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Vote for the Balance 580 – Multihull of the Year Nominee!

Dean Paarman — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:20:16 +0000

We’re thrilled to share that the Balance 580 has been nominated for Multihull of the Year by Multihulls World!

This stunning new launch from Balance Catamarans is already making waves—and for good reason. Designed for those who demand both performance and luxury, the 580 is a true testament to what modern voyaging can be.

A New Standard in Luxury Performance Cruising

Crafted with 100% epoxy and heavy carbon reinforcement, the Balance 580 is longer, leaner, and faster than any of Balance’s smaller models. She’s not just sleek—she’s strong. The all-epoxy build, closed-cell foam core hulls, and handcrafted wood foam-core furniture make her the lightest catamaran in her class, yet she offers an unrivaled level of interior volume and storage.

As Phil Berman, founder of Balance Catamarans, puts it:

“She’s a true high-performance luxury voyager… a 50,000 labor hour work of art for discriminating sailors who refuse to compromise sailing performance or luxury living.”

Smart Design, Inside and Out

Co-designed by renowned yacht designer Anton du Toit, the 580 features Balance’s signature VersaHelm dual steering stations, a cutter rig for ease of handling, and multiple custom layout options—including 3 to 5 cabin versions for owners or crew.

The open-plan cockpit and salon can transform with the weather—wide open on sunny days or closed off for a cozy, light-filled retreat when the skies turn.

“The panoramic views, large side windows, and smart skylight integration keep owners connected to the sea—even from inside,” says Berman.

Speed, Safety, and Simplicity

Balance’s focus on sailing made safer and simpler shines through in the 580:

Carbon Cross Standard Construction: E-glass, foam core, carbon fiber, and epoxy resin.
Carbon Cross+ Options: Carbon coachroof, cockpit, daggerboards, rudders, and more.
Dual daggerboards, high underwing clearance, and easily reefed sailplan.
Electrically furling three-headsail cutter rig—easily operated by one person.
Drop-down bow thruster for effortless docking.

This isn’t just a boat—it’s a movement. With nine hulls already sold, launching through 2027, the Balance 580 is redefining what’s possible in high-performance, bluewater cruising.

Help Us Win – Cast Your Vote!

If you believe in innovation, craftsmanship, and adventure on the open sea, cast your vote for the Balance 580 as Multihull of the Year.

Click here to vote now!

Let’s show the world what the future of sailing looks like.

Still need more convincing? Check out the images below.

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Top 10 Best Boats Review: Balance 442

Bianca — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 13:17:47 +0000

“The newest kid in the Balance Catamarans family is fun, fast, and flippin’ smart.”

“Sail magazine today announced the winners of its Top 10 Best Boats for 2023. Using refined judging criteria, the program evaluated two dozen boats from 16 to 46 feet.

Previously called Sail Best Boats, the program this year eliminated the size and purpose categories from the judging criteria to more accurately assess and compare the boats. Categories were replaced, and judges picked their 10 favorite boats across the board, ensuring that the best designs were recognized…”

To Read to full online article click here.

Read Print Publication here.

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Balance Catamarans 526 wins line honors in Cape2Rio Race

Bianca — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 13:29:15 +0000

A Balance 526 catamaran skippered by Larry Folsom, the boat’s owner, has won line honors in
this year’s 50th Anniversary Cape2Rio race. Facing stiff competition during the 3,4,00 plus nautical mile race, Norhi held the lead for most of the race against veteran Brazilian racer Johan “Hans” Hutzler, skippering his race-ready Outremer 51 catamaran, Aventureiro 4.

This is the first Balance Catamaran to enter this grueling ocean race – the longest in the Southern Hemisphere.

“Congratulations to Larry Folsom and his intrepid crew for taking line honors in the Cape2Rio Race,” said Balance Catamarans President and Founder Phillip Berman. “This year’s race had tough, shifting winds but Larry never let up. It was a fantastic race against a tough competitor.”

