seawind catamaran review

Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time.

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

The best bluewater multihulls of all time: a complete guide

• Toby Hodges
• October 6, 2021

Toby Hodges and François Tregouet consider the best bluewater multihulls and look at the options for sailing the oceans in spacious comfort

What are the best bluewater multihulls for long term cruising? The one you own, or the one you can afford is the simple answer.

There is a wealth of proven designs to suit bluewater sailing and a variety of budgets. While we have focussed here on the best bluewater multihulls in production, we’ve also included some cracking pedigree multihulls which tour the planet and might occasionally pop up on the brokerage market.

If you can afford to, then pushing towards the 45-50ft length will buy you space, pace and that extra payload capacity needed to take all the items you’d want on your home afloat.

When looking at the best bluewater multihulls, the choice will come down to that perennial balance between comfort/space and speed/weight. Choosing a lighter weight performance design will obviously help you cover distance voyages more rapidly and potentially allow you to outrun weather systems. It means you can sail faster, with less sail up and less load and stress. But you’ll have to sacrifice some luxuries and need to be quite scrupulous about keeping weight down and centralised in order to maintain high average speeds.

For the majority of cruisers, however, it is the amount of space multihulls offer once you’ve reached your destination that really appeals. As well as the non-heeling living area and real estate they provide, they’re well suited to typical tradewind sailing .

If you’re considering your first or next multihull, we hope the following will serve as a taster.

Best bluewater multihulls for performance cruising

Outremer 51/55.

When you think of multihulls designed for bluewater cruising, Outremer will likely be one of the first names that comes to mind. Its heritage lies in building catamarans that can sail fast and are built strong enough to do laps of the globe.

The 51, the current version of which launched three years ago, is an archetypal example of what to look for in terms of blending speed and space is a dream design for a family circumnavigation.

The French yard’s new 55ft VPLP design may look boldly different from its past models, but the philosophy behind it remains the same. It is designed to match windspeed up to 12 knots and Outremer reasons that its ability to sail in 5 knots of breeze will allow it to sail for 95% of the time on a circumnavigation.

Read more about the Outremer 51 and Outremer 55.

Photo: Diego Yriarte

Seawind 1600/1370

For nearly four decades the Australian Seawind brand and its founder Richard Ward have been gearing catamarans around safe bluewater sailing, including performance, protection and ease of handling. Its Reichel Pugh-designed 1600, which launched three years ago, is an elegant looking cat with relatively low, long lines and some smart solutions for fast bluewater sailing.

Seawind also launches its new 1370 later this year, a staggering 60 of which have sold on plans alone.

This first 50 is built from a composite sandwich of basalt fibre, a cloth made from volcanic rock, and PET foam from recycled plastic bottles, which helps to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 50% when compared with traditional glassfibre methods.

This new 50 footer is perhaps a more appealing and practical prospect than Rapido’s previous 60 (with its significant fixed beam), particularly as the amas on this new model can fold to reduce beam to 18ft.

Infused carbon foam sandwich construction is used, along with beams, daggerboards and rudder in pre-preg carbon to keep displacement to 8,200kg.

Read more about the Rapido 50

This OC50 is designed as a more affordable cruising alternative, than the HH models which have preceeded it. This model targets ocean sailing.

It’s still stiffened and strengthened by carbon, but built in vinylester composites with a gelcoat finish. This adds an additional 300kg or so over a full carbon HH50, but cost savings are in the region of $400,000.

Read more about the HH OC50

Balance 526

The 526 launched four years ago, designed to suit short-handed sailors and families looking to sail long distances, hence it can carry large payloads and promises easy maintenance. It looks good too.

Berman’s Versahelm design is a key feature. The wheel cantilevers, allowing the helmsman to steer from outboard with clear sightlines or from the hardtop protection of the aft cockpit.

Photo: Christopher White

Atlantic 47

The A47 suits short-handed fast ocean sailing at an approachable size. Lengthening it to 49ft allowed for an aft cockpit. It is available as a sloop or with White’s patented MastFoil ketch rig – rotating aerofoil masts designed for easy short-handed cruising without sacrificing performance.

Read more about the Atlantic 47

A combination of sharp design from François Perus and high build quality brings plenty of appeal to this sporty Italian-built cat. The first example launched three years ago with a light displacement of 10.5 tonnes, thanks to an E-glass epoxy-infused build with carbon strengthening. The yard offers semi-custom construction and full hybrid packages.

Catana 53/Ocean class 50

Catana’s performance model from 2017, sports twin aft helms (which may not suit ocean sailors), reverse bows and carbon daggerboards. The high topsides help create good bridgedeck clearance and plenty of accommodation. Its new Ocean Class 50 seems more in the shipyard’s bluewater DNA. The light weight, and dynamic and modern shape with slim hulls and a relatively short nacelle suggests a seaworthy nature and high speeds.

Read more about the Catana 53

Best bluewater multihulls for pedigree performance

Veteran multihull designers Morrelli & Melvin designed this smaller model for the Gunboat range. It was built to be more manageable for an owner-driver yet still capable of up to 300-400 mile days.

The Gunboat 48 is something of a rare breed, just six 48s were built between 2004 and 2009. Oh, to have a spare €1.3m right now… one of them is actually on the market.

Read more about the Gunboat 48

At the start of the Millennium, Catana offered fully equipped boats as standard for long distance cruising. The Catana 471 or 472 (one or two helms respectively), represented at the time the optimum in ocean-going catamarans.

Chincogan/Lightwave

Tony Grainger has been drawing fast multihulls for 35 years, including racing trimarans and the Lightwave and Chincogan cruisers. The popular Lightwave 38 has admirable performance and comfort, and the Chincogan 52 (pictured) has the length to clock high average speeds.

Outremer 45 G. Danson

With its characteristic roof, narrow hulls and daggerboards, the Outremer 45 is a standout design which has become somewhat iconic. Despite a rather spartan interior, it has been a great success with fast cruising enthusiasts. On board, family ocean crossings at an average of 10 knots are the norm.

Best bluewater multihulls for family cruising

Photo: Nicolas Claris

The Lagoon 450 remains the most popular model in Lagoons already popular range. It exemplifies the VPLP/Nauta design partnership which has made these the very definition of modern mid-size cruising catamarans which can appeal to families and charterers alike.

Indeed the 450 marked the modern look of Lagoon and was the first with interior styling from Nauta. It originally launched over a decade ago as a flybridge design with central helming position (450F), before this ‘sport top’ option (450S) was offered with a starboard helm station and lower boom.

Read more about the Lagoon 450

Photo: Guilain Grenier

Fountaine Pajot Saona 47

The 47 has a modern shape, with straight bows and a reverse sheer line. It incorporates significant volume in the hulls below the bridgedeck to create room for the optional athwartships cabins. Cabin space is a prime selling point, particularly the owner’s suite to port, where there is also abundant natural light and headroom.

Photo: Tui Marine

Leopard Catamarans, together with designer Simonis Voogd and builder Robertson and Caine, produce the archetypal dual-purpose owner-operator or charter boat in their modern catamaran range.

Key features of the 45 are the amount of light in the saloon and the incredible volume and space on offer in the cabins above the relatively narrow waterlines. Vast social living areas include the flybridge, saloon and dual cockpits.

Read more about the Leopard 45

Photo: www.jfromero.fr

Nautitech Open/Fly 46

During the 1990s and noughties Nautitech earned a good reputation for its elegant catamarans. The 441 is a timeless example and the 44 can be credited with the ongoing trend in hardtop biminis. While its acquisition by Bavaria seven years ago helped Nautitech implement industrial build techniques, the French brand has retained its DNA at its Rochefort sur Mer yard.

The modern Marc Lombard designs have tall rigs with generous square-top mainsails. Twin wheels in the aft quarters of the Open 46 offer a direct feel on the helm, however those spending long periods in the tropics may prefer the shade of the bimini-equipped flybridge option. The layout is also open, with a saloon more outside than in. Styling is clean, modern and simple, and the standard of build and finish are good.

Photo: Olivier Blanchet

First impressions of the Neel 51 are sure to centre on its sheer size and space inside. But as you’ll see from our review of the Neel 43 on page 83, when you sail one overriding impressions quickly centre on its performance.

These trimarans are becoming a popular mass production-built option.

