There was a time when, if you were searching for a cruising catamaran, your choices might end up being a bit limited -this is certainly not the case any more. Cruising multihulls are the fastest growing sector of the boatbuilding industry and the result is that there is now a vast range of boats to choose from. An exploding market has also meant that designers are pushing the boundaries in many different ways in order to make their product stand out. Balance Catamarans is a fine example of this. The South African company is the brainchild of its President, Phillip Berman, an American who set up the company in 2013. Berman, a former Hobie world champion racer, has written many books on multihull sailing in his time. His years of both cruising and racing catamarans have given him very strong ideas about how a catamaran should be. As is so often the case, he found himself frustrated by what was available and, enlisting the help of designer Antoine du Toit, he set about drawing up the lines for what he saw as the perfect fast cruising catamaran. The