Larry was joined by his wife, Norhi, 15-year-old son, Dylan, 12-year-old daughter, Alexa, Campbell Field from Field Yachting as navigator, Catherine Fryer, Warwick “Waza” Kerr as bowman, Warren Russell from Balance’s own Nexus Yachts, and the ever-so-superb sailmaker and tactician from Doyle Sails, Scott Zebny.

@Cape2Rio2023 Norhi Team

“We exchanged the lead a few times during the first 4 days of a much-disputed race,” Hutzler said, “but after that they showed greater speed and opened on us day by day, consolidating their lead. Well done guys!”

The race originated in 1971 and the overall winner takes the South Atlantic Trophy with 32 ounces of 18K gold in the stylized boat hulls and sterling silver sails. Johan and Larry knew from the start this would be a close race. Hutzler has a long 40 -year history of competitive sailboat racing in Brazil, where he has raced all types of boats both inshore and off. Folsom too comes from a racing background, so the race was always going to be a deeply competitive match between the two performance catamaran sailors from start to finish. But Norhi was first across the finish line completing the race in a lapsed time corrected of 18 days, 20 hours and 48 minutes and 16 seconds. Aventureiro finished in 19 days, 14 hours and 28 minutes exactly.

@Cape2Rio2020 First Start, 4 January

Hall Spars worked tirelessly to get the rig to Cape Town in time as did Scott Zebny who fabricated its sails. The entire South African crew of Sparcraft Masts and the Balance team at Nexus Yachts worked day and night to have Norhi race ready. The amazing team effort was incredible, added Roger Paarman of Balance’s St. Francis factory where Norhi was built. “Norhi did its race-required 500-nautical mile shakedown cruise in very tough conditions in the waters off South Africa just days before the race began. I’m not sure there could have been a rougher first sail of a boat just launched,” added Berman. “After he returned from that test sail, Larry told us she sailed amazingly. We knew Norhi was a beast from that moment on.”

@Cape2Rio2023 Balance 526, Norhi, crossing the finish line

Balance Catamarans was founded in 2013 by Berman. The full line of Balance Catamarans from the 526, 482, 442, 580, 620, and 750 were all co-designed by Berman and Anton du Toit of Du Toit Yacht Design in Cape Town. The duo never set out to design racing cats, per se, but rather performance-oriented catamarans that offered significant cabinetry, payload capacity, storage, and gracious livability. This race demonstrated that a truly spacious luxury performance catamaran built with exceptional technology and care competes and wins against the sparer “racing cat” design.

Balance Catamarans builds its full range of catamarans in St. Francis, South Africa with its partner Nexus Yachts CC and in Cape Town with Balance Catamarans Cape Town.

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SAIL MAGAZINE: 482 – Best Boat Winner 2022

Patrick — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 14:16:00 +0000

https://www.sailmagazine.com/boats/best-boats-balance-482

I’m sure many readers have heard of the dinghy test, in which it’s considered important you be able to admire your own boat as you’re dinghying ashore. Taking things up a notch, I’d say there’s also a kind of vanity test underway, whereby it ain’t half bad finding yourself sailing around on a boat so cool you can’t help thinking you’re pretty cool as well. Case in point, the new South African-built Balance 482 catamaran.

Design & Construction

A collaboration between Balance president Phillip Berman and naval architect Anton du Toit, the Balance 482 features a pair of narrow, slippery hulls that include either high-performance fixed keels or dual daggerboards (the latter far and away the more popular of the two); wave-piercing bows, to reduce hobby-horsing; a nicely drawn reverse sheer to maximize living space while keeping weight out of the ends; a low cabintrunk to minimize windage; and a powerful easily handled rig with a square-top main and self-taking headsail. Reaching sails can be flow from a centerline longeron sprit fabricated out of aluminum.