Photo: Christophe Launay

The Excess 11 packs plenty of potential as the smallest yacht offered by the big production yards. A little like the Lagoon 380 of old, it presents a good value new entry-level boat for genuine cruising in a more sporty, modern and enticing design. Some may argue against aft helms for ocean sailing, but those coming from monohulls will appreciate the more direct steering they offer.

Broadblue 385S

Broadblue is a UK brand which offers a distinct line of cruising and Rapier performance catamarans. Its staple 385 packs a lot of cruising comfort into its length, including generous tankage, and has been sailed all over the world. Broadblue built its first electric drive catamaran 12 years ago and offers the only all-electric production sailing catamaran under 40ft in Europe.

Photo: Christophe Breschi

Bali Catspace

For those looking for maximum volume within 40ft, it’ll be hard to beat the Catspace – although it is more of a holiday apartment than a traditional bluewater cruiser. Bali’s garage style sliding aft door does help offer an enormous amount of enclosed (or open) living space.

Best bluewater multihulls for luxury cruising

Photo: Nico Krauss

Privilège 510 Signature

The 510 is designed to take a serious amount of cruising gear – up to six tonnes of it in fact. The excellent helm station now has a fixed windscreen and all lines lead to hand. Finish quality including the electrical installation is first class and Privilege’s trademark, an admirable full beam (26ft) forward cabin, is sumptuous.

Photo: Jérôme Houyvet

Garcia Explocat 52

Garcia Yachts has cornered the market for series-built aluminium monohulls and multihulls in the last decade and this new Explocat 52 is sparking real interest. We ran a full test report in our February issue, describing it as a go-anywhere cat with an enticing combination of space, pace and rugged construction.

Read our review of the Garcia Explocat 52

Built in Argentina, the Antares 44 is the ultimate evolution of a model launched 21 years ago. Entirely dedicated to bluewater cruising, it is the yard’s only model and is constantly being improved according to owner feedback.

Time seems to have no hold on this boatyard and, against the trend, the standard equipment of the Antares 44 is extremely complete

Photo: Richard Langdon

Discovery Bluewater 50

This luxury Bill Dixon design may be a decade old now and into its third iteration, but the concept behind its original appeal remains. For those used to sailing high-end thoroughbred monohulls, here is an option to consider for a comparative level of build quality and fit out when moving to a multihull.

Read more about the Discovery Bluewater 50

St Francis 50 MKII

With this latest version of its original model, this experienced South African builder has optimised a catamaran cut out for the unforgiving seas of the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. The MKII allows for an increased load capacity, an important point in long distance cruising.

Xsquisite X5

Intelligent features on the X5 include the protected helm station with glass windscreen, integrated rainwater catcher, UV-protective glass and generous tankage.

Best bluewater multihulls for size & speed

Mcconaghy mc52.

The MC50 (now MC52) was the first and promises some high speed sailing, but it’s the open plan main living deck which will attract the majority. It incorporates an intelligent centreboard system, which hardly affects interior space, but arguably its exposed helms at the aft end of the flybridge will not suit serious ocean cruising.

Photo: Florian H. Talles

HH in Xiamen is building some really impressive large, luxury fast cats up to 90ft. This was its second model to launch, a high-end, high performance Morelli & Melvin design capable of rapid passagemaking speeds and enjoyable regatta sailing. Features include C-shaped boards and central or aft helms.

Photo: Mike Jones/Waterline Media

Ocean Explorer 60

If Nautor’s Swan made catamarans, they may look like this… The Ocean Explorer 60 uses the same designer in German Frers and some of the same builders who worked at the famous Finnish yard to produce this world cruiser. The resultant quality shines through. A new OE72 is due soon.

Kinetic KC54

A young company with plenty of experience, Kinetic produces custom fast ocean cruisers, which can occasionally race. Its 62 is a serious performance vessel with carbon hulls, rigs and rigging, daggerboards or centreboards. With fast bluewater cruising the goal, carbon is used to minimise weight so features/toys can still be added. The swim platform and hardware on the newly launched 54 weighs just 90kg, and the generous sized tanks are all in carbon too. Views from the saloon and forward cockpit also look special.

Best bluewater multihulls for ultimate performance

Marsaudon ts4/orc 42.

Few catamaran builders produce genuine performance cruisers at this ‘smaller’ size: this one is kept minimalist and light weight (around 6 tonnes) – the yard’s philosophy is ‘simplicity, then add lightness.’ The 42 is a cruiser-racer with the ability to outpace most yachts across the Atlantic, win a regatta and still offer some space for island hopping. Standard tankage is minimal however. Marsaudon recently rebranded its TS range to Ocean Rider Catamarans (ORCs) and has an ORC 57 in build.

Dazcat 1495

Dazcat builds fast, seaworthy cats from its Multihull Centre in Cornwall. The 1495 is a true ocean cruiser-racer, which is stiff and rewarding to sail, with direct steering linked to carbon rudders. The 1495 can hit 20+ knot speeds with relative ease, but it is the consistent high average speeds which will attract those looking to cover serious miles. Weight is centralised including engines, tanks, and systems all located amidships to help reduce pitching. Dazcat has a semi-custom build approach and creates all sorts of weird and wonderful craft for all abilities.

Dragonfly 40

Dragonfly trimarans are known for their high quality construction and ability to delight sailors with their ease of planing speeds. For those who can live without the space of similar length cats, the new flagship 40 is large enough to offer cruising space, while folding outriggers and retractable appendages mean you can dry out where others wouldn’t dare.

Looping 45/Freydis 48

These two designs by Erik Lerouge both offer a high-performance vision of ocean cruising. The Loopings were built individually and the Freydis in small series, and on both you can sail as fast as the wind in complete safety. Interior quality depends on whether finished by an amateur or by a shipyard.

Swisscat 48

An attractive combination of luxury, comfort and performance, the S48 is a stiff, go-anywhere premium cat that is easy to manage single-handed. The lightweight build (11t) is in epoxy infusion with carbon reinforcement.

Schionning Designs

Jeff Schionning has catamaran design in his blood. His designs exude performance and seaworthiness with flowing, even aerodynamic lines. On all tradewind routes you’ll find a G-Force (models from 12m to 23m) or an Arrow (12m to 15m) sailing more quickly than the rest. His latest venture is with Current Marine in Knysna, South Africa.

Best bluewater multihulls for pedigree cruising

The long-time best-seller from the world leader in catamarans, with more than 1,000 produced over almost 20 years from 1999. With its characteristic vertical windows, the 380 and its big brother the 410 made the purists scream when they were presented. But the 380 proved a pioneer of its kind. Safe bow volumes and light displacement (7,260 kg) helped its seaworthy behaviour. The high number of boats on the market makes this the most affordable bluewater cruising multihull for its size, even if price range is as wide as condition is variable.

Casamance 44/46

Between 44ft and 46ft depending on the year of construction and the length of its transoms, the Casamance was an impressive catamaran on launch in 1985. The design by Joubert/Nivelt offered good volume and load capacity. Of the 490 units produced, many joined the charter fleets. The exterior of the Casamance is dated, but the interior in grey ceruse oak has retained plenty of charm.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams. Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

• Sailing Blogs
• List Your Catamaran For Charter
• List Your Catamaran For Sale

Seawind 1370

The Seawind 1370 , a 45 footer, builds on the success of the  42 foot Seawind 1260.

Designed by François PERUS and Romain SCOLARI of the Yacht Design Collective (who are the team behind the ITA 14.99), it’s a fine looking boat with sleek boxy lines and reverse bows, influenced by the Seawind 1600 which has a more refined look than its predecessors. With that longeron, she is starting to look like a Gunboat. This yacht will be competing with the likes of the Catana Ocean Class (which probably sits between this boat and the Seawind 1600)

It’s a Seller The new model was designed from the ground up, and has had a very successful launch. Seawind have filled up their order book for the next 5 years.  The Australian manufacturer has built over 700 boats in the 35-42ft range, and this is their first “mid-range” cat.

The Seawind 1370 has gone for a galley-up design like the 1600, with an Open design with saloon, galley, cockpit and helms all on one level. They have opted for the usual Seawind mix of performance and comfort that is comparable to a Nautitech. It’s more of a fast cruising cat than a performance cat. Even so, this is built with a completely different philosophy to something like the Bali Catspace which is targeted squarely at the charter market. The 1370 is targeted at owners setting off on long passages.

