catamaran cruiser speed

How Fast Do Catamarans Go?

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

August 30, 2022

‍ Catamarans are known for their speed, and some vessels are fast enough to break world sailing speed records.

Catamarans can go between 15 and 30 knots, with the fastest achieving speeds well in excess of 60 knots. Sailing catamarans are sometimes twice as fast as monohulls and cut through the water with greater efficiency.

In this article, we’ll cover how fast catamarans can go based on factors such as size, sail area, and design category. Additionally, we’ll compare catamaran speeds to monohulls and trimarans and cover the reasons why multi-hull sailboats blow monohulls out of the water.

We sourced the information used in this article from sailing guides and hull speed calculations. Additionally, we sourced information directly from the manufacturers of common catamarans.

Table of contents

‍ Catamaran Speed by Type

Catamaran design can be split into different categories. After all, different vessels are designed for different tasks, as speed isn’t always the most important design consideration.

The fastest type of catamaran is the ultralight racing catamaran. These vessels have extremely narrow hulls and a remarkable planing ability. They’re designed to pierce waves and often achieve speeds in excess of 45 knots or greater, depending on conditions.

The second fastest catamaran variety is the sport catamaran. Sport catamarans often include a fairly good level of creature comforts in the cabin. They’re technically hybrid designs, because they are envisioned as a combination between a racer and a cruiser. Sport catamarans can achieve 30 knots or greater.

Cruising catamarans are designed primarily for safety and comfort. They’re often used for long offshore passages, where speed is important, but comfort is king. Despite their accommodations, cruising catamarans can still achieve a respectable 15 to 20 knots of speed—sometimes 50% faster than similarly-equipped monohulls.

Why are Catamarans So Fast?

Catamarans are remarkable vessels that can achieve amazing speeds. As a result of their unconventional design, typical calculations for hull speed (such as those used for monohulls) don’t always apply.

But what makes catamarans so much faster than equivalent monohulls? The first and most obvious speedy design element are the hulls themselves.

Catamarans don’t have a deep keel or a centerboard. This is because the second hull acts as a stabilizing device, and it helps the vessel track straight. The lack of a keel reduces weight (and equally important). It also reduces drag.

Additionally, catamarans behave in strange ways while underway. The hulls have a tendency to rise out of the water further the faster they go. This further reduces drag and makes it easier for the vessel’s speed to climb once it starts to move.

One additional characteristic is how the vessel’s sails point relative to the wind. Catamarans keep their sails perpendicular to the wind, which allows them to harness energy more efficiently. This is because, at a perpendicular angle, less wind energy is lost by spillage over the edge of the sails.

Are Catamarans Faster than Monohulls?

Yes, catamarans are typically faster than monohulls. They’re also a lot more stable, as their spaced-out hulls provide better motion comfort in rough seas. Catamaran hulls are narrower than monohulls, which also reduces drag and increases speed.

Catamaran vs. Monohull Speeds

We know that catamarans are faster than monohulls in most situations. But how much faster are they? Here’s a table of hull speeds for monohulls, which is a useful reference when comparing speed. Hull speed isn’t the absolute fastest that a boat can go, but it’s a good practical estimate for understanding the hydrodynamic limitations of single-hull designs.

Hull speed calculations for catamarans are more complicated. This is because catamarans have a greater length-to-beam ratio. And due to their narrow hulls and open center, they aren’t affected by the same hydrodynamic drag forces that monohulls are limited by.

For example, a 55-foot monohull sailboat with a waterline length has a hull speed of 9.4 knots or 10.9 mph. Its actual speed could exceed that in the right conditions, but rarely by more than a few knots.

Compare that to an efficient 51-foot catamaran, which can easily achieve speeds in excess of 20 knots in reasonable winds. That’s more than double the hull speed of a monohull with a similar waterline length and proves that catamarans operate under a completely different set of rules.

Wave Piercing

One aspect of catamaran design that makes them superior speeders is their ability to pierce waves. Specially designed catamarans have minimal buoyancy at the bow, which allows them to slice through waves instead of going over them.

This increases the speed at which catamarans can cover the distance. Think about it—a boat going over a wave has to use more energy to reach the same destination, as the height of the wave almost makes the distance further.

It’s like walking over a hill or on flat ground—you’ll take more steps walking up and down the hill than in a straight flat line. Wave piercing catamarans enjoy better stability, and they ‘take the flat road’ to a greater extent than monohulls.

Do Catamarans Plane?

Planing is when a boat’s hull rises out of the water due to hydrodynamic lift. This increases speed and efficiency, as there’s less drag but sufficient contact for stability. It also reduces rolling, as the bow only contacts the taller portions of the waves.

Catamarans have planing characteristics, but they generally don’t plane as dramatically as powerboats. This is still worth noting, as catamarans are specifically designed to use the phenomenon of hydrodynamic lift to gain speed and efficiency.

You’ll visibly notice a catamaran’s hull rising out of the water as it increases in speed. Compare that to a displacement monohull design (such as a classical cruising sailboat with a deep keel), which won’t rise out of the water in any significant way.

Are Catamarans Faster than Trimarans?

A trimaran is a catamaran with an additional hull in the center. Trimarans are usually less common than catamarans, but they have some of the same design benefits as other multi-hull sailboats.

At first glance, it would seem logical that trimarans are slower than catamarans. After all, they have an extra hull in the center, which likely increases weight and drag. However, there are more important factors at play here.

Trimarans are almost universally faster than catamarans. This has to do with weight distribution. Trimarans center their weight over the middle hull, using the outer hulls primarily for stability. This allows them to reap the benefits of a catamaran while increasing the efficiency of the wind power it captures.