Construction is in E-glass and vinylester with a PVC foam core and carbon-fiber reinforcements in high-load areas, like the mast beam, aft beam and chain plates. This kind of selective use of carbon allows Balance to achieve strength and stiffness at a more reasonable cost than going “full carbon,” so to speak. Interior joinery work and floorboards are also cored to provide stiffness and further reduce weight. The bows include a pair of crash boxes in the interest of safety. The overall look of the boat, with its swept-back saloon windows and gently angled cabintrunk and hardtop aft, is purposeful and fast.

On Deck

My test sail aboard the Balance 482 shortly after the 2021 Annapolis sailboat show was a bit unusual in that we had a crowd of family and customers aboard. The more the merrier, though, as far as I’m concerned, since that’s the way bigger boats, in particular, are meant to be sailed—with plenty of friends and family to keep you company!

The reason I mention this is that in the case of the Balance 482, there was more than enough room for all, a testament to Berman and du Toit’s design skills. It’s amazing how difficult it can be to move around aboard some cats, but not the 482. Balance makes a point of doing mockups of all its designs for the express purpose of ensuring its boats work in the real world, and it shows.

The boat also felt rock solid going forward. The combination of wide, flat side decks, an aggressive nonskid, outboard toerails and a nicely designed groove-like handhold enclosing much of the cabintrunk (which doubles as a water-catchment system for longer passages) ensures you don’t have to feel like you’re taking your life into your hands exiting the cockpit. I especially liked the step and handholds integrated into the boat’s Sparcraft aluminum mast and boom (carbon spars can be priced on request) for getting onto and around the cabintrunk for, say, tending the mainsail.

Finally, no discussion of a Balance catamaran would be complete without giving a shout out to the company’s proprietary Versa-Helm, a system whereby the wheel can be oriented in a raised helming position overlooking the cabintrunk or swung back down to a more sheltered position beneath the hard dodger with views through the saloon. It’s a proven setup that works well and makes lots of sense.

Deck hardware aboard our test boat included a combination of Harken electric winches, blocks and tracks, Spinlock clutches and Jefa cable steering. Electronics aboard our test boat were B&G. Solar panels mounted on the cabintrunk complement LED lighting throughout and a sophisticated well-installed electrical system.

Accommodations

Belowdecks and in the saloon, the Balance 482 is equally impressive—again the result of the mocking up and tweaking that are an integral part of the Balance design process. The saloon includes a forward-facing nav/watch-standing station to port and a wraparound settee and dining table to starboard that can be easily converted to an additional double berth. The aft-facing galley flanks the passageway to the cockpit, with multiple front-opening fridges and freezers to starboard and sinks, a Bosch oven and Kenyon convection stovetop to port.

On our test boat the entire starboard hull was given over to the owner, with a lateral double bunk forward and a truly massive shower space aft. A pair of double-berth cabins share the hull to port. A four-cabin, eight-person layout is also available. The overall finish is sleek and modern. A somewhat unconventional striped “zebra” wood veneer is apparently all the rage among Balance owners these days, and while it’s a bit unusual, I confess it’s starting to grow on me. Other, more conventional veneers are also available.

Under Sail

We had perfect weather for our test sail, and the Balance 482 took full advantage of every puff. Sailing in flat seas with 12 knots of wind just aft of abeam yielded 8.6 knots of boatspeed. A puff of 20 knots popped our speed up into double digits. Unfurling the Code 0 did the same. Steering aboard out test boat, which came equipped with the aforementioned daggerboards, was sensitive and predictable, whether holding a course or coming about. The Balance 482 is one of those multihulls aboard which the helm provides you with some real feedback, à la a monohull. There’s nothing like chasing puffs aboard a boat that rewards you with a burst of speed once you’ve caught them.

Best of all was how effortless it all was. Again, we had a crowd aboard, including two little girls in colorful sundresses, no less. There was never a moment, though, when they or any of our passengers were in any way concerned. Just the opposite. They spent most of their time lounging around up on the tramp without a care in the world while we nerdy sailors did our best to max out the boat’s VMGs aft.

