element. These, in turn, support the enormous fixed-wing sail. This sail is comparable to a jumbo jet wing in both size and function. “The goal of the wing design is to maximize thrust and lift the boat out of the water , thus minimizing drag.” If Scott and his team do this right, the boat’s hulls will seldom be in the water . Instead, the boat will “fly” around the race course on the foils.

Next on Scott’s list is “the mechanisms,” hydraulic controls that allow the foils to come up and down, the rudders to move, and the sail to be trimmed. In days of yore all this was done by hand. Now it is accomplished by complex machinery running on hydraulic power created by the sailors manically grinding on pedestals, using their hands or feet. The excess energy generated is stored in a reservoir. Without this power, the boat would be impossible to sail.

All the AC crews have been in Herculean physical training for months.

The design aspects of Oracle Team USA are tested for years using “computational fluid dynamic (CFD) computer programs. The days of tank-testing hull and sail designs are long gone. Computer geeks write programs that can “instantly predict how a small change in the rudder’s trim tab or the foil’s angle of attack” will affect speed and maneuverability. The goal is to keep the boat upright and sailing fast . “Righting moment is king.”

“There are no givens in this Cup,” Scott says. He thinks all of Oracle’s competitors present a real challenge. There are excellent designers who have built very fast boats sailed by world class sailors.

If you have even a passing interest in sailing, boat design, or the very latest in technology, don’t miss this America’s Cup. It promises to be as interesting as any design competition anywhere.

The qualifiers start May 26 and the AC35 race itself is June 17. Most of it will be televised on NBC.

Jonathan Russo has been a sailing enthusiast for 30 years. He sails his Sabre 38 “Sachem” and an Etchell’s from the Shelter Island Yacht Club. He has written about sailing and racing for Soundings, Scuttlebut and The Shelter Island Reporter.

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The Boats That Fly

In this month's america's cup sailing race, the competing vessels will barely skim the surface of the ocean while reaching speeds unthinkable even a few years ago. they hardly resemble sailboats at all. at what point does technology change a sport to something different entirely.

G raeme Spence didn't have time to contemplate why, exactly, he had just fallen off his very fast boat. He hadn't been able to study the failures that had launched him into Bermuda's Great Sound on an otherwise routine training day in February, his hands still stretching desperately for the hold ripped out of his reach. He had a deep understanding of the gravity of his situation, but not the sort of understanding that allows for remedy. Spence was the first man to go over the front of the sailing vessel USA 17, Oracle Team USA's entry in this summer's edition of the America's Cup, less a boat than a collection of knives racing over the water. Whether Spence would also become the first man to survive the trip under 17 wasn't really up to him.

"By the time I realized I wasn't in the right place at the right time . . ." he says.

Calling 17 a sailboat is like calling the stealth bomber a plane. It's not inaccurate, but the picture it makes is incomplete. Waning are the days of billowing spinnakers and yachtsmen in striped ties and blue blazers. Today's boats are anti-romantics. They are stripped-down engineering solutions to hydrodynamic problems, and they're crewed by athletes better judged by their strength and reaction times than their readings of the wind. Not much can keep up with a modern racing yacht, and that sometimes includes the men who sail them.

17 is that sinister-looking class of boat known as a foiling catamaran. It has twin carbon-fiber hulls, sleek and black, connected by a pair of beams with fairings that look like spoilers. There is no teak in sight. There is, however, a futuristic-seeming pod that serves as its spine, supporting the towering wing it has in place of a sail. Never mind a sheet of canvas flapping in the breeze; 17 is driven by a stiff, laser-precise assembly of Nomex, carbon-fiber, and Clysar. That wing is so efficient, and the boat is so light— fifty-three hundred pounds, including its hulking six-man crew—it floats on the surface of the water only at rest, which is almost physically impossible for it to take. At speed, it has no draft. 17 flies, riding sometimes several feet above the waves on top of four thin foils. Usually, only one of the two larger foils at the front (called daggerboards or L-foils, because of their distinctive shape) is in the water. The other is raised clear to reduce drag. The smaller two at the back (rudders with T-foils) are almost always both in the water, unless something has gone wrong.