The boat weighs in at 11 tonnes–very light for a 45-footer, and she will soak up weight well for longer passages. She is available in 4 configurations: 3 cabins/2 heads, 3 cabins/3 heads, 4 cabins/2 heads and 4 cabins/4 heads.

• Light and nippy (11 tonnes light)
• Constructed using Closed Cell PVC Foam (no balsa)
• Good load carrying capability
• Points well upwind for a keel cat
• Fully protected helms
• Sheets, reefs and halyards lead aft to electric winches at the helms
• A low boom that hugs the coachroof: it’s easy to access the mainsail, and this keeps the centre of effort low making a for seaworthy boat in a blow.
• Open plan living maximises the living space.
• Above average finish for a production cat.
• Great ventilation at anchor with 2 forward windows that open right up.
• Forward facing nav station
• Lots of solar power negating the need for a generator
• Good value. Seawinds are built in Vietnam.
• Visibility from the helm. Seawind have worked hard on this with sliding windows in front of the helm and clean sight lines, but the bottom line is that you helm from inside. That’s your compromise for all that protection from the elements. There are clear panes above the helms to check the sails and you can perch on the deck beside the helm but it is more enclosed than the 1260 and 1600 which has more “half in, half out” helms.
• No visibility of the mainsail from the saloon.
• In marinas, you are going to be running between those helms to check your distances. Whatever anyone says, you won’t trust your judgement looking through glass.
• The outside dining area is pretty small for a 45 footer.

Seawinds are known for their sailing ability and the 1370 shouldn’t disappoint on that front. She comes with an 80 sqm square top mainsail and a 36 sqm self tacker. They have moved the mast back on this design versus previous models which gives you a more powerful jib and a nicely balanced sail set up (which is an old Prout trick by the way).

The 1370 has fixed keels so she won’t point as high as a daggerboard cat like the Balance 482 but she’s no slouch upwind, particularly when the wind freshens up.

Balanced Sail Plan The larger jib is somewhere between a traditional self tacking solent and a manual tacking genoa which will help in lighter winds without having to fly sails off the bowsprit. At only 11 tonnes, she will get going quickly.

The boom on the Seawind 1370 is low which lowers the centre of effort of the mainsail: all helping her seaworthiness and it also helps to improve the ride. The hull shape has been designed to reduce pitching and give you a smoother motion through the waves.

The hulls are chimed (a design feature perfected by Catana and something that has evolved from the 1600) to give you more living space, particularly in the aft cabin. The hulls are still slender and that means they will still slip through the water nicely.

Bridgedeck clearance is a decent 0.85m with a little wave breaker to help disperse wave energy in a seaway. The weight distribution (fuel, water etc) has been kept low, following the Seawind design DNA.

Fully Protected Helms….the Seawind Way The helm position is typically Seawind: fully protected with views forward through the saloon. All working lines lead back to the helm with 2 winches and clutches at each helm station. If you want even further protection, you can head to the forward facing nav station in the saloon. With covers and clears up, you can extend your protected area all of the way back.

Clear panels above the helms give you a view of your sails from the helm seat and if you want to go for more sailing feel, you can perch on the side of the deck and helm from there. It is noticeable that the design is more enclosed than the 1600 or even the 1260 which has more “half in, half out” double helms.

Options for your sail locker include a screecher, flown off the end of the longeron, gennaker and a spinnaker,

Construction

The 1370 is constructed using PVC closed cell foam: no balsa is used unlike some of the more popular French production catamarans. The hulls are reinforced with a combination of E-Glass and carbon fibre and the bow area has a skin of kevlar to protect against impact. This catamaran has been designed to be a tough boat for world cruising.

Living Space

The saloon and aft cockpit are on one level and the whole space opens up creating one big living platform. There are some nice touches here, like the breakfast bar that extends off the galley into the aft cockpit. The saloon table sits to port and a U-shaped galley is starboard behind the forward facing nav station.

Good Flow There’s a nice flow to the design with the starboard steps down into the hulls further forward. The forward windows open right up to maximise the ventilation at anchor.

It’s not huge in the saloon compared to other production cats, but that’s because the saloon is tucked behind the mast which is in itself positioned further back to balance the sail plan. That keeps the weight off the bow remember, you can’t have everything.

When you open the whole area up, however, there is plenty of space.

Thanks to those inboard and outboard chimes, there’s also plenty of room down below for such a nippy cat, particularly in the master cabin forward but also in the aft cabin(s) where you have a full double berth.

With over 2m of head height throughout the 1370, this is a boat that feels roomy down below. The master cabin has a big double arranged athwartships with views over the sea and plenty of ventilation.

3 Cabin 2 Heads version

The coachroof will fit 1900W of solar, more than they currently fit on the 1600. With an option for lithium batteries from Mastervolt, you can provide all of the power you need by running your engines every now and then to top up your batteries. This includes being able to run stuff like A/C, induction stove tops, electric oven and a microwave.

The standard power unit is twin Yanmar 40HP sail drives with an option to upgrade to 45HP, and maybe even 57s which have the same block size as the 45s. It’s worth the upgrade as you’ll get the same boat speed with less revs and with a lower fuel burn for a minimal weight penalty.

Is there an option for daggerboards? No. The 1370 has been designed as a robust world cruiser. She’s not bad upwind though.

What size dinghy is optimal for the 1370? Seawind are recommending a 3.6m tender

What is the Price of a Seawind 1370? How much does this catamaran cost? We will state our usual qualifier, which is that the price will heavily depend on the options you go for, but to give you an idea, you will start the conversation at around US$700,000 ex tax. Add around $150k for options. It is competitively priced against other cruising catamarans.

We really like the look of the Seawind 1370 and there are some nice design touches on this catamaran. Seawind have obviously focused on the detail, an example being the design of the anchor and bridle system. She looks a great compromise between comfort and performance and has been built to withstand some knocks.

I’d need to test out that helm position and visibility sailing and when in the marina. She is going to be easy to back into a berth with dual controls for the engines- it’s more manoeuvring around the marina and trimming your sails that I’d want to test. Your only problem might be getting hold of one, as the demand for this new design has been so high.

Contact Katamarans

Share your details with us and we’ll be in touch to discuss further.

" * " indicates required fields

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies
• Cookie Policy

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

More information about our Cookie Policy

Did You Know That We Offer Contract to Closing Services? Click Here to Find Out More.