Alas, we didn’t have a chance to try the 482 out in any real seas. But a short, rough sail I took to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a few years ago aboard another, smaller Balance made clear the company knows how to build boats for this kind of weather as well. I have every confidence the Balance 482 will be a great offshore passagemaker.

Under Power

It was impossible to accurately assess precisely how the boat did under power. However, our test boat’s twin 45hp Yanmars and Varifold three-blade folding props (Gori props are also an option) had no problem propelling us through the chop. With the daggerboards partway down to provide a little lateral resistance, “tractoring” the two engines back and forth made getting on and off the dock in a surprisingly tight marina just south of Back Creek a snap.

Conclusion

The multihull market has long since matured to where there are a variety of different types to choose from. Personally, I think they all have something to offer. However, if you’re the kind of sailor who values performance and drop-dead gorgeous good looks in addition to comfort afloat, you owe it to yourself to check out the Balance 482.

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SAILING WORLD: 2022 Boat of the Year – Best Multihull

Patrick — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 13:55:00 +0000

https://www.sailingworld.com/sailboats/2022-boat-of-the-year-best-multihull/

The Balance 482 is a bluewater voyager with high-quality construction, performance and value

Sailing World Magazine’s annual Boat of the Year tests are conducted in Annapolis, Maryland, following the US Sailboat Show. With independent judges exhaustively inspecting the boats on land and putting them through their paces on the water, this year’s fleet of new performance-sailing boats spanned from small dinghies to high-tech bluewater catamarans. Here’s the best of the best from our 2022 Boat of the Year nominees »

Life, like sailing, is all about balance, says Phil Berman, who, as a teenage Hobie class champion, wrote the authoritative book on catamaran racing. That was way back in the 1980s, but for our Boat of the Year tests, he’s on board the tropical-sunset-wrapped Balance 482 performance catamaran. This South African-built 48-footer is a sabbatical cruiser for sure, but it’s just the sort of cruiser a competitive sailor like Berman would just as well take across a starting line and go for the hardware.

His story may sound familiar, but it’s also the story of this boat. He started a multihull brokerage long ago, and after surveying and selling so many boats, he came to the inevitable conclusion: “I said, ‘You know, I think I can design a better production catamaran, one that isn’t designed for the charter trade, but one that’s going to be a boat that’s as comfortable to sail as it is on anchor.”

That’s the equilibrium Berman strives to achieve in all of his boats, and it is this lens through which our judges evaluated Hull No. 1 of the Balance 482 in Annapolis. “This is a boat that’s fun to sail, but has space to live and is robust enough to sail in the Southern Ocean,” he tells the judges, “and easily sailed singlehanded, if required.”

And with that said, he draws the judges’ attention to the boat’s helm station—the one and only—to starboard. Here, he shows them how he has full command of the engine throttles, and sail trim controls and halyards led through banks of low-profile clutches to three powered winches. Every line—literally every line—leads to this workspace, with the tails disappearing neatly into line boxes. From this vantage point at the helm, he can also see everything forward and above without having to look through a dodger or crazed vinyl. Such protection from the elements, Berman says, isn’t necessary. When the wind and water in your face get to be too much, you can simply disengage the plunger lock on the pedestal and pivot your helm downward into the salon, where there’s a bank of instruments at the ready and great visibility through the boat’s gigantic thick-glass windows.

The Versa Helm, which Berman says he invented and others have adopted, places the inside steering station in the aft cockpit, unlike many other catamaran designs that have the inside helm forward, next to a door that leads to a mast pit and cockpit. With the helm station located aft instead, the Balance’s salon can better utilize the space to fit an expansive galley, a roomy nav station desk, and a convertible queen-size berth when the dinette table is lowered. With dual 48-volt alternators, rigid solar panels on the roof, and all the low-draw galley appliances you could ever possibly need, this is a boat where you could certainly keep the fuel tanks light for racing and disappear off the grid for a while when you’re done banging around the buoys.