A lot of things had gone wrong when Spence went overboard. After, Oracle Team USA's forensics team would analyze the gut-churning moment using their continuous streams of onboard data and camera footage. "I hope we never see that again," Christoph Erbelding, a German aeronautics expert and the boat's wing designer, says today. "Falling off the front is really bad."

This year's 17  is still a boat, because it can float. But for the first time in sailing's long history, it will be a mistake if it does.

Like accident investigators, the team reconstructed the "cascade of events" that led to Spence's slipping under a machine that might hit an incredible fifty knots. (The Swiss winner of the 2007 America's Cup, the more traditional single-hulled Alinghi, topped out at about 15 knots.) Sailors who fall over the front of a foiling catamaran have the significant misfortune of finding themselves in the path of its blade-sharp foils. Together, 17 's boards make for just fifty square feet of wetted surface. But when you just have to hope that none of them hits you, "that's a lot of real estate in the water," Erbelding says.

In 2015, Franck Cammas, a veteran America's Cup skipper, went over the side of his smaller, slower foiling catamaran during a training sail and was struck by one of the rudders. His right foot was nearly severed. The front-falling Spence would have to contend with the daggerboard, too.

The boat had been in the water for only a few days, its crew just getting to know it. They had watched it get pulled out of its boat shed, shining in the sun, and craned into place at Bermuda's historic Royal Naval Dockyard. The wing is kept in its own pristine hangar, and it too needed the crane to be mounted into place. Old stone warehouses, former ruins made new again, were the only nearby reminders of less ruthlessly efficient days. They provided the sun-bleached backdrop for 17 's striking black mass.

After being escorted past the breakwater, the boat's Australian skipper, Jimmy Spithill—he became a licensed pilot to help him better contend with this new breed of vessel—took one of the distinctive red wheels. It has several twist grips, designed with help from BMW, to control the height and attitude of the L-foils. A stick had also been tried, but it proved too tough to hold in the wind and chop. Sometimes old sailing technology is the right technology, and even the most modern ships are best steered with wheels.

Spence was one of the four grinders on board. With their enormous arms—Spence, also an Australian, is built like a rugby player—the grinders spin winches "like hamsters on a wheel," he says, to generate hydraulic pressure. That pressurized oil provides the energy to do things like move the daggerboards or shape the wing.

The boat buffeted across the sound, its crew trying to divine the secrets of their new charge.  Just before Spence fell, Spithill was struggling to reduce the daggerboard's angle of attack. It was pitched like an aileron at takeoff so that the boat could take its version of flight. This time, there wasn't enough pressure in the hydraulic system for Spithill to level the daggerboard after he reached his desired altitude. He couldn't flatten things out. Either the system wasn't efficient enough or the grinders had not been grinding enough, or both. The daggerboard stayed dialed back. Which meant the boat continued to climb until it exited the water, foils and all. It went airborne.

Although 17 can seem as much plane as boat, full flight is, in the words of Andrew Campbell, another sailor on board that day, "very momentary." Water provides much more lift than air, and 17 's daggerboards are sufficient to steady it when submerged. In the sky, not so much. The boat crashed back into the water. 17 's speed never makes a greater impression, particularly to its occupants, than when it hits something. "Man, you understand really quick how fast you're going," Campbell says. He clattered into a crewmate and was happy for his helmet. Spence, who had been bounding across the net stretched between the hulls, was tossed forward into the sea.

He splashed into the crystal-blue water between 17 's leeward hull and its central pod. The two beams loomed above him.

The daggerboard knifed just below him. Then the rudder somehow did as well.

Spence popped out of the froth behind the boat, looking as though he had seen something he would never forget. Unlike Franck Cammas, he still had his four appendages fully attached.

Like 17 , he is also still given to fly.

The America's Cup is the oldest trophy in international sports. The "Auld Mug" is an elaborate silver ewer that was first won in 1851 by the schooner America in a race around the Isle of Wight. The syndicate that owned America named the trophy after its winning ship and wrote a set of rules called the Deed of Gift, meant to ensure that the America's Cup remained an object of perpetual pursuit by sailors in fast boats. This year's edition will mark the thirty-fifth time the defender of the title has been raced by a challenger.

