Multihull cruiserr

The promotional material for this 132-foot cat calls it "a yacht for the real seafarer." Somehow I can't imagine life aboard this extraordinary catamaran as being "seafaring." In my books "seafaring" involves sweat, eye patches, parrots, torn T-shirts and rum. I imagine the typical crew list for this cat requires that you look and smell like you just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren add. Design work is all in house by Blubay Yachts of Cannes, France.

You have to call it the top level fly bridge. This upper level of deck space has the steering stations and a large dining and lounging area complete with bar and food preparation area, if I'm reading the drawings correctly. Don't forget the hot tub just aft of the dining area. The main deck area features another bar configured so the bartender can be enclosed and surrounded by seafarers enjoying their rum drinks. Inside the deck house there is a conversation area off to port and another huge dining area. There are four double staterooms on this level including a palatially proportioned master suite with walk in closet and a head that has a big bathtub.

The best I can tell is the accommodations down in the hulls themselves are intended for the big cat's professional crew. There are staterooms for eight, an office, galley, crew dining area and copious stowage areas. Three heads in the hulls are directly accessible from the stateroom on the main deck level.

Rest assured you will be comfortable on this boat.

The hulls are long and skinny. Scaling off the drawings I get an individual hull beam to length ratio of 9.53 percent. Overall beam is 51 feet, 2 inches. D/L is 43.11. If you assume the bows are absolutely slab sided you get a half angle of entry of 5.5 degrees. Cruising speed under power with twin 450-horsepower engines is 16 knots. Deep, high aspect ratio daggerboards will insure excellent performance on the wind. The rudders are well forward in the hulls. With two long, narrow hulls tracking will not be a problem and I suppose you would use power assist in close-quarter maneuvering.

It takes a monstrous rig to move a monster of a boat and this cat has a big rig. The drawings indicate a rotating carbon fiber wing-section mast. The mainsheet is led to the traveler located on that cantilevered overhang on the main deck. I was going to say that this might pose an interesting engineering problem, but then this entire design requires very skillful engineering. The small, working jib is self-tacking. All winches are hydraulic, captive line in type. Given the overall proportions of these hulls combined with the big rig I expect this will be a very fast boat under sail. The sheet loads could be terrifying but I guess I could get used to it..

Size aside I think this is a very well styled design. It does take a while to warm up to the multilevel or "layered" look of the topsides. But once your eye adjusts to the bridgedeck height this design begins to look very good. Note the swelling in the cabin top immediately forward of each steering station on the upper level. There is a lot of sculpture going on here.

Chances are I'll never go cruising on this boat. It's too small for me. I have my eye on the Blubay 170 also featured in the brochure. But I can still admire the design work and marvel that we are in an age where cruising catamarans can be taken to this level. I look forward to at least seeing pictures of this boat sailing.