Fastest Catamarans

Catamarans are popular for racing. There are several world records held by catamarans and numerous production boats with especially impressive speed-to-size ratios. Here are a few of the fastest racing and production catamarans ever built.

Fastest Sailboat Ever—Vestas Sailrocket 2

The Vestas Sailrocket is a specialized racing boat designed only for speed. This incredible vessel is actually the fastest sailboat ever built—and no wonder it’s a catamaran. A monohull simply can’t achieve record-breaking speeds when put head-to-head with a lightweight multi-hull.

The vessel, which earned the world sailboat speed record in 2012, has a modest 150 to 235 square feet of sail. Nonetheless, it managed to achieve a remarkable top speed of 65.45 knots in only 25 knots of wind. That’s about 72 miles per hour—in a sailboat.

Soon, a team of Swiss engineers will release their own version designed to beat the 65-knot speed record. Their vessel, which is a hydrofoil, will attempt to hit an incredible target speed of about 80 knots.

Outremer Catamarans

But what about production catamarans? How do they stack up, and how fast can they go? French boat builder Outremer Catamarans builds some of the fastest production catamarans ever built. These are not specialty racing boats—in fact, they’re average-sized cruising catamarans.

Let’s use the larger Outremer 51 as an example. This high-end cruising cat is known for its almost outrageous speed capabilities. In ideal conditions, owners of the Outremer 51 have reported speeds exceeding 20 knots for extended periods.

That’s a production catamaran with speeds that rival 20th-century warships. With such a fast boat, the world’s oceans start to appear a lot smaller. Plus, the genius design of the Outremer 51 allows it to be crewed by just two people.

But how do Outremer catamarans achieve such high speeds? The secret is in precise engineering and hull design, along with a sail plan that’s perfectly catered to the vessel. The hulls are sleek and narrow and designed to cut through the water with minimal drag.

From the bow, the Outremer 51 hulls look paper-thin. They increase in width gradually, which eliminates areas of sudden drag. These narrow hulls evenly distribute the vessel’s 21,825-lb displacement. Its low-buoyancy bows reduce drag and blast through waves instead of riding over them.

I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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How Fast Do Catamarans Go? 5 Examples (With Pictures)

A catamaran is generally more balanced on the water and can be faster than a multi-hull vessel.

Unless you compare them to foiling monohulls like the new America’s Cup boats that sail at over 50 knots, they are not recreational vessels.

In this article, we will look at how fast each type of catamaran will go.

Table of Contents

Here are the numbers before we dive into the details:

Average Speed For Sailing Catamarans

Catamarans can vary in size from 14 ft to over 100 ft. Catamarans can come in a wide variety of design types.

Sailing Catamarans have been attempting to make advancements over their mono-hulled counterparts.

These advancements include:

Foils that assist with lifting the vessel out of the water.
Stability advancements.
Racers that can maintain their speed while out in the ocean.

3 Different Types of Sailing Catamarans:

1) sport catamarans.

One type of sailing catamaran is a sport catamaran, which is otherwise known as recreational. These are typically supposed to have a small crew and launch and land on beaches.

Sport catamarans do not normally have living quarters and are ideal for day trips. Resorts or other rental services often use these.

These can also be used for racing.

Sport vessels have been known to travel over 30 knots but can speed over 40 knots in the proper conditions.

2) Cruising Catamarans

Another type of sailing catamaran is a cruising catamaran. These often come with complete living accommodations, so they sacrifice speed over their sportier counterparts.

They can average between 9 and 10 knots, depending on the conditions. The top speed is typically around 15 knots.

It would be best if you were careful with catamarans that have living quarters. The more you weigh it down, the less speed you will have.

3) Racing Catamarans

The final type of sailing catamaran is an ocean racing catamaran.

These boats are large and can reach over 100 feet in length.

The top speed of this type of catamaran is around 45 knots.

Because of the prize money for entering these in races, much research goes into their advancement.

Average Speed Of Power Catamarans

Catamarans with power motors fill a different type of boating category.

These are commonly used when speed and smoothness are favored over space or capacity.

Because of their stability, catamarans are good vessels for combating seasickness as well as transportation. We have a separate article here with all you should know about catamarans and (how to overcome) seasickness .

On a commercial level, these can be used for ferries for both people and vehicles. They are used for short term travel, often to or from islands.

Like sailing catamarans, there are a few types of power catamarans.

1) Power Cruising Catamarans

Similar to sailing cruising catamarans, they also have power cruising catamarans. These also have living quarters and are stable while out on the water. The speed of these vessels highly depends on the motors equipped and the size of the boat itself.

Like passenger transport or ferries, catamarans have a high speed of about 40 to 70 miles per hour.

These are made to travel at great speeds to allow their commuters the shortest possible ride to their destination.

The military also utilizes power catamarans. They use power catamarans to transport military cargo. These ships are ideal because of their speed, holding capacity, and ability to venture into shallow ports.

2) Swath Catamarans

They also have small-waterplane-area twin-hull vessels. These are called SWATHs.

These differ from the average catamaran because they also have submarine-like hulls that stay completely under the water.

Due to the hulls being submerged, they are not normally affected by waves. These are used most often in the ocean as research vessels. They can also be used for certain types of yachts. Because of their stability, they are good vessels for furniture that will not require as much securing.

These often travel between 20 and 30 knots.

Some catamarans are designed for wave piercing. These are made to pierce through waves rather than sail over them, causing them to be faster. These can be used as passenger ferries, yachts, and military vessels as well.