Oracle Team USA—which has been funded by Oracle founder Larry Ellison since 2000 and represents the Golden Gate Yacht Club—is the current holder of the trophy. Rivals from New Zealand, Sweden, Japan, Britain, and France began racing against each other in late May to determine who will compete in the best-of-thirteen final against the Americans this month.

Most of the time, the defender and the challengers agree on the class and size of the yachts they are going to race. (Usually races must take place within ten months of an accepted challenge.) This year, all six boats have identical fifty-foot hulls, and the wings are all the same size and shape—only the foils, fairings, and hydraulic and electric control systems differ. Their specifics are closely guarded secrets, but from any sort of distance, the 2017 boats are indistinguishable from one another. Three or four of them might take to the sound for practice at the same time, and were it not for the flags on their wings, they could be confused for a colony of bats, identical down to their alien midflight corrections.

On less fair-minded occasions when no such class agreement can be reached, the competition reverts to the parameters outlined in the Deed of Gift: Yachts no more than ninety feet long and ninety feet wide shall race in salt water. That's what happened in 2010, when it was decided that the Alinghi 's Swiss defenders would face the Golden Gate Yacht Club, with each team racing whatever sort of sailboat it wanted. It just couldn't be longer or wider than ninety feet.

Ellison, who had already mounted two unsuccessful challenges, also made a judgment of his own: This time, he was going to win.

For that race, he financed what remains one of the most ambitious boats ever built, the sort of miracle that comes when bored billionaires decide to do something insane. The Deed of Gift was written at a time when only the size of the boat mattered, because it's always been held that the bigger the boat, the faster it sails. But instructing modern boat designers that they need only confine themselves to a square that measures ninety feet by ninety feet—and giving them a budget far more limitless—made possible some new kind of monster.

All of Ellison's boats are named 17 . The 2010 iteration was a massive trimaran with a wing instead of a sail. That wing happened to be the single largest one ever constructed, for plane or ship. Topping out at 223 feet, the Golden Gate Yacht Club's entry could not sail under its namesake bridge. The Swiss showed up for the race with a catamaran, because multihulls are faster than bottom-heavy monohull yachts. (The game, although now taken to extremes, has always been about increasing lift and reducing drag.)

Regrettably for the Swiss, they also showed up with an old-fashioned sail.

For a sport that prides itself on its heritage, nothing would ever be the same. Three years later, the best sailors in the world still struggled to harness the fearsome capabilities of their boats. The protocol for the 2013 America's Cup mandated that seventy-two-foot winged catamarans would face off in Ellison's home port of San Francisco. They were foiled, but design and race rules were written with the expectation that the boats would stay boats—a kind of self-imposed governor meant to restore sanity to the proceedings. Ian Burns, Oracle Team USA's director of performance, helped write those guidelines. "We put in a bunch of rules that we thought would make it relatively impossible to fly," he says.

Team New Zealand had other ideas.

Sailing has always been a sport won on its edges. Sometimes that edge is gained during the ingenuity race that precedes the actual competition. More often it's found by the brave pioneers charged with sailing these unpredictable machines. In 2013, the Kiwis looked at their boat, and they looked at the rules that bound them, and they still found a way to fly.

Like those who fought to conquer the skies before them, the first generation of flying sailors suffered for their progress. Winged multihulled boats are fast, but their lack of a keel makes them easy to tip. Spithill pitch-poled that year's 17 during its early trials, heavily damaging it after only eight days on the water. The Swedish team's entry also capsized, leading to the death of a crew member.

"I can't wait for my kids to be giving me shit in ten years, saying 'What were you doing in those old foiling boats out there?'"

But the Kiwis remained committed, and the hosts soon found themselves behind in the best-of-seventeen final eight heats to one. At first they could only watch as their rivals flew downwind—even through jibes, when a boat turns away from the wind instead of into it and speed drops considerably. Oracle Team USA spied and studied and practiced, trying to crack the Kiwi code. "Until you really get pushed by the best, that's what raises the development curve," Spithill says. The Americans eventually found their downwind wings, and they also kept aloft during jibes. Then, just when one more loss would have cost them the trophy, they managed to do the unthinkable: They flew upwind, too.

