TWIN PEAKS

Everything old is new again.

I’m writing this during a break from a spirited discussion with my fellow editors regarding Boating awarding its annual Boat of the Year. Two of the finalists this year for recreational boating’s most coveted award were catamarans, and we tested quite a few more multihull boats as well. That they are cats is no point of contention. But it does give rise to thoughts about the course that recreational boats might take.

The soft ride offered by a catamaran proves infectious to many buyers sea-trialing the twin-hulled boat. A cat also provides more cockpit square footage than a monohull of similar length overall, which impresses many buyers, especially those transitioning from larger inboard sport-fishing boats. And catamarans deliver efficiency.

Efficiency? Many choke on the word and scoff when we present a power cat sporting two or four V-6, V-8 or V-12 outboards as “efficient.” Well, everything is relative. Compare the numbers with a big twin-diesel sport-fisher a cat might replace or to an equivalent-size outboard-powered monohull one might purchase instead. And don’t forget to look at range as much as gallons per hour. As the story on page 30 (I Learned About Boating from This) points out, the most expensive quantity of fuel may be those gallons you wished were still in your tank.

Efficiency proves a good segue because, for the second year in a row, an electric-powered boat made the grade as a Boat of the Year finalist. Electric power demands more efficiency from a boat. That’s not to say multihulls will rule the waters. Lighter construction, the use of hydrofoils, and changing expectations of boaters themselves represent just some of the different means of skinning that cat (sorry).

Electric boats are not new. The first electric-powered boat on record was a 24-footer built by a Russian, Moritz von Jacobi, in 1839. A golden age of electric boats existed between about 1880 and 1920 until gasoline engines took over.

Cats? One might term the Polynesian outrigger canoes that transited the Pacific centuries ago as the world’s first catamarans. More telling, famed yacht designer Nat Herreshoff, the so-called Wizard of Bristol, designed and raced a sailing cat, Amaryllis. It proved so fast that cats were barred from class racing until the 1970s!

Catamarans and electric marine power—expect to see more of both.

Enjoy the issue.

Efficiency? Many choke on the word and scoff when we present a power cat sporting two or four V-6, V-8 or V-12 outboards as “efficient.”