Need Marine Financing? Apply Here With Our Partner, First Approval Source

• Catamaran Interviews
• Catamaran Reviews
• Buying Advice
• Selling Advice
• Woods Design Advice
•     Admiral 38
•     Admiral 40
•     Admiral 50
•     Americat 3014
•     Antares 44
•     Aquila 44
•     Aquila 48 Power Catamaran
•     Aventura 37
•     Balance 442
•     Balance 482
•     Balance 526
•     Bali 4.0
•     Bali 4.1
•     Bali 4.2
•     Bali 4.3
•     Bali 4.4
•     Bali 4.5
•     Bali 4.6
•     Bali 4.8
•     Bali 40 Catspace
•     Bali 5.4
•     Bali Catsmart
•     Beneteau Blue II
•     Broadblue 346
•     Broadblue 38 Prestige
•     Broadblue 385
•     Broadblue 435
•     Broadblue 46
•     Rapier 400
•     Rapier 550
•     Catalac 10M
•     Catalac 11M
•     Catalac 12M
•     Catalac 8M
•     Catalac 900
•     Catalac 9M
•     Catana 381
•     Catana 39
•     Catana 401
•     Catana 40S
•     Catana 411
•     Catana 42
•     Catana 42 S
•     Catana 431
•     Catana 44
•     Catana 471
•     Catana 50
•     Catana 521
•     Catana 531
•     Catana 55
•     Catana 581
•     Catana 65
•     Catathai 44
• Chris White
•     Chris White 48 Voyager
•     Chris White 55
•     Condor 40
•     Contour 34
•     Corsair F28 R
• De Villiers
•     Dean 365
•     Dean 400
•     Dean 440
•     Dean 500
•     Dix DH550
•     Dolphin 380
•     Dolphin 460
•     Edel 35
•     Endeavour 30
•     Endeavour 35 Victory
•     Endeavour 36
•     Endeavour 44
•     Endeavour 44 TrawlerCat
•     Endeavour 50 Pilothouse Trawler
•     Excess 11
•     Excess 15
•     F-41
•     Fastback 43
•     Fastcat 445
•     Fisher 28
•     Fisher 32
•     Fortuna 36 Island Spirit
•     Fortuna 401 Island Spirit
• Fountaine Pajot
•     FP 32 Maldives
•     FP 35 Tobago
•     FP 36 Mahe
•     FP 37 Antigua
•     FP 38 Athena
•     FP 39 Fidji
•     FP 40 Isla
•     FP 40 Lavezzi
•     FP 40 Lucia
•     FP 40 MY
•     FP 40 Summerland MY
•     FP 41 Lipari
•     FP 42 Astrea
•     FP 42 Venezia
•     FP 43 Belize
•     FP 44 Helia
•     FP 44 Orana
•     FP 45 Elba
•     FP 46 Bahia
•     FP 46 Casamance
•     FP 48 Salina
•     FP 50 Saba
•     FP 56 Marquises
•     FP 57 Sanya
•     FP 58 Ipanema
•     FP 60 Eleuthera
•     FP Saona 47
•     Fusion 40
•     Gemini 105
•     Gemini 3000
•     Gemini 3200
•     Gemini 3400
•     Gemini Freestyle 37
•     Gemini Freestyle 399 Power
•     Gemini Legacy 35
•     Grainger 420 Mystery Cove
•     Gunboat 55
•     Hirondelle 7M
•     HopYacht 30
• Island Packet
•     Island Packet Cat 35
•     Kennex 420
•     Knysna 440
•     Knysna 480
•     Knysna 500
•     Knysna 550
•     Lagoon 35
•     Lagoon 37 TPI
•     Lagoon 380
•     Lagoon 39
•     Lagoon 40
•     Lagoon 400
•     Lagoon 410
•     Lagoon 42
•     Lagoon 42 TPI
•     Lagoon 420
•     Lagoon 421
•     Lagoon 43 PC
•     Lagoon 44 Power Cat
•     Lagoon 440
•     Lagoon 450
•     Lagoon 46
•     Lagoon 470
•     Lagoon 50
•     Lagoon 500
•     Lagoon 52F
•     Lagoon 55
•     Lagoon 560
•     Lagoon 570
•     Lagoon 620
•     Lagoon Seventy 8
•     Lagoon Sixty 7
•     Leeuwin 42
•     Leopard 38
•     Leopard 39
•     Leopard 39 PowerCat
•     Leopard 40
•     Leopard 42
•     Leopard 43
•     Leopard 44
•     Leopard 45
•     Leopard 45 Classic
•     Leopard 46
•     Leopard 46 Lion PowerCat
•     Leopard 47
•     Leopard 47 PowerCat
•     Leopard 48
•     Leopard 50
•     Leopard 51 PowerCat
•     Leopard 53 PowerCat
•     Leopard 58
•     Lidgard 73 Executive
•     Looping 50
•     Maine Cat 30
•     Maine Cat 38
•     Maine Cat 41
•     Manta 40
•     Manta 42
•     Matrix 450 Vision
•     Matrix 760 Silhouette
•     Maverick 400
•     Maverick 420
•     Maverick 440
•     Moxie 61
•     Nautitech 40
•     Nautitech 40 Open
•     Nautitech 44 Open
•     Nautitech 442
•     Nautitech 46 Open
•     Nautitech 47
•     Nautitech 47 Power
•     Nautitech 475
•     Nautitech 65
•     Neel 45
•     Neel 47
•     Outremer 40
•     Outremer 45
•     Outremer 50 Standard
•     Outremer 55
•     Outremer 5X
•     PDQ 32
•     PDQ 36
•     PDQ 42 Antares
•     Privilege 37
•     Privilege 39
•     Privilege 42
•     Privilege 43
•     Privilege 435
•     Privilege 45
•     Privilege 465
•     Privilege 48 Transcat
•     Privilege 482
•     Privilege 495
•     Privilege 510
•     Privilege 65
•     Privilege Serie 5
•     Prout 31 Quest
•     Prout 33 Quest
•     Prout 34 Event
•     Prout 35 Snowgoose
•     Prout 37 Snowgoose
•     Prout 37 Snowgoose Elite
•     Prout 38
•     Prout 38 Manta
•     Prout 39 Escale
•     Prout 45
•     Prout 46
•     Royal Cape 45
•     Royal Cape 500 Majestic
•     Royal Cape 530 Majestic
•     Sailcraft 30 Iroquois
•     Sailcraft 32 Comanche
•     Sailcraft 35 Cherokee
•     Sailcraft 41 Apache
•     Sailcraft 44 Apache
•     Scape 39
•     Wildcat 350
•     Seacart 30
•     Seawind 1000
•     Seawind 1160
•     Seawind 1190
•     Seawind 1200
•     Seawind 1260
•     Seawind 1600
•     Simpson 48
•     Solaris 36 Sunrise
•     Solaris 36 Sunstar
•     Solaris 42
•     St Francis 44
•     St Francis 48
•     St Francis 50
•     Stealth 11.8
•     Sunreef 60
•     Sunreef 62
•     Sunreef 70
•     Sunreef 74C
•     Sunreef 82 DD
•     Sunreef 88 DD
•     Switch 51
•     Switch 55
•     TRT 1200
•     Heavenly Twins 26
•     Ocean Twins 38
•     Vaan R5
•     Vision 444
•     Voyage 380 Maxim
•     Voyage 400 Norseman
•     Voyage 430 Norseman
•     Voyage 440
•     Voyage 450 Cabriolet
•     Voyage 47 Mayotte
•     Voyage 480
•     Voyage 500
•     Voyage 580
•     Voyage 590
•     Kronos 45
•     Wharram 38 Tiki
•     AMI 320 Renaissance
•     Woods 22 Wizard
•     Woods 35 Banshee
•     Woods 35 Flica
•     Woods 36 Scylla
•     Woods 36 Vardo
•     Woods 38 Transit
•     Woods 40 Meander
•     Xquisite X5
•     Xquisite X5+

Seawind 1370 Review with Nick & Terysa of “S/V Ruby Rose”

• Post author By Diane Selkirk
• Post date April 9, 2021
• 4 Comments on Seawind 1370 Review with Nick & Terysa of “S/V Ruby Rose”

We talked with Terysa and Nick of Ruby Rose, and they have an interesting story about how they are coming to their catamaran. They are working with Seawind Catamarans to design the first Seawind 1370.

They have a tremendous following on their YouTube channel , so please check their videos out and subscribe. They video taped their search for their catamaran and reviewed many different catamaran models on the market.

Could you start off with telling us how you got into cruising, and then what took you from monohulls to catamaran?

We started sailing back in the UK. Nick started about 15 years ago and I started when I met Nick, so 10-11 years ago. We were just weekend sailors. We used to be part of a club and we would do weekend cruises and races, and it was all very low-key, just fun. We were, at the time, thinking about making a lifestyle change and perhaps doing some traveling, taking a sabbatical.

We lived in London at the time, so we wanted something that would give us a little bit more time to ourselves, and be a little bit more authentic to what we thought was important in life. The two kind of merged into one idea, which was that we would move onto our boat and sail. At the time, we would sail around Europe, and that plan progressed to perhaps sailing around the world.

We bought Ruby Rose, which was a Southerly 38 boat, monohull, in order to see this plan through. At the time, we were monohull sailors. We had always sailed monohulls, and everyone in the club, almost everyone in the UK, has monohulls rather than catamarans. It never really occurred to us to look at catamarans, it wasn’t even on our radar. The marina that we actually kept the boat in capped out about at 42-foot and there was no catamarans in there. There were only canal boats, so good catamarans were not even part of our decision-making process when we bought Ruby Rose.

In 2015, we finally set off and we sailed Ruby Rose down from the UK across the Bay of Biscay down the Atlantic Coast of Spain and Portugal. We ended up in Morocco and the Canary Islands. Then in November that year, we crossed to the Caribbean, so we did our first Atlantic crossing. We then spent two years sailing, essentially from the Caribbean up to the US East coast and then back down to the Bahamas and then up to Bermuda.