Only foiling tacks defied them. They won eight straight races to come back and retain the cup, gliding around the course at over thirty knots, stunning Team New Zealand and the wider sailing community. Grant Simmer, Oracle Team USA's chief operating officer then and now, still marvels at the memory. "We didn't go into the Cup thinking we were going to foil upwind, no way," he says. "Since then, we just foil everywhere."

Including tacks?

He nods. "We can do a dry race now," he says. As in, the hulls never touch the water. This year's 17  is still a boat, because it can float. But for the first time in sailing's long history, it will be a mistake if it does.

After decades of incremental change—after it took 2007's Alinghi far longer than a century to grind out what would have amounted to a four-knot advantage over 1851's America —it has taken only the last ten years to fly more than three times as fast. What was considered the height of racing design only a decade ago is now almost laughably obsolete. "Cleopatra going down the Nile was going roughly the same speed using roughly the same technology," Ian Burns says. "You look at where we've come since 2007, it's bigger than a revolution." Remember the bigger the boat, the faster it is? "That law's been completely broken," he says. This year's fifty-foot entries would whip the seventy-two-footers from 2013.

Nobody knows what's possible for a boat that's powered by muscle and wind anymore. As it waits in its shed for another experimental run, today's 17 remains an enigma even to the people who made it. Builder Mark Turner puts its number of custom parts in the high hundreds. Because they're too expensive to test for failure—a set of daggerboards costs about $300,000 and takes eight weeks to make in distant New Zealand—each component harbors its own set of tiny mysteries. "You're sort of on the edge the whole time," Turner says. That's why 17 's designers and builders often refer to it as a "thing" rather than a "boat," as though they won't know what it can do until it does it.

"It's a pretty crazy thing, actually," Erbelding says, looking at drawings of his dreams. Asked what 17 's top speed might be, the genial German smiles and shakes his head. "I can't tell you," he says. "We don't know."

By this past March, 17 's crew had pushed well beyond the envelope suggested by pre-build simulations, and they still had nearly three more months to master sailing it. They reported to Team USA's sprawling base like soldiers, usually starting their twelve-hour days in their top-end gym, complete with a boxing ring and big plastic buckets for when they throw up. Then they get on their safety gear, looking like fighter pilots who also plan on taking a dip, sailing the boat as often as six times a week, chased across the sound by opposition spies with 1,000-hp motors, their wakes like vapor trails on the water.

Each day the crew pushes a little faster, a little farther, waiting for frantic calls from someone like Erbelding, monitoring wing loads on his laptop back on shore. The association with Oracle comes in especially handy there. So far, everything's held up with the exception of a single daggerboard that couldn't take the strain. Speed normally compromises a boat's ability to turn, but 17 has proved nimble. Foiling tacks, the most elusive of goals only four years ago, still aren't easy—they require a precisely choreographed dance between the six men on board and their boat—but they are closer to routine. Watching 17 tear across the sound is like watching a rocket that hasn't quite hit escape velocity but will. It doesn't whistle past. It screams.

On increasing occasion, the boat moves so fast through the water that it effectively begins boiling it, an unlikely seeming phenomenon called cavitation. "We've come up against a different kind of wall," Andrew Campbell says. When the foils slice through the water—and thankfully not through Graeme Spence—the pressure on top of them can drop so much the water starts to bubble, the way soda starts to fizz when the cap is taken off. But the bubbles aren't air. They're steam, which leads to crippling drag and loss of lift. Although 17 's relationship with the ocean is minimal, how to stop cooking it has become one of Team USA's more otherworldly concerns.

Making the foils smaller isn't really an option. "As soon as you wipe out once, it's not worth that extra bit of speed," Campbell says. Unlike traditional yachts, foiling catamarans aren't meant to lean in the wind, which is one of the harder adjustments to make in watching them. Much more than a 15-degree swing off vertical usually spells disaster. In ideal conditions, these boats stand bolt upright, leaving them looking even more imperious than they can already seem. It takes time to understand that the weakness of 17, and so the even greater possibility of it, is under the surface.

