Fountaine Pajot was one of the first companies to build large cruising cats. Its designs have always been well crafted and very good looking. Barret Racoupeau designed the new flagship model, the Ipanema 58. In the ultra-competitive world of cruising cats it was only a matter of time before someone looked at the huge footprint and thought, “Hey! We can add a second story!” 

This is a big 58-footer with a beam of 29 feet 4 inches. The D/L using Fountaine Pajot’s light-load displacement is 150. If I use the full-load displacement the D/L shoots to 193, so it’s quite heavy for a cat. Draft is only 4 feet 7 inches, and that will be very convenient for upwind work. The hull shape at the stern shows a very hard turn to the bilges compared to the soft bilges of the Open 40.Now, the boat show salesman can say, “Ours goes to 11 feet.”

But clearly this big cat is all about accommodations, and it definitely delivers in that area. There are four layouts, and I’ll concentrate on my favorite: the Maestro. The Maestro layout is available in two configurations: a five-stateroom layout, or you can eliminate the aft stateroom to starboard and move the galley down there to open up more lounging space in the main cabin. They call this the Lounge Maestro layout. I like that one. 

The galley is huge, and I think it can be advantageous to get the galley out of the main cabin. 

If you to prefer to cook surrounded by your guests, maybe the regular Maestro layout would work better. Each stateroom has it’s own head and shower except the port forward stateroom, which has no shower stall. If you want to take a lot of friends maybe the six cabin layout would be your choice. The main deck layout includes a nav-and-steering station forward on centerline. With the galley down you get large lounging settees port and starboard aft. Of course the cockpit area—it’s more like a patio—is huge and most of the dining will be here.

 

The Ipanema’s control center is upstairs on the flying bridge. The sail controls are led to port of the offset steering station. Aft of this there is more lounging settees with two small tables. If you don’t like the sun you can relax in the lower cockpit area. If you want a tan you can relax up on the flybridge. There is nothing missing from this layout. A large solar panel array spans the aft end of the bridgedeck overhang. The view from the bridgedeck under sail must be amazing. It will also be very useful when trying to dock this cat with its immense beam.

I’d love to try cruising a the Ipanema. I would not want to have to wash it.

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LOA  55’10”; LWL 53’5”; Beam 29’4”; Draft 4’7”; Displ. 56,220 lbs.; Sail area 1,773 sq. ft.; Auxiliary Twin 75-hp diesel engines; Fuel 291 gal.; Water 278 gal.

Fountaine Pajot Catamarans

17290 Aigrefeuille , France

+33 (0) 546 35 70 40

www.fountaine-pajot.com