Mission specifc design

0º 13.580n 125º 17.277w

Tue Apr 30 2019

Thinking of buying a boat?

What do you want to do with it? Race? Weekend pleasure sailing? Seasonal cruising?

You know what they say, "if it flies, floats or, well (you know), it’s cheaper to rent. Beware the pride of “boat ownership”. Look around any marina in San Diego on a beautiful 4th of July. Marinas packed with boats. Maybe 1 in 10 have people on board. Maybe 1 in 30 are actually out sailing on one of the most perfect days of the year. That’s a lot of money corroding away in the salt water. A lot of good dreams gone bad.

Ahh, you want to be a full time live aboard! Excellent, what’s your budget? You going to sell your house to buy a boat? Your spouse or significant other 100% bought in on this? Are you planning to circumnavigate, or perhaps cruise Pacific Mexico and the Sea of Cortez? Are your serious about living on the hook, or are you going to pretty much hop from marina to marina in Cabo, La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, La Cruz, San Carlos, Santa Rosalia, or Barre de Navidad?

Ever chartered in Belize, the BVI, Croatia, Loreto or other place? What kind of boat? What did you like about it? What did you hate about it?

An enormous number of boats are stamped out to accommodate charter boat market demands. Fleets of them bob around various places in the world. Belize, British Virgin Islands, Croatia, Greece, Turkey to name just a few. To address catamarans in particular, when the boat has 4 cabins and 4 separate heads with the galley up, it’s almost certainly a charter boat design. The way boat builders compete is by taking cost out, building boats cheaper as well improving assembly line manufacturing efficiencies. Charter catamarans are generally desiged to accommodate 4 adult couples who can split the high cost of a week’s holiday, and who all demand a level of privacy. They’re designed to be a comfortable party platform and to be structurally adequate for coastal cruising, not to sail well. The design may claim to be bluewater capable, but there is such a thing as a minimum standard.

When we met Richard Ward, the general manager of the Seawind line of boats, we spent a lot time learning about the engineering design and his views on boat design and use, and then we flew to Vietnam to visit the manufacturing facility just outside Ho Chi Min City where he had recently moved the entire operation from Australia. We saw boats in various stages of completion, we saw the molds, we talked to the builders. We spent time drinking beer with Andrew Crawford, a catamaran racing sailor who was representing Seawind sales in part of Australia.

Richard had very specific ideas about what a cruising catamaran in the 38’ length range should be. It should be built strong and feel solid, but achieve that goal using better engineering principles and materials to keep weight under control and ensure a decent level of performance. It should be comfortable to live on with excellent ventilation, 360 degree visibility from anywhere in the saloon or cockpit, and a big galley safe to use at sea. It should have adequate creature comforts, but above all, it should sail well and be a safe and fun passage making machine. Richard has spent of time as an ocean racer.

We pondered our navels for about 8 years, then we bought our own Seawind 1160 in 2013. JollyDogs was built in Australia in 2008 and had lived a gentle life in the San Francisco Bay area. We’ve lived on and sailed her since 2014 and we love her, but still have a limited sense of perspective regarding how she compares to other contemporary catamarans.

Our crew mate Thad Nelson has managed to collect a good bit of sailing experience on catamarans from several different boat builders. On that list is Fontaine Pajot, Leopard, and Lagoon. All newer examples from each manufacturer.

Older examples from those folks tend to be fairly solid, but the newer ones are lighter and packed full of creature comforts to appeal to the half of a buying couple who demands something similar to home. We call them “condomarans”. They creak and groan and feel looser in rough seas, and they don’t sail terribly well.

This past 2 weeks is the longest we’ve been at sea on JollyDogs, and we’re delighted at how wonderfully she sails and how solid she feels in rough offshore seas. Thad has removed any doubt that we chose the right girl to take us safely around the South Pacific, and we’re looking forward to continuing our sailing adventures for years to come.

There’s a boat out there for everyone.