LAPPING MILES
Most production cruising catamarans have limitations such as upwind ability and are often compromised by their weight. So, for those with deeper pockets and more distant horizons, performance cruisers is the go-to category.
This was the realisation that Kinetic Catamarans company owner Bob Hayward came to in 2015 when he was shopping for one. The dual-national New Zealander-American has spent the last 30 years based in the US – and it’s given him good insight into this market.
Unable to find his perfect boat he partnered with experienced South African multihull boatbuilder Leon Scheepers to take over the former Phil Harvey yard in South Africa, including some of the staff who had previously made Gunboats. They renamed the new company Kinetic Catamarans.
This enabled fast-tracking the new marque after the appointment of Dutch design team Simonis Voogd. The result is a lightweight vessel available in two versions – a performance cruiser and a racer. Our review boat came with twin centreboards but daggerboards are an option.
The first boat splashed at the Annapolis 2019 show, but I caught up with the Kinetic team at the Miami 2020 Boat Show. The KC62 performance cruiser (hull #1) is the initial model and will be followed later this year by the KC54.
“I was looking to buy a