3) Whitewater Catamarans

There are also recreational catamarans made for whitewater travel. These are sometimes called “cata-rafts.”

They are made using two inflatable hulls connected with a scaffold. These are lightweight and perfect for whitewater sports.

They are even able to be packed away in a backpack. They can take up to 20 minutes to assemble, including inflation.

They have high speeds on white water rivers and can be most compared to a canoe, kayak, whitewater raft, or other white water vessels.

Performance Characteristics Of Catamarans

Catamarans require four times the power to double their speed. A mono-hull vessel, however, would require eight times the power to double their speed.

This is because a Catamaran has less resistance in the water.

This is also good for conserving and using less energy.

Catamarans are also more stable in the water. This stability is effective at resisting heeling or capsizing. A multi-hull vessel would require four times the force to capsize as a similar-sized mono-hull vessel.

The general sailing in a catamaran is smoother and allows for activities that are not always possible on a mono-hull sailboat.

Are Catamarans Faster than Mono-Hull Vessels?

Because catamarans have less water resistance, they are generally faster than mono-hull vessels.

This is because their hulls are smaller, which means they have a smaller bow wave to fight.

A bow wave is a wave created by the displacement of water by the bow of a ship. After a certain speed, a boat has to start hauling itself over its own bow wave.

The larger hull a ship has, the larger its bow wave will be and the more power required to fight it.

Catamarans have two small and narrow hulls, so they do not have much of an issue with their bow wave. This is one reason they are usually faster than a similar-sized mono-hull vessel.

Catamarans can be between 20-30 percent faster than their monohull counterparts.

Issues with catamarans over mono-hulls are that they can take more time to turn.

How Is The Speed Measured?

Boats commonly measure speed using GPS tracking devices to measure distance traveled. Speed while sailing is measured in knots. A knot is one nautical mile per hour, which equals about 1.15 miles per hour.

How Fast Are Catamarans Compared To Other Boat Types?

Sailing catamarans typically average about 10 knots.
Pontoon boats average about 20 mph.
A powerboat cruiser can average anywhere between 30 and 50 mph.
Cigarette boats can even reach close to 90 mph in the proper conditions.
Sailboats average between 6 and 12 mph depending on wind conditions. This includes mono-hull between 6 to 8 mph and catamarans and trimarans between 9 and 10mph

Two different factors can determine the speed of sailing ships:

1) The hull type as listed above.

Different hulls rest in the water more or less than other types. The less of the hull that is underwater, the faster it can go.

This is because the less of the hull in the water, the less drag created while sailing.

2) The length of the boat

The longer the boat, the faster it can go. Every boat has a maximum hull speed that cannot be exceeded unless the boat can plane on the water’s surface or be lifted on hydrofoils. For most boats, the longer the boat, the higher the maximum hull speed is.

Speed Vs. Comfort Considerations For Catamarans

If you are looking for a catamaran, you have a lot of options.

You can choose to prioritize speed or comfort.

After deciding to purchase a catamaran, the type of catamaran you should look at depends on where and what you are using it for.

You will want to make sure that you look at what type of water you will be traveling in, how many people you are traveling with on average, and what type of speed you hope to achieve.

One thing you will want to keep in mind before the purchase of a catamaran is storage. If you intend to store your boat in a marina, you are often charged for two slips due to the beam, or width, of a catamaran versus the standard mono-hull vessel.

Catamarans can be beneficial for those who get seasick because they offer a steadier ride and the ability to have more open air space. Because the living quarters are not inside the hull and under the water’s surface, you have more windows and visibility.

Both sailing and power catamarans are viable options. Also, sailing catamarans can come with back-up power engines for low winds or situations such as docking in a marina.

Catamarans that have twin engines can offer more control and precision than those on a mono-hull vessel. This is good for tight and busy areas or navigating marinas.

Overall, there are plenty of options for you, and they offer many benefits over their mono-hull counterparts.

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Sailing Catamaran Speed

You’ve probably heard that one of the best reasons to get a catamaran is because they’re fast. After all, there’s a race any time there are two sailboats on the same waterway.

But like all things in boating, speed is a relative term. Catamarans seem fast to those coming from slow and heavy monohull sailboats, but cruising catamarans are still pretty slow vessels. There are indeed high-tech racing catamarans breaking speed records all the time. Still, the vessels that most liveaboard cruisers venture out on are only slightly faster than their monohull counterparts.

For this article, we will look at the types of catamarans people live on and cruise on. Forget about those fantastic America’s Cup yachts or those multihull go-fast fishing boats for a few minutes.

I have had experience cruising and living aboard both catamarans and monohulls. For five years, my wife and I enjoyed catamaran sailing on a Lagoon 380. We then switched—for many reasons—to a Cabo Rico 38. The Cabo Rico is a traditionally-designed monohull with a full keel and a heavy displacement. In other words, it’s about as far away from a “speedy” catamaran as one can get.

How fast can a catamaran go, measuring catamaran speed, catamaran speeds vs monohull speeds, sailing cruising catamarans, performance cruising catamarans, racing catamarans, power cruising catamarans, catamaran top speed, faqs – how fast are catamarans.

white sailboat on sea near green mountain under blue sky during daytime

There’s no doubt that catamarans are some of the fastest sailboats around—but there’s also a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding online about how fast they really are.

Realize that not all catamarans are created equally. There are cruising catamarans built to carry their passengers in comfort. And then there are racing catamarans built for nothing but speed. Somewhere in between, there is a poorly-defined category of “performance cruising” catamarans that stir passions.

