Table of contents for Multihull Power & Sail Summer 2024 in SAIL

In 2010, Russ and Lori Rackliffe bought a Maine Cat 41, sold their house, took early retirement, and became fulltime cruisers. Since then, they’ve lived aboard two other cats—a PDQ 34 and a Manta 44—and spent one year living and land-cruising in an RV. They’ve learned a lot in the past 13 years and shared their knowledge with Multihull Power & Sail. MHP&S: You’ve owned three cats. Have you ever owned a monohull? Russ & Lori Rackliffe: Yes, we owned several Larson and Sea Ray powerboats during the years while our son was growing up. MHP&S: Did you buy the Maine Cat specifically for living aboard, or did you already own it when you made your escape? Did it work out as planned? R&LR: We spent several years researching our…

When I showed up for the sea trial of the Seawind 1170 right after the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis last fall, I was in for three surprises. One, they already had a passel of potential buyers onboard—a passel meaning 18 other humans in this case—which is hardly a typical sea trial arrangement. I wasn’t at all sure how the catamaran would respond with all the extra ballast. But my worry led to surprise number two: No worries! The heavy load turned out to be a rounding error, and this 39-footer performed remarkably well in the flat water of the South River, slipping along at 6.8 knots in just 10-12 knots of true breeze on a beam reach with a full-hoist mainsail and the screecher on a continuous furler. Surprise…

This winter, a young couple moved aboard a first-of-its-kind, fresh-from-the-factory Fountaine Pajot Samana 59. The cat, Aurora, is a TWe6 Smart Electric, making it the first charter cat capable of 100% electric propulsion, generated by a combination of solar and wind with a hydrogen fuel cell and diesel only as a backup. The boat is owned by TradeWinds, a boutique charter company with a fleet of nearly 50 boats around the world—all of which they plan to replace with electric boats within the next 12 years. Marcello Giacomini and Lulu Gong are the captain and mate who brought it home to St. Maarten. But how did such a young couple find themselves responsible for such a groundbreaking boat? Their stories, first separate and now together, are woven with incredible work…

Yes, Washington D.C. may not be the first destination that comes to mind when you’re dreaming up your next cruise, but it should be. A trip by boat to the traffic-challenged national capital, in fact, has so much going for it that it’s hard to know where to begin. “Hey, wait,” you say, “you mean I can get there by boat?” Sure you can, Magellan. D.C. is tucked neatly between the Potomac River and its Anacostia River tributary. The Potomac, in turn, is connected to the Chesapeake Bay, which is connected to the entire rest of the world. Not only is D.C. connected to the world, but the 80-mile trip up the Potomac to get there is so interesting that, to me, it doesn’t matter whether you ever actually arrive.…

“I’m a racer, and I don’t like the sound of engines,” said Stephane with a laugh as he showed me around Awen, his sleek and recently launched Outremer 52. “We wanted to sail more and motor less, which is why we went with Outremer.” This sentiment is pervasive among Outremer owners who together have logged some 2.3 million miles over the company’s history. As new models are introduced, more adventurers are made, and that’s about to heat up with the launch of the latest design. The Outremer 52 replaces the very popular 51, of which 101 were sold. Those are some big shoes to fill, but the new model has already rung up more sales than any other semi-production performance cruising cat in the same timeframe. This latest VPLP design…

I’d been walking the docks of the Miami boat show all day, checking out all manner of catamarans, but when I reached the Two Oceans 555, it only took one glance to realize this one was different. It was big. Colossal. The Godzilla of catamarans. Call me Ishmael, because I think I found Moby Dick. Yes, I am exaggerating about the size of this boat; after all, it was only a 55-footer. However, that was my initial reaction. It wasn’t the biggest cat at the show, but it somehow looked it from the stern. I realized this was due to one of the boat’s standout features—a single-level main deck. Gawking ever so slightly, I wandered toward the 555, past the crowd of employees meeting about the very boat I was…

Bluegame has never shied away from the experimental. Sanlorenzo’s ever-so-slightly down-market brand has always shown off the builder’s attentiveness to eye-pleasing aesthetics and Italian elegance, but they’ve done it in a way that’s a bit different from most anyone else in the industry. Take, for example, the yard’s rather avant garde spin on the split-level boat—seen in earlier models—with a salon both on the main deck and on the accommodations level. Or look to the hydrogen-powered chase boat the builder conjured up for the American Magic America’s Cup team. In that line of innovation something new this way comes: the BGM75, the first production catamaran the builder has put to sea. This yacht is rather narrow for a catamaran; at 74 feet, 4 inches long, she is 26 feet, 7…

When it comes to West Coast sailing, images of the deep, cold waters of Puget Sound, San Francisco’s breezy bay, and idyllic SoCal conditions in San Diego come to mind. But at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers—tucked away on Portland, Oregon’s Hayden Island, on quiet Canoe Bay—sits a boating hub many have heard of but few ever visit. Schooner Creek Boat Works is a boatbuilder, a full-service yard, and a boat dealer that non-boating locals may not know about. But thanks to new ownership and a team that includes a French commercial fisherman, the company is thriving. In addition to being a pillar of the regional boating community as a go-to yard, Schooner Creek is a leading builder of large sailing catamarans. Their latest build, a 65-footer,…

Ever since Robert Beebe published his transformational work Voyaging Under Power, those interested in long-distance explorer yachts have followed a similar path. The consensus has been that the best boats for long-distance power cruising were heavy, displacement-speed monohulls. Stephen Weatherley, the founder of Archipelago Yachts, has different ideas. Two years ago, he began a search for a 45- to 60-foot explorer yacht with long range, good seakeeping characteristics, and speeds in the upper teens to mid-20 knots. It was a combination of features, he came to realize, that virtually no current boat fully embodied. There were plenty of durable, high-speed boats capable of handling adverse conditions, but in the targeted size, they couldn’t carry enough fuel for his intentions. The closest Weatherley was able to get to his dream boat…