performance sailing catamarans

Sailors Pick: 15 Best Catamaran Sailing Books

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9 Best Chartplotters for Sailing: Small Boats, Cheapest and More.

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Performance & Luxury

The agile carbon fiber multi-tasker is the ideal performance cruiser for island hoppers yet fully capable of trans-oceanic adventure travel.

Our trend-setting carbon fiber speedster ticks off big nautical miles carrying significant cruising payloads yet remains small enough to easily maintain and operate short-handed.

With her heavily carbon reinforced structures and total epoxy construction she sails like a racer yet remains amazingly easy to operate and maintain.

The ultra high-performance voyager was designed for sailors with speed in their hearts but luxury on their minds.

Our stunning new flagship is a ground-breaking super-high-performance luxury adventurer that sports both a forward cockpit and dual bulkhead helms.

“Balance Catamarans” started because we were frustrated with the catamaran market. Most catamarans were either for charter or racing, and there weren’t many choices for people who wanted something in the middle. We used our combined experience from thousands of miles at sea to design and create truly balanced, handcrafted performance catamarans that would offer our customers years of blissful living and sailing.

Why Balance

Performance.

Our cats are beautiful on the dock and a joy to live in, but are most at home hitting 12 knots over open seas.

Craftsmanship

Every vessel is designed and built by a passionate team of craftspeople at our South Africa factories.

From bow to stern, we improve on the proven and innovate when necessary.

We are world-class sailors who saw a need for catamarans that merge open-water performance and modern livability.

We were born out of listening to sailors and continue to grow and innovate by being a part of the Balance community.

“On the water, Balance Catamarans achieve the elusive combination of excellent performance in a broad range of wind and sea conditions, on most points of sail, with good payload-carrying ability.”

“Truly impressive…With the scaled-down 442, Balance fills out the family offering with dimensions and a price point that make their designs more accessible to a broader swath of the cruising market. The result is a performance catamaran that’s perfectly positioned to appeal to an experienced sailing couple looking for quality, livability, speed, and savvy systems, all in a true 44-foot package that is a kick to sail.”

“The choice of materials is qualitative (the foam core and wood veneer for furniture), as well as the overall finish, in a word: impeccable.”

“I think the Balance 526 represents an important moment in the history of multihull design and evolution…there was something missing in the marketplace that Phil recognized: a high-performance voyaging cat that an experienced couple could take anywhere…finally, we have that a couple can really sail well.”

“Pretty as she is, every aspect of her design seems to have been refracted through a simplicity prism. Access for repairs is exceptional. The movement from helm to side decks and from side decks to foredecks is a breeze. The wiring and systems installations all reflect a commitment to functional excellence.”

“Several Balance 526 owners have reported 24-hour periods covering 260 miles or more. This is one very, very fast catamaran, laden or empty.”

News & Events

Balance Designs New Models

Balance Catamarans Offers Wireless Safety System

We’re Showcasing Two Models at Cannes Yachting Festival 2024

100% ZERO-Emission

Performance, comfort & safety.

be.independent!

Available in 40, 42, 45 and 50ft.

Optimus Yachtbuilders is proud to announce the OPTIMUS range of performance sailing catamarans.

For our first yacht, an OPTIMUS 45, we’re combining a very light and performance-oriented composite construction (foam, carbon, e-glass, epoxy) with electric propulsion and solar systems. All our yachts will be ZERO-Emission and built to comply with CE-certification A.

No fossil fuels for propulsion needed...

Electric propulsion and regeneration systems by Oceanvolt. Solar systems by Sunbeam. Sizing of lithium battery-banks and solar capacity is optimized in collaboration with the Flemish Innovation partner VITO.

Our yachts have ample self-sufficiency for traveling and making fast-crossings in any part of the world.

+ 300 miles/24u on average!

Retractable daggerboards, full composite construction, careful attention to the weight of every single item on board and to weight distribution, powerful rig, composite sail-wardrobe,… The OPTIMUS-range aspires to provide the best performance in every aspect of the yacht experience. Shorter passage-times and the capability to avoid or run from bad weather are guaranteed.

Destinations that were unreachable in the past, are now within reach !

All the comfort you need on a sailing yacht : exquisite galley, cozy living room, 2 fully equipped bathrooms with separate showers and 8 bunks. Plus exterior furnishings ready-to-chill are also included.

Our catamarans are intrinsically unsinkable – foam in our composite construction, dozens of sealed compartments, double watertight bulkheads in the bow and crash-boxes aft, compliance with CE cat A – our yachts are among the safest around !

Ship are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made

- ROBERT N. ROSE

Schionning Designs are the leading composite multihull and yacht designers. Jeff’s designs bring you the best in design, safety, performance and style. OPTIMUS 45 combines excellent hull shapes, weight control, stiff construction, carbon-where-needed, double steering-wheels and efficient use of space… on top of that she boasts a head-turning stealth-style.

What began as a family venture, has evolved into the desire to build sailing yachts as a profession. Optimus Yachtbuilders is building ZERO-emission sailing cats near Antwerp (Belgium). We will be offering the complete Arrow Series by Schionning Designs as ZERO-emission, high performance sailing cats.

The first ZERO-emission “Optimus 45″ was launched in 2020.

Optimus Yachtbuilders houdt zich er aan zorgvuldig om te springen met uw persoonlijke gegevens (conform de GDPR-wetgeving) en deze in geen geval te bezorgen aan derde partijen.

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