So, are catamarans fast? Well, it’s all relative. But, if you compare them to monohull sailboats of similar sizes and capabilities, the catamarans are usually faster for several reasons.

The speed difference is even harder to measure in the cruising catamaran category. One of the reasons catamarans beat monohulls during races is because they are built light with no ballast. But a heavily-laden cruising cat ready for an ocean crossing is hardly “lightly loaded.” Will it still beat a similarly heavily-laden monohull? Sure! But probably not by as much as you might think.

Boats measure their speed in knots. Traditionally, this was measured by a tool known as a knot log. The modern equivalent is an underwater instrument with a spinning wheel that effectively measures the speed of the water passing over the hull. So long as no currents are present, that speed will equal the boat’s speed over the ground (SOG).

Satellite navigation allows us to measure our SOG more accurately, but this isn’t a great indication of boat performance since it will be affected by tides and ocean currents.

For landlubbers, one knot is equal to about 1.15 statute miles. So, in other words, when we say that a sailboat cruises at 6 knots, it means it’s going about 7 mph.

But before going any further, consider this—the maximum speed that a sailboat makes is generally a pretty meaningless number. Maybe the knot log pegs to 13 knots for a few seconds, thanks to a strong gust of wind while you’re headed down a large swell. Does this mean you’re driving a 13-knot boat?

A voyaging sailor who has made a long passage will have little interest in this sort of number. When you’re crossing oceans, what really matters is how many miles pass under the keel each day. The more miles you tick off, the shorter the passage. So most sailors learn quickly to look past the “fastest speed in knots” number and find real-world stats on passage miles.

Comparing speeds between radically different sailing vessel hulls is like comparing apples to oranges. Even seemingly similar boats, like “cruising sailboats,” the differences between one and the other are endless.

For example, let’s say you wanted to compare 38-foot monohulls to 38-foot catamarans. The speed of a monohull is limited by waterline length, which means you’d have to look at a hull that is significantly more than 38 feet in most cases. On the other hand, the catamaran is known for long swim platforms on inverse transoms and plumb bows—meaning most 38 foot cats have nearly 38 feet of waterline.

Then, what sort of hull design makes a fair comparison to a catamaran? Would it make sense to compare a transitional, salty 38-footer with a full keel? Probably not. Most sailors interested in the cruising catamaran lifestyle would more than likely be comparing it to a modern monohull with a flatter bottom, fin keel, and spade rudder.

What about the catamaran? There’s a lot of variation in the catamaran field regarding performance. If speed is your goal, you likely want to compare the high-end performance brands—Outremer, Gunboat, HH, and the like. These boats are becoming more popular, but most cruising cats you see on the water are not performance models. Instead, they are the big and comfortable cruisers made by Lagoon, Leopard, or Fountaine Pajot.

Finally, how can you fairly compare the stats? Boats sail differently in different wind speeds and at different points of sail. In other words—there are a lot of variables that make it hard to answer the question, “How fast can a catamaran go?”

Polar charts for each vessel can provide some clues to make a somewhat fair comparison. Polar charts are graphical plots of a sailboat’s performance in different wind conditions and at different points of sail. Manufacturers seldom publish since no two are ever perfectly alike. They are less of a boat specification and more of one sailor’s results for a particular boat. Most owners make their own polar diagrams, but they’re still a tool for those looking to get an idea of a model’s performance in the real world.

Speeds of Various Types of Sailing Catamarans

There are several distinct catamaran classes, and predicting speed means understanding what the designers were building the craft to do. You might be surprised to learn that the first “modern” catamarans popped up in the New England racing circles in the late 1800s. Nat Herreshoff’s Amaryllis is particularly famous from the time .

Since then, catamarans have been synonymous with speed. But in today’s world of many different multihull designs, it’s important to set your expectations accordingly. As you would not buy a Ferrari for its cargo space, don’t expect your minivan to win any races at the track.

Examples of cruising cats include popular models made by the big-three catamaran makers—Lagoon, Fountaine Pajot, and Leopard. However, there are dozens of other companies making these boats. The market and industry for cruising catamarans have never been larger.

Most of these boats are engineered to provide comfortable accommodations for voyaging. They first became famous as vessels for sail charter holidays, where their huge cockpits and private cabins made them much more popular than the smaller and cramped monohull options.

As a result, they’re not built with high-tech components or super lightweight performance rigs. Instead, they’re the catamaran equivalent of a Hunter or a Catalina sailboat—mass-produced on an assembly line. That keeps prices lower than other types of catamarans, but it also means that they’re not winning any races. The makers use traditional layups with end-grain balsa-cored fiberglass to keep costs down. In addition, they usually feature stub fin keels, which are foolproof to sail but will not provide the upwind performance of a lift-making daggerboard.

Still, without ballast and when lightly loaded, cruising catamarans can move. They show their colors in light air when heavy displacement-hulled sailboats usually make their poorest showing. Since these moderate conditions also make for great cruising, these boats can provide a lovely ride in smooth weather.

Cruising catamarans can’t plane or anything, but their narrow hulls create an effect that means they can beat the hull speeds of a similarly sized monohull. Of course, it’s not a precise number since every boat and crew is different, but generally, you could expect speeds to be about one and a half times that of a same-sized monohull.

These catamarans are still rigged for comfort, but they’re built using the highest-quality and lightest-weight materials. While their hulls are rigged for comfortable living, they are generally designed much sleeker than regular charter-style cruising catamarans. The hulls are narrower, and you’re unlikely to see tall flybridges or forward lounge seating.