We kind of went up and down a little bit and then in 2018-19? It was two years ago, I think lost track of time. We crossed back to Europe three years ago. We have been sailing in Europe since.

We sold Ruby Rose in September last year, and the reason why we decided to sail back to Europe was because while we’re on the East coast, we were at a crossroads where we could either continue going West and go to Panama across the Pacific and kind of continue with this original dream that we had of sailing around the world, or we could face reality and accept that the boat that we had was not really ideal for that purpose.

She was a great boat, she was fantastic for what we had done so far, but we knew that going to more remote areas, continuing to do these long ocean crossings, the boat was perfectly capable, but it wasn’t the purpose that the boat was built for. Therefore, there were compromises to be made. We had to decide whether to continue to live with those compromises, or sell Ruby Rose and buy something that was built for the purpose that we actually wanted to use the boat for.

During that decision-making process, we decided to go from a monohull to a catamaran, not because catamarans are inherently more suited to long-distance cruising or anything like that, but partly because we had been on board so many catamarans by that point, because we’ve been in the Caribbean for several years, and there are so many catamarans there.

We’d go for sundowners on a friend’s beautiful catamaran, and we thought to ourselves, “Wow! They really know how to live!” These big cockpits and everything just seemed so spacious and stable. Then we’d dinghy back to our boat and think, “I’m not so sure that we’re doing this right.”

We had the opportunity to change the boat, of course, and we thought, “why not change to a completely different type of boat?” Both still sailboats, I guess, but it would be a different experience going from a monohull to a catamaran, and we just really wanted to embrace the opportunity to try something new. That’s when we started our research into catamarans and we thought it would be easy. We thought we’d just jump on board one and think, “oh yeah, this is nice,” and away we’d go. It turned out to be so much more complicated than that, and I’ll let Nick pick up on that.

Can you tell us, what did your research look like? How many catamarans were involved? Then just sort of walk us through a little bit about what that was like?

We actually started with zero knowledge, which is a pretty good place to start, because you learn as you go along. We ended up putting 19 reviews out, probably one for each major brand on the market. I think we filmed about 22 boats, and we didn’t put three reviews out because they were almost doubled up a smaller version of one model.

The thing that kind of struck me, is a couple of things.

Firstly, when you go to a boat show, you see these beautiful white machines. They look amazing on the dock. But you scratch the surface, and the gulf between one brand and another brand is huge. There are certain brands of catamaran, which will remain nameless during this interview, that I think are just really really poorly made. Not just individual models, or individual hull numbers, but just across the brand. These boats in many cases, are just more suited to charter, and that essentially means that they’re not meant to do big ocean passages, they’re not. While they may be category A-rated offshore vessels, they’re not really built for doing these big passages.

If you go into the owners forums, a couple of things becomes apparent. There’s a very big gulf between what boat you get from the factory and what you have to do to the boat to make it livable, or to make it get to a level where you’re happy to take it offshore. Upgrading blocks, tackle, lines, sails, because what gets shipped is shipped to make the boat cheap, but not necessarily a quality boat.

The other thing that became patently obvious to us is that some brokers don’t actually sell boats that are of benefit to their customers. The brokers sell the boats that benefit the brokers. We found this across the board through people telling us this, but also by talking to brokers. There was a time before people really knew who or what our channel was. Our following was about 50,000 subscribers when we started this journey. But you’d have phone calls semi-anonymously with brokers and they will tell you essentially a pack of lies about what was required.

We had a litany of examples that I can give you on this. For example, we were in a marina in Western France, in La Rochelle, which is where a couple of brands of catamarans are launched. We met a really lovely Canadian couple who had bought a boat from a European broker, because when they went to the US broker, the US broker, and I’m trying to avoid keeping the name of the catamaran out of this interview, said the minimum size you need for two people to live aboard is 50-foot. You need a 50-foot catamaran, you need to have ABCD and E, a large eight-and-a half kilowatt gen set, and all these other things which, to me, were completely unnecessary. What happened was, I think they were both commercial pilots, and very experienced, they turned around and said, “actually no, we don’t need this at all.”

They ended up going to the European broker because the European broker said no, you don’t need a 50-foot catamaran. A 40-foot catamaran will be exactly what you need. You don’t need a gen set and you can go with renewables, and because they weren’t treated as idiots by the broker, they went to the European broker and had the boat shipped to Europe.

There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and honestly, I think from our point of view our, our allegiance is to the 130,000 people that follow what we do, not to the brokers.

Unfortunately, there is no way of going around this process without making some ripples in the world of boating. As we did these reviews, there are a lot of features, and let me just make this absolutely clear, I’m not an expert and nor am I a surveyor, this literally is my opinion. But if I was to say, look at the tie-rod system between rudders between 10 boats of different brands, I can tell you which one looks inferior to me, in my opinion. This isn’t us filming and saying, “well I can see this, this, and this,” after the fact. We are literally just taking a camera around and videoing what we can see in boats at boat shows.

At this point, there was some interest in us working together with catamaran manufacturers, and people were starting to become aware that as we brought these reviews out, they were making a stir in the market, so we got talking really organically with Seawind Catamarans about this ( Editor’s Note: We did an interview with Shane Grover of Seawind Catamarans available on CatamaranSite.com and embedded below.)

They said, “look, we can see what you’re trying to do,” and they have a 42-foot catamaran on the market, and they have a 52-foot catamaran on the market, neither of which were going to work perfectly for us. The 42 was a little bit too small for what we wanted to do, which is sail remotely for months at a time. The 52 is too expensive, and I’m also pretty aware that we operate a system that the boat should be completely manageable short-handed if you have no electronics, if you get hit by lightning or you get your battery compartment wet. When you get to a 50-foot catamaran, you’ve got some big systems to contend with to get that boat sailing. ( Editor’s Note: We also did an interview with YouTube stars Harbors Unknown onboard their brand new Seawind 1600 . )

So we were looking sub-50-foot. They said, “we don’t have anything, but we’re working on something, we’ve got a 45-foot catamaran,” which for us was the sweet spot because it’s about size, waterline, speed, safety, the lack of hobby-horsing, all these things that make for a fast, comfortable passage. They said, “we watched your 19 reviews and you’ve obviously got a lot of input and a lot of things to say and you’ve lived onboard for five years, so why don’t you partner up with us and tell us what you want to see in a catamaran, because we’ve got this brilliant design but you’ve got a lot of ideas, both of you.”

If you go onto any catamaran owner’s website, whether it’s Nautitech, whether it’s Lagoon, Fontaine-Pajot, anyone, the owners will all be telling you stories of, we had to modify this to get this to work, we had to do this because this wasn’t quite right. We figured, why not just get everything into the boat straight away? Why not just not have to deal with certain aspects of this, not swap things out and and make it right, initially? Obviously, there will be fine tweaks.

Seawind are a pretty progressive company. They’re very progressive, their young management understood where we were coming from, understood that things were changing in the marketplace. I might just add that Seawind had a track record of having very good, close relationships with their customers, partly because they have not always been a massive company. They started off quite small in Australia, under Richard Ward. It was up until quite recently, where Richard, the CEO, knew the names, and knew in-person, almost all of the owners, so it was this really fantastic relationship that we thought represented what their values were like. The fact that they had this fantastic two-way relationship with their customers was really important because it showed how much importance they placed on A. customer service, but B. just having that continuous conversation with their customers to try and build a catamaran that was best suited to the customer’s needs.

I was gonna ask you if you can go into some of the specifics of things that you really felt needed to be on the Seawind. Give us some ideas about things that jumped out to you?

We went to Seawind with wants and needs for the live-aboard challenge. We are not naval architects so this has got nothing to do with performance. It has everything to do with how a live-aboard should be, what a live-aboard should look like. From our point of view, we didn’t want a gen set, so we had to work very hard, very well with renewables. Power management was a whole section. Other things, for instance, Terysa’s five-foot two, I’m five-foot nine. You very very rarely find a helm seat or a helm position that will accommodate both those sizes.

So you’re looking at these boats, you’re getting these boats, and I’m like, “this is a nice home position.” Terysa’s like, “I can’t see.”

You can’t see above the cabin!

