describes it as “a serious ocean expedition adventure catamaran.” “Expedition” and “adventure” bring back memories of some of the original allure of multihulls. SailTime leads the United States in fractional yacht ownership. Its big entry a few years ago has been followed by steady growth. The company announced at the Annapolis show that it has two new agreements with Hunter Marine. It will jointly offer a Hunter 39 Limited Edition as a sailboat for the program’s North American SailTime bases. In addition, the Gemini Catamaran, also fabricated by Hunter, will become part of the SailTime’s fleet. If fractional yacht ownership is financially appealing, SailTime makes possible ownership of either mono or multihulls. Corsair trimarans, now owned by Australia’s catamaran builder, SeaWind, introduced the Sprint 750 MK, a day sailer with coastal cruising capability.
first. Both these catamarans are made by Robertson and Caine in South Africa. Nexus Catamarans introduced the Nexus 600 at the South African Pavilion. The builder
Cornell’s Ocean Atlas Available in January The buzz at the show, especially around the Seven Seas Cruising Association’s booth, was all about Jimmy Cornell’s Cornell’s Ocean Atlas, to be available in the United States in January. In this effort, Mr. Cornell has analyzed meteorological data from the past two decades. It updates climatological data in light of climate change and includes a broader global coverage of areas that formerly had scant or no records. The new Atlas is not just a reprint of Mr. Cornell’s landmark World Cruising Routes, published 20 years ago. Like the latter work, the Atlas is intended for cruising sailors, to show them “prevailing direction of winds and currents along the most commonly sailed transocean routes.” Mr. Cornell will be a featured speaker at Strictly Sail, at the Miami Boat Show, Feb 16-20.
More New Gear on Display Shows are a place where people get “stuff” for boats if they already have boats. A lot of the most desired “stuff” needs to be plugged in. This year, it seemed as if there was finally a tent full of exhibitors selling electrical products. There were devices to generate electrical power, store it, monitor it, economize and control its use, and of course, to consume it. Need for power is so pervasive on sailboats that Aurinco offers solar generating panels so flat, thin and tough that they withstand being walked on. While solar power panels are now expected to be bulletproof, sailors can buy all kinds of enclosures and additions to the boat to protect the appliances and electronics fed by the solar panels. It almost seems as if the need to cradle electronics is reversing two decades of making cockpits sparse and roomy. How many old readers remember boat shows from decades past as a place to buy charts? Representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the source of accurate chart information, were always at boat shows. Publishers of charts of all kinds (waterproof, large, small, and regional) were all in their tow. No longer is that the case. To this writer’s knowledge, only Maptech, always at boat shows, still offers printed charts. (At the show but they would rather sell you electronic substitutes, and most
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December 2011
SOUTHWINDS
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