Several companies are making these boats. But in the world of catamarans, a performance cruiser is the upper end of the market. If you want a car comparison, Lagoons are something like a Chevy sedan, whereas an Outremer is like an M-series BMW. A Gunboat would be even more exotic, like a Ferrari. Not only are they more fashionable brands, but they’re also made to higher standards with cutting-edge designs .

It’s also worth noting that the category of “performance cruising cat” is a sliding scale. Some companies make vessels with better materials and craftsmanship than the cruising cats but aren’t designed for speed. Others build cats that are all about performance with few amenities.

With every new model, companies building these cutting-edge boats are attempting to boost the “performance” and the “cruising” aspect of their vessels. As a result, amenities and speed continue to get better and better.

Any racing sailboat is not designed for comfort. Especially on a catamaran, accommodations take up space and weigh the boat down. True racing vessels are designed to not worry about the crew but optimize every element for speed. Once the boat is designed for the desired performance, they’ll squeeze in bunks and storage wherever they can.

As such, there’s not much point in comparing them to liveaboard or cruising sailing vessels—they are too different. Some modern racing catamarans even fly above the water on foils. This makes for a high-speed boat and a considerable risk for sailors traveling for pleasure. Gunboat tried to make a foiling cruising cat in the G4 model, but it didn’t go so well for them.

Power cats run the same gamut of designs that sailing catamarans do. Power catamarans and sport catamarans designs are popular in powerboat circles for the same reasons they are in the sailing world–their hull designs allow for smaller underwater profiles and high speeds. There are many fast catamarans out there with twin engines and average speeds of well over 70 knots. Most recreational vessels cruise at about 20 knots, however.

Power catamarans also offer a smooth ride, making them a popular choice for large vessels like passenger ferries. There are even military vessels that use two hulls, like the stealth M80 Stiletto .

As you can see, catamaran speeds vary from just slightly better than monohulls to extraordinary flying machines. But cats are about much more than just speed. Their open and bright living space makes living aboard an entirely different experience than living on a monohull. Their cockpits flow into their salons for a full-time outdoor living feel that no other type of vessel can match. There are many reasons to choose a catamaran as a liveaboard sailboat.

How fast is a catamaran?

The answer depends on many other questions, like what sort of catamaran is it? And if it’s a sail cat, how fast is the wind blowing?

Sailing catamarans come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are optimized for living space and comfort, while others are designed with fast cruising speeds being the sole goal of the boat. The Gunboat 68, one of the fastest cruising sailboats currently made, can exceed 30 knots.

The world of power cats is much the same. Some power cats can do well over 70 knots, while most cruising boats top out at around 20 knots.

Do catamarans have a hull speed?

A hull speed is a characteristic of traditional displacement-hulled sailing vessels. The properties of the hull shape under the water create drag that limits the overall speed that the vessel can achieve. Even if you keep adding more power (or more wind), the vessel cannot exceed its designed hull speed for any length of time. Hull speed is a factor of waterline length.

Multihulls, however, have an entirely different underwater profile than monohulls. Their narrow hulls and shallow keels mean that drag is not the limiting factor. With this in mind, designers can tweak catamaran hulls to plane and cruise well above the hull speed of a similarly sized monohull.

What is the fastest cruising catamaran?

The market for fast-moving cruising cats has never seen more innovation than in the past decade. This type of boat has taken off, spurred in part by new designs and the overall popularity of multihulls for cruising. The industry leader in fast multihulls is generally considered the French-based company Gunboat . After all, one of the company’s mottos is “Life is too short to sail a slow boat.”

The company’s largest boat to date is the Gunboat 90 Sunshine . However, the delivery of the company’s current flagship, the Gunboat 68 Condor , from France to St. Maarten, provides some real-world numbers. In the delivery crew’s words, “Our max speed exceeded 30 knots a couple of times, and the max 24-hour run was 328 nm.” To save you the math, that works out for an average speed of 13.7 knots for their best day.

Matt has been boating around Florida for over 25 years in everything from small powerboats to large cruising catamarans. He currently lives aboard a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat with his wife Lucy and adventure dog Chelsea. Together, they cruise between winters in The Bahamas and summers in the Chesapeake Bay.

Cruising Catamaran Speed! With Examples and Explanation

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One of the most popular cruising vessels is cruising catamarans. Cruising catamarans are popular thanks to their stability and space, but some sailors have concerns about cruising catamarans’ speed. So, how fast are cruising catamarans?

Sailing cruising catamarans can travel at an average of 9-15 knots and max out around 35 kts. Power Cruising catamarans have a maximum speed of 70 knots but averages around 20-25 kts. How fast a catamaran can go also depends on the load it is carrying, its structural design, and its engine power.

This article explores details of what affects a cruising catamaran’s speed. It also considers how fast sailing and power cruising catamarans can go, along with some of the most rapid cruising catamaran models available today.

How Is a Cruising Catamaran’s Speed Measured?

To better understand a cruising catamaran’s speed, it is essential to consider how a boat’s speed is measured. Boat speed is measured in knots , which is one nautical mile per hour, (or 1.15 mph). One nautical mile is approximately 1.15 land miles.

The speed of a catamaran is calculated by a GPS tracker that records the distance sailed every hour.

How Fast Are Sailing Cruising Catamarans?

The wind powers sailing cruising catamarans – their speed depends on the speed of the wind. If there is a lot of wind, more wind equals higher a faster boat. However, if there is little to no wind, the catamaran won’t move very fast or very far.