“The open layout in the salon is a nice change from what we normally see,” Greg Stewart says. “The up-down steering system actually worked really well, and it was an interesting place to steer a catamaran like this—it was something we’d never done on any of the other cats we’ve sailed. Because you don’t have all the friction of a second helm, the steering was amazingly light and responsive.”

At roughly 26,000 pounds (the stated weight with the cruise-package equipment), the judges deemed the light-ship displacement was about right for a boat of its length and purpose. Cored vinylester hulls and composite cabinetry throughout the interior help keep the weight down while allowing for storage compartments that practically run stem to stern in both hulls. “We’re not doing our laminate schedules on the thin edge of survival,” Berman tells the judges. “We’re building a boat that’s robust and capable of sailing in the Southern Ocean.”

The philosophy of the 482, he adds, is that a couple (“typically in their 50s and 60s”) would be capable of taking the boat on extended cruises or daysailing it with ease. For the latter purpose, the 82 percent working jib is self-tacking, and the 964-square-foot mainsail is set on a bridle instead of a transom-mounted traveler. “Rather than dealing with a traveler, you set the bridal stoppers for the wind you have,” Berman says, “and with that, you can short-tack all day long.”

The 482’s ability to tack efficiently and track well upwind is mainly due to the deep, high-profile carbon daggerboards, Stewart says. “The foil profiles are good, and the boards are plenty deep.”

The judges sail-tested the boat with the working jib in 6 to 10 knots of breeze, and Chuck Allen felt it was a bit underpowered, but Stewart said a few more knots of breeze would have made it come alive. Even with the small jib, the boat was matching wind speeds, he adds, and sailing at decent angles upwind. When they rolled out the screecher—no surprise—the fun meter shot up instantly.

Furling spinnakers, of course, require careful handling to ensure a proper roll, and on the Balance, there’s good working space on the foredeck to snake and stow these sails. Berman points to the raised aluminum longeron as a key feature; it eliminates a tripping hazard on the forward trampoline and provides a wide and firm runway to access headsail tack fittings.

Approximately 35,000 man-hours go into making the Balance as strikingly good-looking on the outside as it is inside, and squeezed into 25 feet of beam are sophisticated systems that are all easily accessible for maintenance, from the steering quadrant, to the engines and alternators, to the watermaker and the meticulous electric panel.

“The interior is what really struck me as being really, really well done,” Dave Powlison says. “It fits into the luxury category, with the beautiful wood laminate and all the high-quality systems. The hull lines too were perfectly clean without any bump-outs [for the steps down into the hulls], and that also makes it a lot quieter.”

Allen agrees: “The whole boat is really clean, everywhere I looked. And I thought, for the boat we saw, it would be a lot more than $1.3 million. It hits its stated purpose, and for me, the value is what put this one to top of my list. The balance that [Berman] talks about—good sailing and good livability—definitely makes this one a winner.”

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CRUISING WORLD: 2022 Boat of the Year: Best Performance Catamaran

Patrick — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 14:43:00 +0000

Quick, fast and fun, the South African-built Balance 482 is a cat that will get up and go, but offers plenty of comfort once the hook is down.

During and in the four days immediately following the US Sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland, the Cruising World judges inspected and sailed on 27 boats vying for recognition. Learn more about the boats in our 2022 Boat of the Year »

https://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/2022-boat-of-the-year-best-performance-catamaran/

OK, confession time. When the roster of nominees for the 2022 Boat of the Year awards was released, the contest’s team and judging panel couldn’t help themselves, and quietly put three check marks, little symbols of anticipation, alongside a trio of boats: the untamed cats that would vie for the title of best performer in their class. After all, both Balance and Seawind had entered the winner’s circle in previous BOTY competitions, and it was clear they’d have a serious contender for the throne in yet another player from cat-crazy South Africa, the Kinetic KC54. How’d it go? Let’s just say, nobody was disappointed. The conditions on Chesapeake Bay were ideal for putting the three nominees through their paces, and the trio of scalded cats all acquitted themselves superbly.