Maybe the foils should have slots like an airplane's wing—like the wing that powers 17 —widest at takeoff and made slender in flight. Maybe the shape of the L-foil is wrong—it's really the only shape that's been tried—and an O-foil or an F-foil or a W-foil will prove superior. Maybe the algorithms that are hunting through bottomless files of telemetry data will stumble upon some speed equation that the human brain can't parse. Maybe the control systems, much finer than they were only a few years ago, will be made better still, allowing for some small adjustment that opens a door no one even knows exists. Maybe the sailors themselves will wake up in the night and realize that if they only did this, they could fly even higher.

Jimmy Spithill smiles, thinking about the possibilities. "I can't wait for my kids to be giving me shit in ten years, saying 'What were you doing in those old foiling boats out there? What were you guys thinking?' I reckon there's going to be another big step," he says.

"There's still a lot to be learned. Who knows what will be the next big breakthrough? There are a lot of smart people in the world."

Christoph Erbelding is one of those smart people. He looks at 17 and feels something like love. He understands why others might not. "It's a different animal completely," he says. It's not beautiful, and it will more likely kill someone than rock anybody to sleep. The new class of purists created by its arrival will no doubt resent its coldness. But it's also a remarkable demonstration of invention, the winner of exponential gains in a sport and world that defies them. 17 is almost a new kind of vehicle that grants us a new kind of passage: the ability to travel faster than the wind that drives us.

"We're not touching down ever again," Erbelding says, and the way he says it, he makes you confuse sailing with soaring and mistake water for air. He makes you look at fish and see birds.

Update, June 26 : The New Zealand team claimed the 35th America's Cup today by defeating Oracle Team USA in the final 7-1.

This story appears in the June 2017 issue.

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The 8 Fastest Cruising Catamarans (With Speedchart)

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Cruising catamarans are some of the most comfortable boats to roam the water, making them fantastic for both long-term voyages and short-term vacations. Still, cruising catamarans can be great racing boats, but just how fast can they go?

Some of the fastest cruising catamarans include the Gunboat 68 (35 knots), Outremer 45 (25 knots), ORC50 (25 knots), FastCat 435 (20 knots), TS 42 (35 knots), and Lagoon 440 (20 knots). Yet, there are many more cats that can reach 35 knots safely. 

If you are interested in knowing about the fastest cruising catamarans, I have you covered. I will be discussing some of the most popular, fastest cruising catamarans and the features that make them so excellent for sailors in need of speed. You will learn more about each catamaran’s speed and amenities, and I will let you know a trick or two to maximize your speed under sail. 

How Fast Are Cruising Catamarans?

On average, cruising catamarans can reach top speeds of 15 knots , around 17.3 mph (27.84 kph). However, some exceptional, racing-designed cruising catamarans can reach up to 30+ knots in the right wind conditions. 

When you want to better understand catamaran hull characteristics, I suggest the book Catamarans a Complete Guide (amazon link) by the president of Aeroyacht catamarans and that you check out my article Why catamarans capsize .

Factors That Impact Speed

Weight & size.

When you consider a catamaran’s speed, you will need to keep in mind the boat’s weight and narrowness. A vessel that can travel at 15 knots will still move slower if the boat is heavy or has a wide, extensive hull. When increasing the total weight of the boat, the boat “sits” lower in the water, thus increasing water drag and reducing speed.

Why trimarans are faster than catamarans!

Now that we know how weight impacts sailing characteristics, it follows that; if you are planning on racing your catamaran, you should remove as much luggage or extra gear as possible. Eliminating as much weight as possible will help you travel at your cat’s maximum speed .

Narrow Hulls

The hydrodynamics of the ship will heavily affect your speed. Narrower boats can chop through the water with less effort, making slender ships with pointed hulls far faster than wide vessels. So if you are looking for the fastest one available, you should look for a slender hull.

Slim hulls vs. space is a common tradeoff for catamarans optimized for family sailing .