On long passages when you’re short-handed, you have to accommodate both sets of people. You have to have a bed you can get out of both sides. You have to have USB ports on both sides, so if you’ve got anchor alarms attached to phones, you can plug those in. You should have recycling chutes. You should have a chute to the sea, so offshore, you can throw organic matter off. You should have a workable rain catchment system that uses the guttering on the hard top to make sure that everything goes. You get a max amount of water from Caribbean rainfall that it all goes to a filtration system before it goes into your water tanks.

It’s easy to clean, hopefully.

Exactly. As Nick says, there were kind of big issues such as the power management systems that we wanted. We wanted it to be completely run off solar or renewables, which in this case is solar. But there were also little details as well, that we had found just living on our monohull, that we saw in other catamarans. As we did these quite detailed reviews, we thought that’s a really good idea. Even just simple things like having cup holders next to the helm seat. I mean it sounds so stupid, and yet you need to have somewhere on passage where you can pop your flask or your bottle of water or whatever, because dehydration on ocean crossings is actually quite common.

I completely agree with that. Trying to find the right place where your cup isn’t going to go flying at you.

That’s right. You need a way to put something so that you can continue to keep yourself hydrated, and have your hot cup of tea in the middle of the night or whatever. Like a bracket, so that you can put your fishing rods underneath the bimini brackets for holding a paddle, not that we’re gonna have a paddleboard, but that kind of thing, essentially places to put things that you’re gonna be needing or using a lot.

Well, these are certainly the things that once you have a boat, you comb through those owners’ groups to find out what people have done and what clever ideas have come up with. So much of that knowledge gets buried and lost after a generation or two, or owner or two.

The other thing is, there’s a lot of things that we wanted to build into this boat that couldn’t be retrofitted, or would be difficult to retrofit. One thing we did come up with, which it drives me nuts, is that the transoms of catamarans, the sterns of both hulls, you end up chipping the gel coat because when you come, you hit with the V of your tender. You end up hitting it every now and then, and eventually you’ll start chipping the gel coat.

So we just said to Seawind, why not just put a rubber gasket, a fat little mini-fender on the lip so that you literally have protection against docking. They’re like, “yeah, we’ll do that, brilliant idea.”

Why don’t you have a workshop if you live on board? You spend so much time doing repairs on your boat, doesn’t matter if the boat is new or 10-years old. You are always fixing something.

PDQ 36 had a workshop in one of the back hulls initially, for the same reason.

This is the thing, this is what a lot of owners do. They convert an existing cabin to work. For example if they bought a charter boat like one of those four-cabin, four-shower room heads, arrangements, they convert one of those areas to a workshop. But we didn’t want to do that, because we wanted to protect our master hull, and we wanted to protect our two other cabins, because we wanted to be able to have two other couples, or at least four people who are happy to share a bed, as crews.

So on long ocean crossings, we are able to take more crew, and therefore get more sleep and be less tired, and that kind of thing. We wanted the workshop to be an independent area that didn’t encroach on any other part of the boat, because years of Nick literally having to upend, you know probably what I’m talking about, the entire content of the boat just to get to like one spanner or one item, one replacement item, or whatever. It was ridiculous, and the entire boat’s in a mess.

So from our point of view, designing a workshop, building a workshop into an existing cabin, there’s a series of compromises that have to occur. Building a workshop initially, and the workshop in our boat, and it’s going to be is rolling out to all the boats, is the forepeak of the starboard hull. It can work as a as a single berth, but essentially, there are things that, for instance, are super useful. It’s at a height that you can sit down and work well.

Seawind said, “do you want to sit down or stand up and work?” I said, “really, most of the work that we’ve done on the boat over the last 10 years has been fiddly work.” It’s not big work with a hammer, it’s soldering broken components, it’s fixing a clock, trying to put a barometer back together. I need to be able to solder, I want power sockets in the right place, I want a good lighting source, and that to us means two articulated lights, one on each side, so that you don’t cast shadows, so you can see what you’re doing.

They have then taken that and said, “what we’ve done is, we’ve rolled, we’ve made a little recess, like a little gutter in the floor, like a pan, so if you do spill fluid, like if you are taking apart something, it all holds so you’re not going to end up washing hydraulic fluid, or oil around.” Rubberized matting, a vice, small height drawers to keep tools in, things that are needed from a workshop; to try and retrofit a cabin to do that is is pretty difficult.

The best example I’ve ever seen on that was on a Maverick 440, that actually had a workshop in it. But that then rolls into other things that you need. You need dedicated tough crate storage. You see so many boat owners that take one of their redundant cabins and put tough crates in to store things that they don’t need, but there’s no need for that, because if you design a boat that can take tough crates initially, either in a recess under the bed, because as you know from owning a catamaran, there’s a lot of dead space. If you work with a dead space initially to take a standard tough crate, you are not encroaching on your living space.

One of the great things about this kind of collaboration with Seawind is that we had these ideas, and they were both things that we knew we wanted from living on a boat for five, six years at that point, and also things that we had seen on other catamarans that we were like, “that’s genius, why isn’t that on every boat?” like the rain catchment system, for example. We submitted these ideas with no real idea of how they’d be implemented, just leaving up to Seawind, and they have come up with some absolutely fantastic, genius solutions that never would have occurred to us. This is what is so great. It feels to us like a true collaboration that they have come forward. They’re really clever. They have their ideas and we have our ideas, and they kind of come together to create something that we think and we hope will be well received, and well-suited to all the owners that are lining up to buy this boat.

Have you got a sense of how it performs? Have you been involved in that aspect of things?

Not the performance. The performance is done by the naval architect. They’ve managed to get a two-tonne payload into this boat, we can load it up with two tonnes. We’re not going to get anywhere near two tonnes. It’s designed as a performance catamaran, so we’re looking at fine hulls, pretty lightweight, strong foam core, vinyl ester on epoxy. She’s going to be light and fast. We did a whole series with the naval architect on how to make a strong, reliable catamaran.

Again, once we got past this stage, we then moved on to trying to understand what they were building for us, and why they were building it in a certain way. We’ve passed all this on to our followers.

To what Terysa said before about intelligent design, Richard Ward is a really innovative designer. He started building these boats 30 years ago, but even today, you look at things that he put on to a boat 30 years ago, why is no one else doing this? Why is no one else doing something so simple and so clever?

For example, when we first got on the Seawind 1260, on one of the stanchions, at the top of the stanchion, there’s a little stainless-steel, kind of like a loop, like a U-bent, like an inverted U, and I just said, “what is that for, why have you got that there, is it a hook for something?” He said, “no it’s the breather. It’s the breather vent for the fuel tank, so we actually run them.” You just think, “well, it’s just clever, it’s such a clever thing.”

Then when we went to them and we said to them, “I know it sounds decadent, but we’ve lived on board for five years. We want a washing machine on this boat.” As you know, you live on a boat, doing your laundry is a whole day thing, it’s day of your life.

It’s a project, yeah.

You wash them like once every three weeks. You’re living in dirty clothes for weeks on end, until you can get to a laundromat, or washing them.

And they cost a fortune.

Absolutely. They’ve got to try and find a space for a washing machine, and they built it in one of the heads, which is where most of the washing machines live in on catamarans. But what they did, there’s a shelf that kind of sits up in front of the washing machine, which then folds down onto a ledge to give you a laundry folding shelf. Number one, when you take your laundry out, it goes onto this shelf, which is folded down. But secondly, that shelf is above the heads so that you if you drop something, it doesn’t go down the side of your toilet, it literally is there.

You just think, “how intelligent is that to think of a solution to a problem that you don’t even know exists,” and that is why we love them. Going forward to what you asked was, how has this all worked out for us? Seawind essentially said, “we’re giving you our marketing budget to to work with us.” That was the print, the quid pro quo. “You work with us, we showcase this boat, you tell us what you want.” They took a huge risk on doing this.

We signed with Seawind in November 2019 to form this partnership. In January 2020, I went to Dusseldorf to talk to the managing director of Seawind, amongst other things, and I said to him, “we’re going to announce the boat that we’ve chosen in July, so six months from now, and then it’s gonna be another 14 months until our boat is built. So between us announcing the boat and us getting our boat, you have been doing this for many years. How many boats are you gonna sell? How many hulls are you going to sell to people?” He said, “we’re going to 14 hulls, we’re good.” That’s brilliant.