For 2022, if anything, the trend for flybridge catamarans is on a major upswing. New cats for 2022 from both Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot continued down that design path, putting an emphasis on living accommodations, not performance. But not aboard the latest Seawind 1600, a brand originally built in Australia that is now produced in Vietnam. And that suits judge Tim Murphy just fine. “This boat was very dialed in,” he said, “and one place Seawind has always been innovative is with their helms. This one was really great; it was -outboard and aft with great visibility, sort of half-protected where you could step in and out. There was also good access to the boom and mainsail, which you don’t always see on cats. The deck layout was excellent, particularly the forward trampolines. Some cats have lacings with large openings where you can twist an ankle, but these were nice and tight.”

“Compared to other Seawinds that I’ve seen, I was just blown away with it in terms of what it could do and how it performed,” said Ed Sherman. “It’s a fairly conservative boat in terms of technology compared to some of the other boats in the same category, which depending on a potential buyer’s state of mind, could be either a good thing or a bad one. I loved the centralized winch aft which is where all the sail-handling takes place. It’s pretty brilliant for a short-handed crew, and it’s all in a very safe and easy-to-access location that a cruising couple can deal with without scaring the heck out of themselves.”

The Kinetic KC54 is a fresh entry in the cat universe, and we’ll let Tim Murphy get right to the point: “This is a fairly new company that was started within the past couple of years. My breath was absolutely taken away by this boat; it was spectacular. I think it was the best-built boat in the entire fleet. It’s an all-carbon boat, with a foam core, epoxy resin, all infused–fantastic. The whole boat felt integrated. You didn’t feel like there was a conflict between the forces in terms of accommodation versus performance.” With a price tag approaching $3 million, it perhaps should not be astonishing. That was a major factor in evaluating the boat, and while it did not win its class, the experts panel did present it with a Judges’ Special Recognition prize to honor the boat’s overall excellence.

“It was my personal favorite in this year’s contest,” said Sherman. The materials that were used are absolutely the highest quality available in our industry at this point, and it’s a very high-tech boat in terms of systems.” Gerry Douglas was also duly impressed: “This was the Tesla of sailboats. I think that that was their model. In terms of design and execution and technology, it hit all three of those marks. This boat is built without compromise, and what it cost was not an issue, they just wanted to do the best they could in every aspect of the boat. The construction was impeccable, the fit and finish was amazing. There are some very clever design things in the boat, but it all really worked seamlessly.”

With that level of competition, the Balance 482 had a tall order to overcome to win its class. And it did. “The sailing performance was excellent,” said Douglas. “The boat felt really good. The steering was terrific. The structure of the boat throughout was exemplary. Storage is really good. Visibility was good. Ventilation was great. There was even a rain collection system on the cabin top, which is the only one of the boats we looked at had that. It was very well concealed because the gutters formed a handhold going forward. The solar panel installation was also well done. The panels were encapsulated into a fiberglass tray that elevated the deck so the panels wouldn’t overheat. Very clever.”

The driving force behind Balance cats is Phil Berman, a world champ at racing beach cats who brought that passion to developing and marketing fully found cruisers. Judge Murphy knows him well: “Phil comes from a very strong view of wanting to see boats that have solid sailing performance. He’s also a strong proponent of daggerboard boats, which tends to be quick shorthand for the dividing line between cats that are more about payload versus cats that are about performance, but not so much where you’re going to fly a hull or break a rudder. There’s a balance within a boat that really performs that you can still live aboard.” A winning balance, it turns out, with the Balance 482 securing its position as the Best Performance Cruiser for 2022.

