For sailors of a certain age, the entire concept of a mulithull is cutting edge. However, even a cursory glance at a harbor full of cats and tris will show that the “cutting edge” of today looks very different from the cutting edge of, say, the ‘90s, or even the early 2000s—to the point where today’s cats and tris are as different from their predecessors as their predecessors were from the monohulls that came before them.
BOWS
Where better to start than at the very front of the boat? Two decades ago, in the run-up to The Race, no-holds-barred, nonstop fully-crewed race around the world, British Vendée Globe hero Pete Goss launched a then radical twin-masted catamaran with “wave piercing” bows. The 120ft , as it was called, ended up falling to pieces during a storm in the mid-Atlantic. However, the boat’s bow concept lived on and can now be found aboard everything from grand prix foiling cats and tris, like those competing in the SailGP, TF35 and GC32 pro circuits, to the latest generations of cruisers. Among the latter, the amount