Anyway, fast forward a few months to COVID, fast forward a few months, no boat shows. We announced the boat, I think, on the 9th of July, 2020. There was a huge buzz about it. Everyone was really anticipating, there’s a lot of online betting about what we were doing. They sold 30 hulls in a week.

That’s amazing!

Then it slowed down a little bit, because essentially, Seawind were going to build six boats a year. By the time they sold 30, that was their five-year allotted target. They’re like, “we can’t get you a boat for five years,” but it didn’t stop. They’re now up to hull 55, and no one has seen this boat. They’ve got 55 hulls, and already deposits paid for all these people signed up, because people understand the value of intelligent design going into a boat, that is designed for live-aboards.

I’m not knocking anybody, but if you buy a production catamaran off-plan, you buy a new one, you’ve got to probably put another hundred-thousand into it to get it livable. That’s what everyone accepts.

The other thing is, it, this incenses me. There was a brand of catamaran, which will remain nameless, where I went through the options lists of buying the new boat. The generator set which people tend to want, was 30,000 Euros, plus tax, so that’s another 20 percent, you get 36,000 Euros. If you try and price match that gen set and buy it yourself, it’s 9,000 Euros, so the mark-up is 20,000 Euros. Essentially a gen set, you need two skin fittings, and a marine electrician, and somewhere to put it. But the mounts for it are probably already installed in the molding, so you’re in a position where you’re thinking, “why are you charging so much for this?” One of my bug bears with gen sets is that of all the anchorages we’ve been into, all the friends we’ve got in sailing, there’s always at least once a week someone will say, “gen set’s playing up, gen set’s chewed through an impeller.” They’ll always be on the back of the boat, sweating, covered in grease, trying to fix their gen set. It is the number one repair that people are doing because they’re so reliant on gen sets.

When Seawind said, “we’ve got a boat you don’t really need a gen set.” We’re like, “how do you not need a gen set?” They said, “we’re designing it from scratch. The technology for solar panels has changed massively, so now we have extended the hard top back a little bit by about, I’m not sure how much, but we can now get two kilowatts of solar panel onto that roof.”

So you think, “two kilowatts, okay, that’s good.” Then number two, Mastervolt have got these new systems, these new alternators that knock out 200 amps. All you’ve got to do with two of these, one on each engine, and in catamaran. If you’ve spent half an hour motoring into an anchorage, motoring out of an anchorage, you’ve got an hour of that a day. That’s 400 amps, plus two kilowatts of power from your solar. Even if you’ve got 50-percent power because you’ve got shadowing and other things, you’ve still got six hours a day, because that’s the way the Caribbean is. You’re working say, nine ’til three with with good sun, you’re still charging your batteries.

Just don’t do laundry that day!

But the point is that we’ve done that we’ve done the calculations. The washing machine runs at 1400 watts, so you can run it with full solar. You can run it. Or what you do, as we used to do with Ruby Rose if you want to run something that’s pretty intensive, you just put the washer machine on when you’re motoring into your anchorage. ‘

There’s a lot of new technology which is super reliable that’s coming forward, which isn’t a safety thing, but for instance, aircon. A lot of people say to us, “how can you have aircon on a boat?” You know from living on a boat, what’s actually the power spike from air conditioning is when it starts up, you’ve got this huge current draw, which as you start up is like 20 amps, but now the new systems don’t have that anymore.

So we can run aircon just using lithium batteries. It’s the point where you know we’ve got this new boat, electric oven, microwave, anything, we’ve got three-and-a-half kilowatts of inverters, so we can run most DC systems, AC systems. There’s no need for a gen set, no need for the expense, no need for the weight, no need for the frustration with maintenance. I think from our point of view, everyone, all these customers, sat there went, “yeah ,you’re right, you’re right.” I said 55 hulls deposits paid, Seawind literally last week, opened a new factory in Vietnam to upscale production.

I was gonna ask, how are you gonna get them all done?

Literally, they’ve got a brand new factory. You can’t buy any Seawind now for five years. It’s completely booked up. It’s a brilliant journey, we’re still on part of that journey, we’re nowhere near the end. We will take delivery of our boat at the end of this year. Our plan is to showcase this boat, refine any little bits, and show it to the world.

It sounds like it’s going to be a fantastic journey. I’m really looking forward to seeing the boat and following along. Thank you so much for talking to us about it today, appreciate the time.

• Tags Catamaran Interviews , Catamaran Reviews

By Diane Selkirk

I love to travel and have spent the past seven years sailing with my family aboard our 40 Woods Meander catamaran - traveling from B.C.'s north coast, to the west coast of the US, Mexico, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, across the Indian Ocean to South Africa and on to St Helena, South America, the Caribbean and Central America.

4 replies on “Seawind 1370 Review with Nick & Terysa of “S/V Ruby Rose””

What are the details concerning hobbyhorsing that this new catamaran won’t do that?

And then came the HH44, and the rest is history.

The 1370 suddenly became dated, old school and traditional.

From the reviews of the different models, it’s clear that Terysa and Nick were going to choose the right cat for extensive blue water cruising. Their conclusions of the different brands were very much aligned with what we’ve found out talking to cat owners.

If we make the shift to a cat, certainly Seawind will be amongst our shortlist, plus one of the major builders who has generally happy owners and which we’ve had good feedback on from some of the boat maintenance yards around the world.

Great interview, thanks! Fil SY Tranquilo

Saloon kitchen or down kitchen. What preferences for the 1360.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• BOAT OF THE YEAR
• Newsletters
• Sailboat Reviews
• Boating Safety
• Sails and Rigging
• Maintenance
• Sailing Totem
• Sailor & Galley
• Living Aboard
• Destinations
• Gear & Electronics
• Charter Resources
• Ultimate Boating Giveaway

Seawind 1160

• By Jeremy McGeary
• Updated: August 13, 2007

Whenever the judges of CW’s Boat of the Year competition last October turned to catamarans, the name Seawind was in the air. A long way from home, the Australian-built Seawind 1160 sparked plenty of conversation and eventually sailed away with the awards for Best Multihull Cruiser and Most Innovative for 2007.

It was no specific feature that drew the consensus of the judges; rather, it was the concept around which Seawind founder Richard Ward and his team had designed the boat and the innovative way in which they’d executed it. Starting with his stated goal of building “the best family performance cruiser,” Ward applied what he’d learned from two decades of customers and charterers of earlier, smaller Seawind models.

From the moment you step aboard, it’s clear that the ergonomics of getting around the boat are a high priority, along with a strong emphasis on indoor/outdoor living facilitated by unhindered, single-level access between the roomy, airy saloon and the open cockpit. Also on the same level are the twin helm stations, opposite each other on the saloon bulkhead. The port station houses the engine controls, and the nav instruments, just inside the saloon, are within reach through the open window; they’re readable when it’s closed. The view forward, through the saloon, is excellent, and the helmsman can pop his head out from under the awning to see the sails. Other than a cushioned box seat at each wheel and a bench integrated into the safety railing spanning the aft deck, the cockpit has no fixed seating. In port, loose furniture (owner-supplied) comes out of a large dedicated locker and can be arranged to suit the moment.

The saloon can be opened completely to the cockpit across its aft side, courtesy of an ingenious three-part partition. It folds up to stow overhead in the rigid center section of the cockpit roof; it can be lowered and secured in place in heavy seas, when the night air gets chilly, or when you leave the boat. One panel is a regular door. Inside the saloon, the seating provides a panoramic view of the seascape through the windows in both the deckhouse and the hulls. The galley is “down” in the starboard hull, but it’s open to the saloon and connected to the party there; the cook gets both light and a view through the hull window, relieving any sense of enclosure. Seawind offers the 1160 with three or four cabins. Beautifully fitted and warmly varnished joiner work provides a balanced counterpoint to the gelcoat surfaces of the fiberglass components that throughout the boat appear carefully made and finished.

Under way, the Seawind’s performance reinforced its already-high approval rating. Under main and self-tacking jib, it made 3 knots in a 7-knot breeze. Replacing the jib with the reacher and heading to a beam reach brought boat speed up to wind speed. When the wind piped up to 12 knots, the Seawind, under jib again, pointed with and out-footed a 40-foot monohull racer/cruiser undergoing similar trials.