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CRUISING WORLD: Balance 526 Wins Import Boat of the Year

Patrick — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 16:08:00 +0000

It was a match made in multihull heaven. On the one hand, you had American Phil Berman, a world-class competitive Hobie sailor in his youth, who parlayed his knowledge, talent and passion into a decades-long career conceptualizing, sailing and selling cruising catamarans. On the other hand, you had designer Anton du Toit and the Paarman brothers, a trio of South African surfing legends who began their careers shaping and building surfboards and later applied that experience — along with their deep understanding of the wild waves, winds and currents that surge along the coast of their homeland — to the lamination, construction and marketing of long-range cruising cats.

The ensuing collaboration between Berman, du Toit, the Paarman bros and their company, Nexus Yachts, led to a balancing act in creating a light, fast cruising boat — one that two people could truly sail well — that nonetheless could carry a cruiser’s payload and offer complete, comfortable accommodations. The end result was the Balance 526, Cruising World’s Import Boat of the Year and Best Full-Size Multihull Over 50 Feet for 2017.

“Phil has entered other boats in the contest, including a Dolphin cat built in Brazil and an earlier Balance model built in China,” said Tim Murphy. “I think he’s nailed it with this one. In fact, I think the Balance 526 represents an important moment in the history of multihull design and evolution. We’ve been watching catamaran development for 20 years now. In the beginning, there were big, fat boats that at first weren’t designed for the loads that people put on them. But there was something missing in the marketplace that Phil recognized: a high-performance voyaging cat that an experienced couple could take anywhere. Then Gunboat came in with their 62-footer, a real thoroughbred boat, but it was more than most couples could handle; you needed a professional crew. Finally, we have that performance cruiser that a couple can actually sail well.

“The lamination work is very nice,” he continued. “This is a vacuum-bagged epoxy boat. A lot of the structure has carbon in it. It’s an E-glass boat for the most part, but where there are any high-load areas, they’re using carbon. So it’s a good, light structure.”

“The Balance we sailed had a high-end owner who decided to go full-on with a lithium-ion power plant, so we’re playing in the state-of-the-art arena here,” said Ed Sherman. “On the shore-power side, he was also very mindful of migrating around the world, so he set that up in such a way that he has a lot of options that are essentially switchable with the change of an adaptor. But there are also 1,200 watts’ worth of solar panels. To save weight, they went to a 24-volt DC system instead of 12 volts; this enables them to cut their wire gauge and such in half, which on a boat like this can add up to a lot of weight in just copper. It speaks to the whole concept of the boat.”

“The delivery crew that had brought the boat from South Africa were so enthusiastic about how the boat sailed and how functional it was,” said Carol Hasse. “They were sailors, like us, and they were all in sync with the boat in neat ways that made us all feel like ‘OK, this thing is totally happening. It’s well designed and seaworthy.’” Indeed it was. And it was also a big winner.

https://www.cruisingworld.com/import-boat-year-2017/

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CRUISING WORLD: Best Full-Size Multihull Over 50 Feet

Patrick — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 16:13:00 +0000

Winner: Balance 526

The 2017 winner of the Best Full-Size Multihull Over 50 Feet.

When it comes to cruising catamarans, there are two nations above all others that have become the world leaders in the design and construction of new models: France and South Africa. Yet in a still-surprising twist, in the Full-Size Multihull Over 50 Feet category in the 2017 BOTY contest, all four nominees — the Balance 526, Royal Cape Catamarans Majestic 530, St. Francis 50 MK II and Xquisite X5 — were South African products. Perhaps not so surprisingly, they represented the strongest division in the entire fleet.

The most unusual cat in the quartet was the Majestic 530, built in Durban and originally designed as a 40-footer, but one that over time evolved into ever-larger siblings, including 42-, 45-, 50- and finally 53-foot versions. The company billed the boat as “safe, stable, [and set up for] singlehanded sailing with superior specifications and long-range capabilities.” For the most part, the judging panel agreed with this summation.