At about 14-16 knots of wind speed, sailing catamarans can average 9-12 knots . Some high-end sailing catamarans can be even faster. For instance, the Gunboat 62 Tribe can sail up to 36.6 knots when the wind is between 35-45 knots.

How Fast Are Power Cruising Catamarans?

Unlike sailing catamarans, power catamarans do not rely on the wind to move. Instead, they are powered by fuel (usually diesel). This means that they can travel faster than sailing catamarans and that their speed is more reliable.

Under light loads the Power catamarans can travel at between 20-25 knots. When the load is higher, power catamarans speed drops to 15-20 knots.

Some high-end catamarans, such as the Freeman 47, can reach up to 70 knots .

What Affects the Speed of a Cruising Catamaran?

There are several features of a cruising catamaran that impact its speed. These include:

The type of hull. The less the hull is submerged into the water, the faster the catamaran will go. When they are submerged, hulls create drag which slows the velocity of the boat.
The beam/length ratio. When a catamaran has a higher surface area (stable base), it can better withstand stronger winds, therefore allowing it utilize more of the wind before needing to reduce sail area.
The material used to construct and reinforce the vessel. When areas of the catamaran are filled with foam, it decreases the catamaran’s weight while ensuring that stability is maintained. As a result, the catamaran has a lighter weight, making it faster.
The type of propellers. Propellers are an essential part of a vessel as they act as brakes, which are necessary to slow down and stop a boat. However, many modern cruising catamarans have folding propellers that reduce the boat’s water resistance when the engine is turned off. As a result, the catamaran can travel faster under sail.
The engines. The higher the horsepower of the catamaran’s engine, the faster it can go. Most newer catamarans have two engines which makes them faster than the older, one-engined counterparts.
The load of the catamaran. Each catamaran has a load-carrying capacity. If the amount of weight the catamaran has onboard exceeds this capacity, it will “sit” lower in the water and significantly slow down the catamaran’s speed.
The sail trim and reef. When sail area is reduced (called reefing), the catamaran slows down (in most situations). Properly trimming the sails will also enhance performance.

In addition, catamarans will be faster downwind . Going downwind removes the headwind and will many times allow you to surf with the waves.

Why Should You Look for a Faster Cruising Catamaran?

The old adage is that “slow and steady” wins the race. However, when it comes to cruising catamarans, many sailors believe the faster, the better. Faster catamarans are preferred because they:

Allow the crew to quickly move the catamaran out of bad weather conditions, protect the vessel and passengers on board.
Allow the captain to more predictably calculate Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA).
A shorter time spent in bad patches of sea making big ocean crossings safer and more enjoyable.

What Are the Fastest Cruising Catamaran Models?

Some catamarans have been recognized and won awards for their speed. Some of these models are explored below.

Freeman 47 (Power)

Freeman catamarans are symmetrical catamarans that have especially been designed to carry a heavy load without sacrificing speed. Released in 2020, the Freeman 47 has quad 450R Mercury outboards that allow it to travel at 70 knots.

In addition to the outboards, many features of the Freeman 47 allow it to move faster. It has a fuel capacity of 1000 gallons (3785 liters) and a maximum power of 1800 HP.

If you’re interested in purchasing or finding out more about the Freeman 47, register your interest on Freemanboatworks.com .

Glider SS18 (Power)

The Glider SS18 is a power catamaran that was launched in 2017, after eight years of development. It is powered by 300 BHP supercharged engines that allow it to travel for up to 50 knots. It also has a built-in Stability Control System (SCS), ensuring that the catamaran remains stable and comfortable, even when traveling at top speed.

To buy or get a quotation for the Glider SS18, visit glideryachts.com .

ICE Cat 61 (Sail)

The Ice Cat 61 is a luxury catamaran. At 61 feet (18.60 meters) long, it is a large catamaran that has been designed with both speed and stability in mind. While its average cruising speed is 12 knots, it can achieve up to 25 knots.

The ICE Cat 61 has been designed with carbon and glass fiber – materials that allow the boat to be lighter. It has two engines with 55 HP each and a fuel capacity of 206 gallons (780 liters).

If you’re interested in an ICE Cat 61, you can learn more at iceyachts.it .

Gunboat 68 (Sail)

At 68 feet (20.8 meters) long, the Gunboat 68 makes for an impressive sight on the open ocean. It averages 20 knots but can reach 30 knots depending on the amount of wind power.

The Gunboat 68 has been designed by VPLP, also known as the ‘ fastest naval architects in the world .’ It has been designed with large sails, long daggerboards, and material that has lighter weight. This vessel also has retractable rudders, which reduce the boat’s drag.

To find out more about the Gunboat 68 or register interest in purchasing one, visit Gunboat.com .

Conclusion

A catamaran’s speed depends on its design, its load, its type, and on a variety of other factors. However, on average, most sailing catamarans can achieve between 9-15 knots, while power catamarans can, on average, achieve between 20-25 knots. If you are looking to splurge for the best on the market, some power catamarans can reach 50-70 knots.

If you’re looking to buy a cruising catamaran, make sure you use the information you have gained to assess the speed of the catamaran you are considering. A faster catamaran can make for safer and more exciting sailing. Ultimately, it will make your cruising experience more enjoyable and satisfying.

Owner of CatamaranFreedom.com. A minimalist that has lived in a caravan in Sweden, 35ft Monohull in the Bahamas, and right now in his self-built Van. He just started the next adventure, to circumnavigate the world on a Catamaran!

