Cruising World's 40 best Multihulls (Not?)

Not sure how much credibility this list has

http://www.cruisingworld.com/sailboats/40-best-catamarans-and-trimarans-ever?image=40

Especially as the number 1 pick looks to me like a two hulled caravan and I would guess has bilge keels.

No Shuttleworth or Woods designs and only one Farrier, no Martyn Smith (Firebird), Great Barrier Express (Tennant) ..that certainly should have been on there, or Nic Bailey. Irens is missing as are VPLP. I don' believe, infact, that there are any designs from the southern hemisphere. I think it's a list to bolster the US boat industry.

There are many other luminaries missing.

Let the war begin.

Nick

 

Here is my personal list:

Warning from the heart and not to suit everyone's tastes

1) Nigel Irens 'Apricot'
2) Ian Farrier F-boat series but especially the 'F27'
3) Tony Grainger 'Trilogy'
4) Tony Grainger 'Ocean Emu'
5) Woody Brown 'Manu Kai'
6) Lock Crowther 'Bagatelle'
7) Dick Newick 'Rogue Wave'
8) Eric LeRouge 'Rayon Vert'
9) Lock Crowther 'Kraken 40'
10) Meade Gougeon 'Adagio'
11) Adrian Thompson 'Paragon'
12) Rodney March 'Tornado catamaran'
13) Morelli and Melvin 'Gunboat series'
14) Jeff Schionning 'Bulletproof Geforce catamaran'
15) Dick Newick 'Cheers'
16) VPLP 'Pierre 1er/Lakota'
17) VPLP 'Banque Populaire V'
18) Hobie Alter 'Hobie 14'
19) Malcolm Barnsley, George Dadd, Paul Larsen 'Vestas Sailrocket 2'
20) Nic Bailey 'MTC28'
21) John Shuttleworth 'Brittany Ferries'
22) Arthur Piver 'Nimble'
23) Richard Woods 'Eclipse'
24) Derek Kelsall 'Toria'
25) Morelli and Melvin 'Happycalopse'
26) Darren Newton 'Dazcat series'
27) VPLP 'Biscuits Cantreau'
28) Dick Newick 'Moxie'
29) Walter Greene 'Olympus Photo'
30) Robin Chamberlain 'Ice Cat'
31) Nigel Irens 'IDEC'
32) Gilles Ollier/Multiplast 'Orange II'
33) Chris White 'Juniper'
34) Kurt Hughes 'Famuu Sami/Pipeline 3'
35) Lock Crowther 'Verbatim'
36) Malcolm Tennant 'Great Barrier Express'
37) Ron Given 'Split Enz'
38) Morelli and Melvin 'Nacra F18 infusion'
39) Jim Brown 'Searunner 31 catamaran'
40) Scott Jutson 'Simply the Best'

 

WOT no Martyn Smith 'Firebird' ???

 

My list isn't sacrosanct I'd love to see other people's top 40 .

 

No top 40..... & in no particular order... & "from the heart"

Seawind 24... Chris williams.... just for coolness & being good
Hobie 14.... for pure coolness... the very essence!!!!
Tornado
Crowthers... most... but not some..............
Some Graingers.. Spoonbay & midsize cats..
Anything from Brenden Egan.
..very parochial..............
Jeff.

 

I don't have time for 40 but Hyroptere would be in.

Love the cloud of sail on the Lodestar !

 

like the car magazines, the purpose of those kinds of "best" lists is for the magazine to get more advertizing dollars from the big manufactures. Occasionally they throw in a few smaller companies products to give the appearance of fairness, but I would not put too much credence in a magazine editors "pick" of what is best. They often want to come across as knowledgeable "experts", but reading just a few of their articles will quickly dispel that myth. Most of the sailing magzines (like the car magazines, and the all of the rest) have just become advertizing organs, the articles are just feature length ads, nary a critical comment on anything they "review".

 

OOhh Dear Petros!............... surely not, otherwise our total belief in the publications will be shattered by this cynical view, your skepticism is shouting in the face of the glossy covers & smooth sparkling seas with bikini clad forms adorning the shiney appliance loaded ocean conquering machines.............

Jeff.

 

Good list Corley

In fact if the editors had any knowledge of multis they would have included

- the outrigger canoe - this boat helped people the Pacific and has thousands of years of history
- the double canoe - as above - these were the workhorses that carried the livestock and familes to windward from Asia to the East through the world's biggest ocean.
- Manu Kai - Woody Brown's beach cat that started the revolution in America
- Shearwater - the cat the Prouts started with
- Rogue Wave - instead of the Tremolino. Rogue Wave was pretty much a copy of Gulf Streamer and showcased how good wood was when coupled with epoxy. She was a far better boat than her predecessor. The Gougeon's wrote about the process and many (including me) build wood/epoxy multihulls because of them and theior advocacy of wood/epoxy. As Dick said "Many people built wooden boats but the Gougeon's taught us how to build them properly"
- Corley I disagree over Paradox. She should not be in but Apricot should be right at the top. In 1985 Apricot provided the necessary change in design thinking that you can still see 30 years later. She was such a shift from the previous designs she was revolutionary. Paradox, whilst nice shows her Apricot DNA proudly.

Having done a fair bit of writing for mags I agree with the comments re kickbacks. The list reflects the advertisers covered in the mag. There should be some roomarans in the list but they are far out of proportion to their influence.

cheers

Phil

 

Wait

There is one more glaring omission - Olympus Photo.

In 1978 Mike Birch showed what multihulls were truly capable of when in front of the press covering the finish he came from behind with miles to go beat Malinovsky's 70ft long mono with his 38ft Greene designed trimaran. After this race the monos were no longer the premier choice for sailors wanting to win open ocean races. This was a turning point and is one of the reasons I think the French wanted to keep Olympus Photo (Acapella) in good trim.

cheers

Phil

 

It's difficult to define "best ever" from my perspective that must be a combination of design, construction and also if it moved the multihull cause forward.

There has to be some production cruising catamarans on the list in the sense that they are the pathway that introduces most sailors to multihull sailing. I guess if I had to pick one it would be the Outremer a good balance between performance and amenity but boats like the Seawind are probably one of the more affordable options for most people. The cruising catamarans are the pathway to getting more people involved in the sailing lifestyle.

I think you're right in regards to Paradox as much as I like the boat it probably is a dubious entry on my list and a boat like Woody Brown's Manu Kai much more worthy.