“They had stainless-steel handholds all the way around the perimeter of the yacht — better handholds than all the other cats, probably,” said Carol Hasse, always mindful of the safety features among the nominees. “The layout of the deck and cabin top was very functional. And there was good nonskid throughout.”

“The model we sailed had five cabins and five heads,” noted Tim Murphy, while acknowledging that other layouts were available. “The fit and finish of the interior was very good. As you’re living in those cabins, it’s clear that a lot of man-hours went into their execution.”

Some members of the panel were familiar with the St. Francis 50 MK II; an earlier iteration of the Angelo Lavranos design was named the Best Cruising Multihull in 2006. Murphy was effusive in his praise for company founder and owner Duncan Lethbridge. “He’s kind of the godfather of South African catamaran boatbuilding,” he said. “He’s definitely a legend. His firm builds four boats a year, so it’s not a high-output yard. But they’ve made some interesting innovations with this boat along the way. Lethbridge was one of the first catamaran builders to start infusing hulls, which he did with the MK II version. And the boat really sails well. We were sailing in about 7 to 8 knots of true wind and still making nearly 7 knots. Lethbridge said the boat would sail the same speed as the breeze in up to 10 knots of wind, and after sailing the boat, I believe him.”

“There’s a lot to like about this boat,” seconded Hasse. “The cockpit lockers are arranged so you can fit in five scuba tanks. There’s a paddleboard storage locker in the aft coaming, and a really nice swim ladder. They didn’t lead all the running rigging aft, like so many cats. You could actually deal with things at the mast — there’s a winch, rope clutches, mast steps, handholds — that I prefer to deal with there, like the spinnaker halyard. Compared to some of the other cats, I found this very seaworthy.”

“Systemswise, it has some pretty neat engineering,” said Ed Sherman. “And they did a really nice job creating laminates for all the cabinetry. There was a high degree of workmanship visible that we didn’t see with all the nominees.” Next was the Xquisite X5. The cat did not win this category, but it proved to be an award-winning design just the same. “It’s a little bit of a strange-looking boat,” said Murphy. “Sailing blogger Charles Doane wrote that it’s the boat that looks the most like a running shoe, and I think that’s sort of accurate.”

Yet there is beauty in utility and comfort, as Murphy discovered when he stepped aboard. “It’s lovelier on board than it is at a distance,” he said. “When you’re in the space in the main saloon or down in the hulls, it’s really nice. They’ve created volume in the hulls for all the berths to be fore-and-aft; they didn’t make the concession to performance and speed that, for instance, the Balance 526 did. The Balance designers chose hull forms that would deliver particular speeds and then developed the interior around those forms. The Xquisite is the other way around, I think. There’s just detail after detail after detail. The number of seagoing details that are built into this boat is really, really impressive.”

The remaining boat in the running was the aforementioned Balance 526. Murphy expanded on his previous thoughts about the cat: “I think this is a performance cat that a couple can sail well. There are many details I like about it. One of them is that there are no gimmicks or quirks about the hull form — no bumps or chines. The builder decided from the beginning that he wanted a boat that can consistently sail between 10 and 12 knots. To do that, you have to have a hull form that wasn’t going to get too voluminous or too splashy in different kinds of seaways, and stay true to it.

“There are compromises in it,” he continued. “It means you can’t have the spacious island queen berths facing fore-and-aft like many other cats do. But I think that’s an honest and honorable choice. Not everybody’s going to love it, but it started with the hull form and then went to the interior, and I’m very glad that the choice exists in the marketplace. I think the hulls are beautiful. Under sail, we sat on the forward trampolines and just watched the boat moving through the water, and it was really lovely.”

Murphy’s colleagues agreed. Not only did the Balance 526 take the Import Boat of the Year award, but it also walked away with the title of Best Full-Size Multihull Over 50 Feet for 2017. Clearly, a boat with two hulls this pretty deserved not one but a pair of prizes.

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