Wind will also affect your ship’s speed, so do not expect your cruising catamaran to reach the maximum speed without heavy wind. Generally, cruising catamarans have two large sails (at least) to power them through the water, and some are so efficient that they can travel even faster than the wind.

Although a strong wind is needed to energize the sails and move the boat, too much wind will instead make the sails less efficient, and maximum speed is most often attained at lower wind speeds but with flat water.

Light Weight Materials

Faster cruising catamarans are often made from carbon fiber materials and fiberglass to keep the weight down. If you are looking for the quickest catamaran that you can find, you should note the materials that the ship is made out of and try to get one that is primarily made from carbon, glass, and resin materials. 

While you are looking for the perfect catamaran for you, you should keep in mind what you NEED and what is NICE with your ship. Usually, this decision is between size and speed, but some of these excellent vessels have both. 

Lightweight materials are usually costly; for example, a carbon fiber mast will probably cost you +$20 000, depending on the cat’s size.

I have written a buyer’s guide that explains the concept of NEED vs. NICE , which will make choosing the right boat faster and more accurate.

Gunboat 68 (+35Kts)

Gunboat 68 is a cruising catamaran designed to reach the highest speeds possible. Made by Gunboat, the ship uses Grand-Prix racing boats’ designs to develop the speediest cruising catamaran on the market. 

Gunboat 68 is made entirely from carbon composites, which keeps the ship lightweight and fast. Gunboat 68 is the perfect catamaran for anyone who wants to reach the highest speeds possible while maintaining control of the vessel and not bouncing around too much. 

Gunboat 68 has comfortable, spacious living quarters, though it also has a spacious deck with luxurious seating. Indeed, this cat has it all, making it one of the best cruising catamarans for racers and casual sailors. The design maximizes all of the living spaces and uses lightweight materials to add elegance and luxury to a speedy racing catamaran. 

Gunboat 68 is one of the fastest cruising cats out there, with its maximum speed at more than 30 knots . Gunboat 68 can achieve these fast speeds, thanks to its lightweight construction and narrow hull design. 

Still, Gunboat can customize your ship’s plan to accommodate your needs. Whether you are looking for a faster, more lightweight boat with a more extensive sail or a more comfortable cruiser, Gunboat 68 is an excellent option for you. 

Specifications

• Maximum Speed: 35 knots
• Length: 68 ft (20.75 m)
• Beam: 29.9 ft (9.1 m)
• Draft: 3.9 ft (1.2 m) board up and 9.84 ft (3.8 m) board down
• Displacement: 23.7 tonnes

TS 42 (ORC 42)

The TS, or Tres Simple , cruising catamarans, designed by Marsaudon Composites, are some of the fastest cruising catamarans in the world. 

Marsaudon developed the ship’s plans using racing boats’ streamlined designs and combined them with a cruising catamaran’s comfortable living spaces. The TS 42 has an inverted hull which helps it glide on the water swiftly without requiring much fuel, but it also has a spacious below-deck area with plenty of luxuries.

TS cruising catamarans are often considered the fastest cruisers on the market, with their speed comfortably reaching upwards of 35 knots in the right wind conditions. Generally, TS catamarans can sail at 20 knots, even with moderate wind. They are the perfect catamaran for racers and high-speed travelers, and yet they still have the amenities of a pleasant live-in vessel. 

The TS 42 has a large galley and comfortable cabins, making it a cozy home or vacation vessel. With multiple bathrooms, large windows, and open lounge spaces, these catamarans are superbly comfortable to live in. 

The deck and cabin space are divided by a large, openable window, which adds extra light and ventilation to the living areas. It also has plenty of on-deck space, which is rare in such a small vessel with an inverted hull. 

If you think I’m using too many confusing nautical terms, you’ll find all the answers on my Catamaran parts explained page .

• Length: 42.8 ft (13 m)
• Beam: 24.3 ft (7.4 m)
• Draft: 4.9 ft (1.5 m) with boards up and 7.5 ft (2.3 m) with boards down
• Displacement: 5.8 tonnes

Outremer 45

Based in France, Outremer (pronounced uutremeer 😉 ) designed their Outremer 45 to be a long-lasting cruising catamaran that sails smoothly at high speeds. The Outremer 45 can reach about 15 knots, but the most comfortable sailing speed is 10 knots. However, it can travel up to 25 knots in the right wind conditions, making it a quick ship with all of a perfect cruising catamaran’s luxuries. 

