Why an ITA Catamaran?
Image courtesy of ITA Catamarans. Hull 1
At the Cannes Boat Show 2019 where we did the deal. This is Paloma, Hull 1.
Image courtesy of ITA Catamarans. Hull 1
Image courtesy of ITA Catamarans. Hull 1
To understand how we got here a bit of background might help. I learnt to sail thanks to my father who was a staunch traditionalist mono hull sailor who grew up sailing dinghy’s around Christchurch NZ. My brother and I learnt to sail in a 7ft dinghy called a P Class and then moved up to a moth and a junior cherub both 11 and 14ft boats. By this time Dad owned a Flying 15’s which is a British designed gentleman racer keel boat. This was a lot of fun in the fresh sea breezes of Lyttelton Harbour as there were a number of them to race against.
My dream had always been to do some offshore cruising when the time was right. At the age of 23 I set off for Tahiti aboard a 50ft monohull boat with the vague idea of trying to get to Hawaii for what was then, the Clipper Cup. I got to Hawaii eventually too late for that and then life got in the way. My next offshore trip was a year or so later delivering a Swan 42 from the South of France to Hamble England.
Once settled back in NZ and when family and business allowed, Dona and I owned two monohull keel boats both Beneteau’s; an Oceanis 390 which we ran as a bare boat charter business and then an Oceanis 43. It was chartering in Tonga on a Catamaran that changed cruising sailing for me. Living at sea level was a revelation especially in the tropics, and when a number of crew are involved the entertainment space and cabin separation space is fantastic.
In 2014 we started looking for a Catamaran with the idea that it had to have daggerboards so that it sailed to weather. Luckily enough a Catana 431 sailed into Auckland not long after, with a British family onboard who were moving to NZ permanently. We struck a deal and so began our Catamaran adventures. In 2015 we took this boat to Fiji and New Caledonia and then in 2017, to Tonga and Fiji. In between we cruised the wonderful Northland coast as much as we can. From this experience we learned a few things about what we like in a Catamaran:
The Catana’s of the early 2000’s were and are a very well-designed boat - ahead of their time in terms of daggerboards, tulip angled bows, all reefing lines leading back to the cockpit, galley up etc. Daggerboards are great to have when the wind is forward of the mast.
The cockpit layout is great as it enables you to get out of the wind, which is important down here in NZ as the wind is cold.
Sheltered in the cockpit with your back against the main bulkhead and facing the view i.e aft when at anchor, is what you want.
The steering stations on the aft quarters are great for sailing and visibility of the sails etc. They don’t bother us that they are exposed to the elements, it’s a sailing yacht after all.
When on passage you’re on auto pilot 99% of the time. When you want to sail, the helm stations are the place to be.
45-50 ft is the sweet spot for a hull length that is manageable by a couple, and which can accommodate the loads required for a luxury cruising lifestyle, and still sail well.
Once you have sailed any distance on a Catamaran it would be hard to go back to a mono but sometimes, I do miss the rhythm of a keel boat sailing well to weather. But “gentlemen don’t sail to weather” they say, and who really wants to, for any great length of time?
Dona and I took our research into our next Catamaran, aka the “Dream Boat” seriously. We visited Catana, Outremer, and Gunboat factories and got very excited about the Alibi before, sadly, it went into receivership. The man who introduced us to the Alibi Catamaran, Harry, said to us when asked where he’d go to find something similar, “I’d check out the ITA Catamaran, I believe it’s the best.” Coincidentally we were already looking at it.
So, there you have it, when you look closely at the ITA Catamaran you see all of the above perks in a Catamaran wrapped up in state-of-the-art construction methods with the latest technology, with a modern sexy design being built by a small passionate team in a semi-custom way. We met up with the ITA team at the Cannes Boat Show in September 2019 and the rest is history.
ITA Catamaran Technical Description:
LOA: 14.99m
Beam: 7.8 mtrs
Draft: 1.2 (DBs Down 2.5mtr)
Full Displmnt: 14.5t
Bridge D. Cl: 0.92
Air Draft: 23.6m
Sail Area: 140 m upwind
Engines: 2 x 15 KW Oceanvolt Saildrives with re-generation
Generator: 22Kw Fischer Panda 48V
Sailing an electric hybrid boat is going to be a whole new experience for us, and one we are excited to learn and share so stay tuned.