Light Weight Designers and technically informed sailors all seem to agree that light weight is the fundamental driver of catamaran cruising efficiency.  There is a virtuous circle.  A lighter boat: Is more easily driven and intrinsically faster  Needs a smaller rig to power it Smaller sails are easier to handle with lower loads Engines can be smaller and lighter (and anyway you’ll motor less and sail more) Smaller equipment means the boat is lighter… and so the virtuous circle goes round And there are some great added win-wins: Improved motion Light cats with centralised weight pitch less, sail more smoothly and this increases their speed as well as comfort Safety Speed adds a major safety factor through the potential to outrun bad weather Simplicity A simple spec keeps the weight down and also reduces maintenance stress We discovered it's important to understand what “light” really means. In marketing driven times with so much material circulated by sponsored sailors, the terms “light” and “performance” seem to be applied to all sorts…  We’re looking at boats of around 45 ft, so let’s compare the displacements of a few mainstream models and where they sit in the spectrum: Over 14,000kg Circa 11,000kg Under 8,500kg Lagoon 450 Seawind 1370 Outremer 45  &  4X Fountaine Pajot Elba 45 Nautitech 46 CM46 Leopard 45 Balance 442 Marsaudon TS42 To put it in perspective, if you parked two VW Polos on an Outremer 45 it would still weigh less than the 11,000kg boats. Imagine that effect on performance! I’m not suggesting that boats in one of these bands are better than the others. We all have our own priorities. Everyone understands that the heavier boats have correspondingly more voluminous accommodation and that’s absolutely fine if space is your main priority. What’s less clear through some of the hype is that we found, by sailing various boats, you really have to look at the lightest sector if you want that feeling of effortless speed, or gliding along under sail when others are motoring.  The light boat compromise  Light boats, of course, compromise on volume and payload. Nevertheless, the step-up from the monohull space we’re accustomed to, to the space in a well-designed light cat, is huge. More than enough for our needs. We’re happy to forego the widest cabins for better handling, quick passages and weather routing safety. And... to be honest, pride of ownership of a real sailing boat is a big thing for us. 2000+kg payload is typically possible in the light boats and, after creating another spreadsheet, we estimate this will be plenty for us. Toys such as SUPs, bikes and a kite-board (on the have-a-go list) will be no problem in addition to spares and essentials. As Pogo said about the first Rush “We built the boat light enough so you can carry what you want”. That seemed a great philosophy and it worked.  For us, the advantages of a boat that will sail in around 4 knots of breeze and be capable of good daily mileages using small sails, in comfort and safety mode, easily…

We decided to change from Rush, our Pogo 12.50 monohull (which we loved for her performance, handling and steady motion) to a multihull for longer periods of living aboard. Primary factors are the increased living and stowage spaces, comfortable watch keeping and level living underway, stability and room-with-a-view visibility at anchor plus space for a good tender.  BUT... we really don’t want to lose the enjoyment we get from a rewarding, quick boat. Experienced and likeable yacht designer, Rob Humphries, once said “Cruising efficiency is also about performance. Whether getting from A to B, or avoiding bad weather, there are lots of benefits of having a fast yacht and I can’t think of any benefits of having a slow boat.”  We have blue-water experienced mates who’ve said the same. Everyone, of course, spends significant periods at anchor but, for us anyway, if we didn’t enjoy the passages and have pride in our boat, it wouldn’t feel the same.   Coming from a boat development background (I was co-founder of RS Sailing, the small sailboat brand), we undertook an extensive process to build our understanding of what it would take to achieve the balance of comfort and performance we're after. We tapped into a range of sources:   Boat Shows Visiting a number of shows (including our favourite, the Multihull Show, La Grand Motte) gave a feel for a wide variety of boats and the opportunity to talk them through with the manufacturers. But, a boat show only provides one part of the jigsaw and to draw conclusions after simply looking over a boat in a marina would be foolish. Designers Having worked with a number of top boat designers over the years, they’re generally enthusiastic and approachable, so we spoke to some of the leading names in cruising cat design. They were generous with their time and experience and we're very grateful. Yachting journalists We fortunate to know some of the best and mercilessly picked their brains! They’ve thoroughly test-sailed many different boats and have a deep understanding of their attributes and compromises. Shipyards We created a short list and visited a number of them to fill in the behind-the-scenes detail of construction, systems and quality.  Sailing We sailed all the multihulls we could.   The process took a year and friends were beginning to wonder whether we'd ever make a decision!