[Updated] The fastest cruising catamarans of 2020

Jun 26, 2020

less than a min

[Updated] The fastest cruising catamarans of 2020

Catamarans are some of the most interesting boats to roam the oceans. They are not only considered great looking vessels with plenty of space for utmost comfort, but also fast boats that you can use in races. Performance catamarans are categorized as multihulls and offer unique design features in addition to unparalleled speed.

Several lists have been compiled to categorize the best catamarans every year. Here are some of the fastest cruising catamarans of 2020 :

Outremer Catamarans have made a name for themselves for being fast as well as fun. With the Outremer 45 as a wonderful representative, these catamarans are characterized by narrow bows and large rigs. The Outremer 45 features a smart design from Barreau-Neuman, constructed in the Outremer yard in the South of France. It is built in carbon, glass, vinylester and divinycell in order to be durable and strong. This boat can reach a maximum speed of 15 knots, with a comfortable sailing speed at 9-10 knots.
The Privilege Signature 510 is another fast cruising catamaran, recently acquired by the German Hanse Group. It is an elegant and sportive design with an arched coach roof. It features a galley, a living area, a carbon mast, and a very appealing exterior. This catamaran costs 995,000 euros.
The Marsaudon Composites ORC50 also makes this list. What is unique about these vessels is that they can be used for racing as well as cruising. Designed by Christophe Barreau, this boat features a sporty look with an angular coachroof, large inverted bows, a powerful rotating carbon mast, and a high freeboard. In addition, the ORC50 is a lightweight boat that allows it to gain speed quite easily.
Next in line are the Fountaine Pajot yachts. These boats present a good balance between comfort and performance, which has been what boat owners and mariners have been looking for lately. Most of their boats are able to sail at 9-10 knots with less resistance, while still maintaining a smooth voyage for the crew. Some of the fastest cruisers from Fountaine Pajot include Astréa 42 and Elba 45 .
Last but not least, the Gunboat 68 is a lightweight boat that is suitable for many sailing conditions. This multihull sailboat has high-aspect straight daggerboards, strong bows that manage to cut through waves, and retractable rudders. It also features different layouts that can house 4, 5, or even 6 cabins. The interior of the boat is a pure reflection of the external shape of the hull. All in all, this is an ergonomic design that aims to be flexible and easy to use by anyone on board. This catamaran costs 5.5 million euros.

These are the top five fastest cruising catamarans of 2020 according to us . Other impressive cruising multihulls include the Dolphin 42, Privilege 435, Fountaine Pajot Belize 43, Nautitech 44, Lagoon 440, Voyage 44, Outremer 45, Prout 45, and Leopard 45. Explore their features and more catamaran characteristics, keeping also a full record and management of your boating life with TheBoatAPP .

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2022 Boat of the Year: Best Performance Catamaran

By Cruising World Editors
December 15, 2021

During and in the four days immediately following the US Sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland, the Cruising World judges inspected and sailed on 27 boats vying for recognition. Learn more about the boats in our 2022 Boat of the Year »

OK, confession time. When the roster of nominees for the 2022 Boat of the Year awards was released, the contest’s team and judging panel couldn’t help themselves, and quietly put three check marks, little symbols of anticipation, alongside a trio of boats: the untamed cats that would vie for the title of best performer in their class. After all, both Balance and Seawind had entered the winner’s circle in previous BOTY competitions, and it was clear they’d have a serious contender for the throne in yet another player from cat-crazy South Africa, the Kinetic KC54. How’d it go? Let’s just say, nobody was disappointed. The conditions on Chesapeake Bay were ideal for putting the three nominees through their paces, and the trio of scalded cats all acquitted themselves superbly.

For 2022, if anything, the trend for flybridge catamarans is on a major upswing. New cats for 2022 from both Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot continued down that design path, putting an emphasis on living accommodations, not performance. But not aboard the latest Seawind 1600 , a brand originally built in Australia that is now produced in Vietnam. And that suits judge Tim Murphy just fine. “This boat was very dialed in,” he said, “and one place Seawind has always been innovative is with their helms. This one was really great; it was -outboard and aft with great visibility, sort of half-protected where you could step in and out. There was also good access to the boom and mainsail, which you don’t always see on cats. The deck layout was excellent, particularly the forward trampolines. Some cats have lacings with large openings where you can twist an ankle, but these were nice and tight.”

“Compared to other Seawinds that I’ve seen, I was just blown away with it in terms of what it could do and how it performed,” said Ed Sherman. “It’s a fairly conservative boat in terms of technology compared to some of the other boats in the same category, which depending on a potential buyer’s state of mind, could be either a good thing or a bad one. I loved the centralized winch aft which is where all the sail-handling takes place. It’s pretty brilliant for a short-handed crew, and it’s all in a very safe and easy-to-access location that a cruising couple can deal with without scaring the heck out of themselves.”

The Kinetic KC54 is a fresh entry in the cat universe, and we’ll let Tim Murphy get right to the point: “This is a fairly new company that was started within the past couple of years. My breath was absolutely taken away by this boat; it was spectacular. I think it was the best-built boat in the entire fleet. It’s an all-carbon boat, with a foam core, epoxy resin, all infused–fantastic. The whole boat felt integrated. You didn’t feel like there was a conflict between the forces in terms of accommodation versus performance.” With a price tag approaching $3 million, it perhaps should not be astonishing. That was a major factor in evaluating the boat, and while it did not win its class, the experts panel did present it with a Judges’ Special Recognition prize to honor the boat’s overall excellence.