It is made for durability from carbon, vinyl ester, and divinycell so that it can last many years without repairs. The Outremer 45 has a narrow hull, and it is designed to be as thin as possible to maximize speed and fuel efficiency. Outremer 45 still has comfortable living quarters with large windows and lounge spaces within the boat. Indeed, it sacrifices no comfort for speed.

In this article, I talk a lot about catamaran characteristics, both interior and exterior, if that’s something you want to better understand, then I recommend an article where I write about trade-offs in design choices .

The Outremer 45 was initially designed to be a boat that would last 50 or more years, and it excels in its durability. It has an open, uniquely expansive side deck and plenty of on-deck conveniences that make sailing a breeze in the ORC50.

With supreme safety features such as tall railings, slip-free grips on deck, and enclosed lounge spaces, it is one of the safest catamarans available (is safety your top concern? I wrote a list of the safest catamarans on the market). 

• Maximum Speed: 25 knots
• Length: 48 ft (14.6 m)
• Beam: 23.3 ft (7.1 m)
• Draft: 3.3 ft (1 m) with boards up and 6.7 ft (2.04 m) with boards down
• Displacement: 8.2 to 11.1 tonnes

Marsaudon Composites ORC50

Marsaudon Composites designed the ORC50, or Ocean Rider Catamaran 50, with both speed and comfort in mind. The ORC50 can be used for cruising, but it is also a great racing boat that has been awarded honors from many races worldwide.

Marsaudon borrowed designs from racing skippers to plan the ORC50, bringing together a cruiser’s comfort with the speed of an award-winning racing boat. 

This cruising catamaran is lightweight, which allows it to gain speed at a fast rate, but still has comfortable living quarters inside the boat. It has a rotating carbon mast, which helps to eliminate turbulence over the mainsail and therefore increasing sail efficiency and speed!

With strong winds, the ORC50 can reach up to 23 knots , making it extremely fast for a cruising catamaran. The ORC50 can easily reach speeds much faster than the wind speed, which is a unique quality of this fast, yet comfortable catamaran.

The ORC50 is an excellent long-term living ship with its many organizational compartments, expansive galley, and well-ventilated sleeping cabin. It also has plenty of couches and seating areas built into the boat, and its intuitive design adds plenty of comfort to the cruising catamaran without weighing down the ship. 

• Length: 50 ft (15.23 m)
• Beam: 27 ft (8.2 m)
• Draft: 5.6 ft (1.7 m) with boards up and 8.9 ft (2.7 m) with boards down
• Displacement: 13 tonnes

FastCat 435

African Cat’s catamarans, including the FastCat 435, are designed for speed and racing. This ship is mainly composed of epoxy, fiberglass, and carbon components, making it very lightweight to ensure that it travels as swiftly as possible. 

The FastCat 435 may be as light as possible, but it is durable enough to last for many years in the most extreme conditions.

The FastCat 435 has comfortable living quarters and well-designed comfort spaces so that you can get the most out of your trips. The FastCat also has a green hybrid design, and it uses primarily electric power, which can help you prolong your sailing and use less fuel. 

I find solar-powered/electric cats pretty exciting, so much so that I wrote an entire article called The Best Solar-Powered Catamarans on the subject.

The FastCat is an excellent option for anyone who wants a smaller cat with a comfortable design and incredible speed. FastCat’s electric power is also a unique, favorable feature for anyone who wants to use less fuel. 

• Maximum Speed: 20 knots
• Length: 42.7 ft (13 m)
• Beam: 24.4 ft (7.4 m)
• Draft: 3.9 ft (1.2 m) with boards up
• Displacement: 2.4 tonnes

The Lagoon 440 cruising catamaran, like the FastCat, has an electric powering version, which cuts down on fossil fuel usage and ensures that your ship will keep moving. The Lagoon 440 is also among the easiest catamarans to maneuver, thanks to its electric drivetrain and automatic engines. 

