October 1, 2022

The Year of The Cat

In reality for the Chinese horoscope the year which started on February 1 2022, and ends 31 January 2023 is that of the Tiger.  Nonetheless the tiger is still a part of the Cat family.

For power boating and yachting 2022 is the year of the Cat for Catamaran, for the reason that more then ever we are seeing mono-hull boat and yacht builders venturing into multi-hulls.  At first we had Prestige who at the start of 2022 announced the new M-Line with the first M48 presented in Cannes the past month in September.  But also during the Cannes 2022 boat show a few important names showed upcoming power catamaran projects; from BlueGame part of the Sanlorenzo Group, to revived yacht builder Lazzara and what it calls its new LPC series with an 85 and 70 footer.  Rumoured is also that Azimut is doing a catamaran project but up till today this has not been officially confirmed by the famous Italian builder.

It will be interesting if these new additions will bring something fresh to the table, beyond what Sunreef, Silent, Lagoon, Fountaine Pajot to name some of the most famous Power Catamaran builders offer.  Fair to say Sunreef really pushed Power Catamarans to new horizons since the Polish yacht builder appeared in the market in 2000, while another innovator is Silent and its green solar powered cats. 

Of the new projects BlueGame BGM75 seems to be the most innovative, with many current mono-hull features thrown in.  If Azimut entrance in Power Catamaran will be officialised it will be interesting what they do, as the famous Italian yacht builder invests more to anyone in research and design, improving the way yachts work. The Magellano line presented in 2009, and sports S range in 2003 is a full proof how Azimut evolved both explorer and sport yachts style when it entered that part of the yacht market. 

For power catamarans it is interesting times ahead, with one problem, that in most of the Central and Western Mediterranean, and East Atlantic Coast of the USA a single berth in high season is hard to find, let alone looking for a double berth for a catamaran.  Some areas like the Western USA Pacific side and Eastern Mediterranean have a more catamaran culture, also for the reasons that in these areas anchoring over night is more common. 

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