Are Cats Taking Over The Caribbean! TheVICL Boat Show may have the answer.

The sailing purest will tell you that it would be a cold day in Hades if they ever bought or sailed a Catamaran. The hundreds of years of mono-hull design of sailboats with a multi-ton lead keel is the purest’s dream. It is the tried and true sailboat of choice for circumventing the world. At the Virgin Island Charter League Boat Show the competition between the purests choice versus the consumer wanting a very stable sailing experience for a week’s charter vacation is very evident. There will be a large group of Catamarans showing off there best assets at the show.

Amazingly, the brand competition in the tropics is typically a Beneteau 51 mono-hull or a Lagoon 57 catamaran. Why this is amazing is because they are made by the same company, Beneteau with five state of the art shipyards in France. Beneteau is the world leader in the sailboat business. They are also the largest supplier of sailboats to the charter boat industry. Their boats have logged more off-shore miles than any other boat builder in the world!

The Lagoon catamaran was created in 1984 as a direct extension of Jeanneau’s racing division, ( Jeanneau is another French boat builder with a 50 year history of innovation in design and construction of boats.) Today, Lagoon is part of the Custom Yacht division of the Beneteau Group.

Here are some of the pros and cons to consider when making a choice for a crewed charter vacation in the Caribbean.

Mono-hull

• A purest sailing experience. You definitely get the full benefit of the sailing “feeling” as you put the gunnels in the water sailing downwind to Virgin Gorda at seven knots. ( If you are prone to seasickness this is not the experience you want to imagine. I personally love the thrill of the mono-hull sailing experience.)
• Because of the big keel, you are limited in some of the island anchorages because your draft may be from 10 to 12 feet – the depth of your boat under the water.
• The cabin configuration on a mono-hull is limited to the boat’s width. So, it becomes an engineers dream to design ways for people to have a comfortable experience that must include walkways, a galley, heads, and an interior salon all within a boat that is 16 feet wide. Plus, your deck space has the same limitations.

Catamaran

• Luxurious space is one of the top features. A Lagoon 57 typically has four queen suites for the guests, each with their own bathroom and shower.
• The boat is 35+ feet wide which allows for a very stable sailing experience compared to the “ride” you are going to get in a mono-hull. Plus, you are typically going to sailing at ten or more knots while under sail.
• The deck is beyond spacious! Again, with 35+ in width, there is nothing but room to roam around the boat. The salon and cockpit are also important features of the catamaran experience – BIG.

So, my vote is for a mono-hull for the open ocean and the purest sailing experience. The catamaran is my choice for exploring the Caribbean in the luxury of a spacious yacht. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know if we can meet me in St. Thomas during the November 7 – 11 Boat Show and we can check out the sailboat inventory together. Until next time…