The speed of the Lagoon 440 usually maxes out at 10 knots with low winds, but with higher winds, it can quickly gain speeds up to 20 knots (some argue even higher, but I’m doubtful). The Lagoon 440 is an excellent cruiser and comfortable catamaran, but it is not an all-out racing cat.

Lagoon is a well-known brand, but there are some caveats, and are Lagoons still making good catamarans?

Below the deck, the living spaces in the Lagoon 440 are magnificent. The ceilings are high, allowing the tallest of passengers to stand in the cabin. The many storage compartments and furnishings have a modern, elegant design. The interior is one large primary cabin with a few private spaces below the deck. 

• Length: 44.6 ft (13.6 m)
• Beam: 25.3 ft (7.7 m)
• Draft: 4.3 ft (1.3 m)
• Displacement: 10.5 tonnes

Fountaine Pajot Astréa 42

Fountaine Pajot designs some of the most luxurious yet speedy cruising catamarans available in the world. They are renowned for their safe, durable designs that make sailing a comfortable, relaxing experience. And on a personal note, i think the name sounds beautiful!

Their cruising catamarans use an inverted hull design that has become a signature mark of Fountaine Pajot vessels. This hull type allows the water to pass beneath the ship quickly, which increases the speed and fuel efficiency of the cat. 

The Astréa 42’s primary benefit is its spacious, comfortable living quarters and large, open deck spaces. The ship’s interior spaces have large windows, large lounging areas, and plenty of storage compartments. 

The cabin’s ventilation is also excellent, which reduces the classic musty smells of sea living. You can also get two different models of this catamaran, either in a one-cabin option or a two-cabin option, making it an excellent vessel for larger or smaller families.

The Astréa is ideal for long-term sea living and family vacations (it is not as fast as some more racing-oriented cats). Although the Astréa is not the speediest cat available, with its speed maxing out at about 10+ knots, even in favorable wind conditions, its luxurious atmosphere and comfortable cabin spaces make up for its relatively slow speed. 

Don’t get me wrong, despite its lower speed compared to the boats on this list, the Astréa 42 can still get you places quicker than many other cruising catamarans (and most monohulls). So, if you want all of the elegance and comfort of a cat and are not too worried about racing, this ship is an excellent option for you.  

• Maximum Speed: 10 knots
• Length: 41.3 ft (12.6 m)
• Beam: 23.6 ft (7.2 m)
• Draft: 4.1 ft (1.3 m)
• Displacement: 12.3 tonnes

Privilege Signature 510

The Privilege Signature 510 is a long-distance cruising catamaran designed for long-term voyages and sailing in extreme weather conditions. It features a durable, weatherproof design that will protect you from rainy and cold weather while sailing. 

The helm and living spaces are completely covered, making it safe to live in, even in cold or stormy weather. It also has an automatic sail adjustment system with the controls at the helm, allowing you to make any adjustments from the helm’s safety and comfort. 

Privilege Signature 510 also has an elegant, well-designed living space with plenty of amenities, including an accelerated cooling system, a spacious bathroom and kitchen, and plenty of windows for natural lighting.

With an elegant floor plan, this cozy ship is perfect for long-term living.

The Privilege Signature is not the fastest catamaran on the market, with a maximum speed of around 13 knots. Still, it is one of the quicker cats considering its elaborate amenities and comfortable size.

• Maximum Speed: 13 knots
• Length: 50 ft (15.24 m)
• Beam: 26 ft (7.98 m)
• Draft: 5 ft (1.57 m)
• Displacement: 25 tonnes

Although cruising catamarans are great boats for slowly cruising along the water, they can also be swift, substantial racing boats that reach speeds of up to 35 knots. These speedy cruising catamarans still come with all of the amenities of leisure boats, but they also reach incredible speeds without rocking or tossing. 

Owner of CatamaranFreedom.com. A minimalist that has lived in a caravan in Sweden, 35ft Monohull in the Bahamas, and right now in his self-built Van. He just started the next adventure, to circumnavigate the world on a Catamaran!

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