Under power, it delivered the quiet ride we expect of cats with saildrives, cruising at 6.4 knots at 2,600 rpm and topping out at 7.7 knots at 3,400 rpm.

From its performance under sail to its structural and mechanical details, the Seawind 1160 is the embodiment of a simple design brief executed with integrity by a builder with its eye on the long term.

Jeremy McGeary is a Cruising World contributing editor. Click here for more photos of the Seawind 1160.

LOA 38′ 0″ (11.60 m.) LWL 35′ 9″ (10.90 m.) Beam 20′ 4″ (6.20 m.) Draft 3′ 5″ (1.05 m.) Sail Area (100%) 749.8 sq. ft. (69.65 sq. m.) Displacement 13,230 lb. (6,000 kg.) Water 198 gal. (750 l.) Fuel 95 gal. (360 l.) Engines Two 30-hp. Yanmars Designer Seawind Catamarans Price $400,000 Seawind USA (619) 571-3513 www.seawindcats.com

• More: 2001 - 2010 , 31 - 40 ft , catamaran , Coastal Cruising , multihull , Sailboat Reviews , Sailboats , seawind catamarans
• More Sailboats

New on the Docks: Leopard 46

Sailboat Review: Dufour 41

Pre-Owned: 1988 Hylas 47

Catalina Introduces the 6 Series

Minimalist Cruising: Georgian Bay by Dinghy

Best Practices for Boat-Show Shopping

Savoring Superior: A Great Lakes Cruise To Remember

Point Your Compass Due South, Bitter End Yacht Club Reopens October 23rd.

• Digital Edition
• Customer Service
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Email Newsletters
• Cruising World
• Sailing World
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Sport Fishing
• Wakeboarding

SEAWIND 1600

The 1600 passagemaker reflects our aspiration to create the ideal cruiser in every aspect: this is the ultimate offshore cruising catamaran., pointing ability & shallow draft, the ultimate offshore cruising catamaran.

Captive daggerboards, which don’t protrude through the deck, reduce maintenance and keep a clean deck that could otherwise prove hazardous offshore. Keeping these large foils captive also prevents windage aloft which can cause a catamaran at anchor to swing and swerve about her mooring. This approach conveniently maintains the aesthetic of the stunning Reichel Pugh design. The daggerboard lifting mechanism is run to a dedicated control in the cockpit, so there’s no need to rush forward and then cross the boat to raise the boards.

PERFORMANCE WITHOUT COMPROMISE

Comfort and performance are a trade-off discussed endlessly. The Seawind 1600 Passagemaker strikes this balance through the use of advanced build technologies and continuous weight-saving efforts. Strategically placed carbon fiber reinforcements throughout the structure, Kevlar reinforcement under the waterline and revolutionary daggerboard integration not only make the Seawind 1600 Passagemaker an extremely stiff and fast catamaran, but also gives her the beach ability that so many Seawind catamarans are renown for.

SHALLOW DRAFT

Through the use of Kevlar reinforced hulls with retracting daggerboards and rudders, the Seawind 1600 Passagemaker is safe on a sandy shoal. The minimum draft (with daggerboards and rudders up) is only 54cm – or 2ft 1 inches. That means the Seawind 1600 Passagemaker can enter protected anchorages and waterways inaccessible to almost any other cruiser on the market today.

Designed for extended ocean crossings, the Seawind 1600 Passagemaker has all of the cruising practicality you would expect from a new Seawind catamaran, but delivered on long and fast performance hulls.

High aspect deep retracting rudders and daggerboards offer performance and practicality - this catamaran sailboat tacks easily and is a nimble performer, but has a minimum draft of only 54cm with the foils raised.

At 52 foot, this Reichel Pugh designed performance cruiser offers sailors a true sailing experience whilst not sacrificing on safety or comfort. The Seawind 1600 Passagemaker has proven to be a world class catamaran capable of being sailed anywhere, by anyone.

The Seawind 1600 Passagemaker carries an exclusive interior full of the elegant finish work expected of a true thoroughbred sailing yacht.

A delightful light-oak interior oozes Italian style. The chic grey of the oak interior contrasts well with the modern walnut floor timbers. Soft LED lighting and quality sound system enhance the carefully planned atmosphere aboard.

Reichel Pugh design expertise, along with Seawinds 35 years of practical catamaran handling experience combine to create a yacht ideal for long extended cruising or live-aboard sailing.

Designed by world renowned naval architects Reichel Pugh, this 52-foot luxury catamaran is the perfect balance of cruising comfort and performance sailing.

With simple sailing systems, twin protected helms and a large open cockpit space, this blue water luxury cruising catamaran sets the standard for offshore sailing.

At 52 ft, our Seawind 1600 Passagemaker is the flagship of our range with a brief to be the “ultimate luxury offshore cruiser”. And after thousands of design hours, and thousands more in the early construction and testing phases, that work has been rewarded in a competition we hold in high regard.

SPECIFICATIONS

Overall length, 52'8" / 16.1 m, 26'6" / 8.1 m, 1'9" / 0.6 m, displacement, 31,700 lbs / 14,400 kg, diesel saildrives, 2 x yanmar 57 hp / 43 kw, 196 us gal / 744 litres, fresh water, 174 us gal / 658 litres, 1,558 sq ft / 144.5 sq m, 21'8" / 16.1 m, 200 us gal / 750 litres, 1,080 sq ft / 100 sq m, 478 sq ft / 44.5 sq m, screecher (optional), 990 sq ft / 92.5 sq m, spinnaker (optional), 2,370 sq ft / 220 sq m, recommended options.

DUAL ENGINE CONTROLS

A second electronic engine control mounted at the stbd helm makes for easy maneuvering and makes the boat manageable from either helm.

SIDE CLEARS

These removable role up clears are an essential item for any blue water sailor. Attaching to the outboard side of both the port and stbd helms they allow skippers to remain warm and dry at the helm in even the worst of conditions whilst still allowing for easy access and use of the sail controls.

BATTERY LITHIUM UPGRADE (720AH)

Change from the traditional AGM battery system to a high capacity Lithium system from Mastervolt. This option not only upgrades the batteries but also modifies the entire charging system ensuring a total compatible system including upgraded mastervolt alternators and regulators, additional AGM start battery and DC/DC charging unit.

STORM JIB WITH FURLER

The storm jib is designed for use in winds too strong for the regular jib, typically in conditions 40kts and up. It provides just enough sail area to maintain directional stability.

#SW1600-OPT001

Carbon park avenue boom.

Very simply, the wings of the carbon fiber boom extend outwards to catch the mainsail as it is lowered. Lazy jacks ensure that the mainsail is captured within the confines of the recessed area of the boom deck and hides the bulk of the sail when moored. The sail cover is fit to the inboard groove of the track system installed on the inside perimeter of the boom top.

SATELITE PHONE/DATA WIFI ROUTER IRIDIUM GO

The Iridium GO! is a satellite wifi router/phone. Once installed in the boat the boat will have a wifi hotspot the same as any office/home and all devices (phones, computers, chartplotters, c-zone etc) can then easily be connected to the internet.

B&G forward Scan option

Explore poorly-chartered or unfamiliar waters confidently, avoid upcoming dangers or obstructions and set custom shallow depth alarms with B&G’s forward-looking sensor. With an effective range eight times the actual depth, ForwardScan® helps you avoid groundings or damage to keels and rudders while pinpointing the ideal spot for anchoring.

C-ZONE DIGITAL SWITCHING

The sleek CZone® touch screen digital switching system provides a lightweight sophisticated switching system enabelling control and monetoring of your vessel through the navigation tables touch screen display or through WiFi connection the system can also be controlled at the helm mounted chart plotter or wirelessly via tablet or smartphone.

• Full Production Now Underway in Turkiye with Completion of the First European Built Seawind 1170
• Seawind 1370 Hull 1 Test Report
• New Production Facility and European Service Center in Izmir, Turkey.
• Seawind 1600 Reviewed by Pacific Yachting
• Seawind Blog
• Charter A Seawind
• Find A Dealer
• Français ( French )

Tel +84 28 3873 3630

Sales Enquiry:

[email protected]

Customer Service Enquiry:

[email protected]

© 2024 Seawind Group Holdings, Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy