Cruising World - June 2018

june/july 2018

cruisingworld.com

52

decades of global voyage-making. The

boats were all monohulls, but every time

we bought a new one, we toyed with the

idea of moving to a catamaran. Why? We

discovered that we enjoy shallow-draft

sailing, which most multihulls offer, as

much as we love offshore passagemaking.

For long-term living aboard, the space

offered aboard most multihulls is

certainly attractive.

We were proud of our first boat, Two-

Step, a Sparkman & Stephens design called

the Classic 37, but after a while, we found

her depth restrictive as we discovered

how much we enjoyed gunkholing and

navigating through small inland water-

ways. Cruising had become a lifestyle for

us, and we wanted more space on board

plus a few more comforts. Paul and I feel

blessed since, as independent television

producers and travel-documentary

filmmakers, we are able to earn our living

while sailing full time, but all the camera,

audio and editing equipment we need to

carry takes up a lot of storage space. We

needed to expand.

The criteria for our next boat was a

good shallow-draft design with safe and

comfortable offshore capabilities, so mul-

tihulls were definitely under consideration.

In the end, we stuck with what we knew

and ended up choosing a monohull with a

swing keel, a configuration that has suited

us on our cruising journeys for many years.

Although we are now in the process of

building our new boat, a Southerly 480, we

continue to be intrigued by catamarans.

Feeling out of sorts being “between boats,”

we chartered a Voyage 50 catamaran in the

British Virgin Islands to get a much-needed

sailing fix in the tropics, and spent the time

with friends aboard. It was a luxurious

boat, with four en-suite cabins with queen

berths, and was set up well for chartering,

but we wondered what a catamaran

this size would be like for serious ocean

cruising. We were soon to find out.

Discovery Yachts builds several brands

of high-quality cruising yachts, including

Southerlys and Bluewater catamarans,

and the company reached out to us

with an opportunity to deliver a new

Bluewater 50 called Zão (pronounced

zay-oh by the owners) from the Canary

Islands to the Caribbean, leaving Gran

Canaria in early November. Zão’s owners,

John and Caroline Charnley, highly

experienced sailors and the newly retired

former owners of Discovery Yachts, had

family and business commitments until

Christmas but wanted the boat moved

to the Caribbean so they could enjoy a

winter of island-hopping before going

through the Panama Canal. They asked

us if we would take the boat across to

St. Lucia for them. Seeing this as a great

chance to sail a purpose-built 50-foot

offshore cruising catamaran to learn

how it performed on an ocean passage

in the many conditions we were sure

to encounter on a 2,800-nautical-mile

Atlantic crossing, we accepted the offer.

We flew to the Canary Islands the first

week of November 2017 to meet up with

John and his new Bluewater 50 in Las

Palmas. Soon to join us would be four

friends as crew, all fellow sailing bloggers

and videographers — Alexandra Palcic

and David MacDonald of Sailing Banyan;

Dan Krughoff, professional chef and

videographer; and sailing vlogger and

police officer Craig Bowman, of Cruising

Off Duty. All were monohull sailors with

some catamaran experience, mostly

through chartering. Dave and Alexandra

lived aboard their boat in the Caribbean,

having sailed from Canada several years

ago. Dan and Craig were each in the

market for a catamaran for full-time

voyaging.

November is a popular time to make

the east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic

Ocean because hurricane season is

officially over and you arrive in the

Caribbean in time for Christmas, a nice

time to start a winter of exploring the is-

lands. More than 200 boats participating

in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers were

descending on the marina in Las Palmas

to begin preparations for their ocean

run to St. Lucia, as were many other

independent non-ARC cruising boats

and crews, so it was a crazy, busy, festive

place at that time of the year. Las Palmas

has one of the best marinas in the Canary

Islands for sailors since every supplier

and service needed for yachts preparing

for an ocean crossing can be found there.

Seeing Zão at the dock when we

arrived in Las Palmas was such a delight.

Her long, swooping modern lines were

a contrast to the more angular-shaped

catamarans gathering in the marina.

What a difference from the 50-foot cat

we had chartered earlier, which, in fair-

ness, was set up purely for vacationing.

Zão was designed for long-term living

aboard and long-haul passagemaking.

This was the second Bluewater catama-

ran the Charnleys had built, so they had