The latest addition to the Aquila shipyard, the 54, is aimed at both the ocean cruising market and the luxury yacht market. A development that seems logical for this major player in the power catamaran market.
In a two-part article, Alex Stone looks at the main considerations to be taken into account when buying a cruising catamaran.
– Where Great Begins! –
Self-confessed reef addicts, Chris and Wade on Anui, have spent an extended time in the southernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef and declare “this is where Great begins” in more ways than one.
– Outremer 55 - White Stallion of the Sea –
When the Outremer design team sat down to brainstorm their next performance cruising catamaran concept, they didn’t have to turn far for inspiration. With a 35 year history building high performance cruising catamarans and winner three times for European Boat of the Year for their Outremer 49, Outremer 5X and Outremer 4X, performance and cruising is part of their DNA. But look outside their window at the Gunboat shipyard, owned by the same parent company Grand Large Yachting, one of the most iconic high performance catamarans of our generation rolls off the production line, the Gunboat 68.
– Lightning and Lockdown –
If you sail offshore for long enough, go enough places and explore your boundaries and limits with wind and sea conditions, you are likely to have a few disasters strike. I had thought most had happened to me. Until Boxing Day in Cairns. At the time Whim was nestled safely on her jetty.
– Lagoon 55 - Curvaceous Cat –
The Lagoon 55 promises to be a comfortable long-range cruising yacht. Image Lagoon
Curvaceous and vastly spacious, the newly launched Lagoon 55 is a quiet evolution o this cruising marque, reports Kevin Green.
– Excess II - Compact Cruiser –
The Australian debut of the new Excess range is a smart reaction to the burgeoning catamaran cruising market, reports Kevin Green.
– Stay Calm –
Stay Calm coming back into Rainbow Beach.
Twenty-twenty has been a year of change for most. A year of highs and lows, doubt and stress amongst extraordinary moments, both personal to each and shared by all. We went into the year with our first baby on the way. A beautiful girl. Little did we anticipate that she wouldn’t be the only lady to join our family that year. Having always talked of buying a boat to sail, a few months after our daughter’s birth we found ourselves looking at boats. We had little experience but a great desire for adventure, buckets of enthusiasm, a great deal of foolishness, a willingness to learn and just enough confidence to think we could buy a boat and just learn to sail.
– A Candid Look at the Sea Wander's Life –
Dawn starts – worth getting up early for!
Are you toying with the idea of living the sailing life, but not sure what to expect? Or not sure how easy the transition to a nomadic sea existence would be? Being in her fourth year on a sailing catamaran, Chris Danger sheds some light on the matter for us.
– Iliad 50 Powercat –
The team from ILIAD have taken the desire to explore and boosted the lifestyle element with comfortable apartment styled living, robust systems and effortless manageability.
– We're Back! –
Fusion Catamarans Have Sailed Home
From humble beginnings in Airlie Beach in North Queensland to a major composite manufacturer in Composite Marine Industries/Cobra in Thailand, Fusion Catamarans have come full circle and returned their manufacturing back to South East Queensland, Australia.
– Wet Season Sailing –
The Good, the Bad and the Downright Ugly
Just after Christmas 2009 our family decided to go sailing once again after being land-locked in Darwin for 18 years. We had made a decision that we needed a boat and that we needed to become a sailing family and have some fun as work gave us all (me) rectal pains. I think I already had it in my mind that we would sail extensively but I had no idea what could happen, and what could eventuate with Chaotic Harmony and our family.
– Ayana - 14m Planing Hull Powercat –
Designed by Roger Hill • Built by Noosa Marine • images James Dumergue
I
This project began with a call from the client enquiring about a 14m semi displacement alloy/composite (composite fly bridge) RHYD power cat that was for sale. He needed to confirm the overall dimensions as it was critical for fitting into their berth, the beam was about 50mm too wide, Murphy’s Law. They were very disappointed as the boat ticked most of the boxes for what they were looking for to take long range cruising holidays out of Perth, WA.
– Heavy Weather - How A Catamaran Survives –
Alex Stone provides pointers to storm seamanship in a catamaran after a difficult Tasman crossing.
The Tasman can throw it at you. And it did. On an eastbound crossing from Bundaberg to New Zealand we survived two gales and one intense storm. We sailed nearly 400nm without rudders. We sat at sea anchor for a total of eight nights. A weather window that should have been open – no less than six prediction systems assured us of it, two weeks of westerlies, none more than 25kts – well, that weather window had slammed shut. Decisively.
Tasman: (synonym) unpredictable, challenging, arduous.
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