“It was my personal favorite in this year’s contest,” said Sherman. The materials that were used are absolutely the highest quality available in our industry at this point, and it’s a very high-tech boat in terms of systems.” Gerry Douglas was also duly impressed: “This was the Tesla of sailboats. I think that that was their model. In terms of design and execution and technology, it hit all three of those marks. This boat is built without compromise, and what it cost was not an issue, they just wanted to do the best they could in every aspect of the boat. The construction was impeccable, the fit and finish was amazing. There are some very clever design things in the boat, but it all really worked seamlessly.”

With that level of competition, the Balance 482 had a tall order to overcome to win its class. And it did. “The sailing performance was excellent,” said Douglas. “The boat felt really good. The steering was terrific. The structure of the boat throughout was exemplary. Storage is really good. Visibility was good. Ventilation was great. There was even a rain collection system on the cabin top, which is the only one of the boats we looked at had that. It was very well concealed because the gutters formed a handhold going forward. The solar panel installation was also well done. The panels were encapsulated into a fiberglass tray that elevated the deck so the panels wouldn’t overheat. Very clever.”

The driving force behind Balance cats is Phil Berman, a world champ at racing beach cats who brought that passion to developing and marketing fully found cruisers. Judge Murphy knows him well: “Phil comes from a very strong view of wanting to see boats that have solid sailing performance. He’s also a strong proponent of daggerboard boats, which tends to be quick shorthand for the dividing line between cats that are more about payload versus cats that are about performance, but not so much where you’re going to fly a hull or break a rudder. There’s a balance within a boat that really performs that you can still live aboard.” A winning balance, it turns out, with the Balance 482 securing its position as the Best Performance Cruiser for 2022.

More: balance catamarans , Boat of the Year , Boat of the Year 2022 , catamaran , Kinetic Catamarans , print 2022 jan , Sailboats , seawind catamarans
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The Cruising Catamaran Performance Debate

Which Cruising Catamaran Performs Better…And Does It Really Matter?

A client recently alerted us to a YouTube video posted by a catamaran dealer that is blatantly misleading and inaccurate. If you listen to this dealer, every catamaran manufacturer, other than the Fountaine Pajot brand, is slow, unsafe, not seaworthy and not fit to be a cruising catamaran.

While we agree that the Fountaine Pajot brand is an excellent product (we sell a lot of them), it certainly is not the ONLY good cruising catamaran in the world. There are many products available that are as good and like so many things, when it comes to choosing a cruising boat, it often boils down to personal preference, especially in this category of cruising catamaran.

2022 UPDATE: You will still find some great information below regarding cruising catamarans, especially if you are in the market to buy one. But lots has happened in the Performance Cruising Catamarans category since this post was written a few years ago, like Catana is back in the game with tons of innovation and a fresh new look. In addition to reading this article, be sure to read:

2022 Performance Cruising Catamaran Comparison
We Bought a Performance Cruiser Catana OC 50

Cruising Catamarans Performance

The dealer in the video our client mentioned to us specifically focused on the superior performance of the Fountaine Pajot compared to some of the competing brands in the cruising category like Leopard Catamarans , Nautitech Catamarans , Bali Catamarans , Lagoon Catamarans , and Catana Catamarans .

The fact is that there is very little difference in speed between similarly lengthed cats in this category. All these catamarans are displacement hulls and they pretty much sail to hull speed with intermittent surfing. Therefore, when sailed efficiently, these cats should have very similar performance.

We hear terms such as power-to-weight ratio (sail area to displacement) bandied about a lot by yacht salespeople of the various boat brands as an indicator of performance. While this is definitely a factor and certainly has an effect on acceleration and light wind performance, it is not the only factor. Some catamaran brands will be faster around the cans in a regatta while others will be better when making long passages.

What one should also consider is that when cruising is that a catamaran’s performance will be dictated by sea state as well as wind speed and direction. In light winds, there will probably be a screecher or asymmetrical spinnaker deployed and in strong winds the sails will probably be reefed. This means that in cruising mode, most sail plans are optimized to the conditions. Therefore, when evaluating a cruising catamaran’s performance, there are many factors to be taken into consideration. This is not a simple cut-and-dried argument.

Catamaran Performance Factors & Calculations

To display the different factors and calculations which are relevant when it comes to catamaran performance, we went to Multihull Dynamics for data and pulled some numbers on the two boats most mentioned in this dealer’s video, namely Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot. Here is what we found on the Multihull Dynamics site:

Base Speed – An empirically derived indicator of the speed a given boat could average over a 24-hour period (best days run) under a variety of conditions. Here again the Lagoon had better numbers with 9.82 knots versus 9.46 knots for the FP Helia 44 – this explains why the Lagoons are so successful on the long Ocean races like the ARC
KSP – Kelsail Sailing Performance number is a measure of relative speed potential of a boat. It takes into consideration Sail area, Displacement and length at Waterline. The higher the number the higher the speed predicted for the boat. Here the FP Helia 44 at 6.06 had better numbers than the Lagoon 450 which comes in at 6.02 – the Helia is the lighter boat.
TR – Texel Rating provides a handicap system for widely varying boats sailing together in a race. The formula is essentially the inverse of the Base Speed formula with constants applied to make the results useful. The Texel rating system permits the calculation of time to sail a given distance. Thus a boat with a higher TR can be expected to take longer from start to finish than a boat with a lower TR. The Lagoon 450 came in at 141 versus the FP Helia 44 at 144.
Interestingly the Leopard 45 came in with better numbers than the Lagoon and the FP as follows: Bruce number – 1.25; Base Speed 10.65; KSP 7.68 and TR 122.
The numbers for Antares PDQ44 are very similar to the Helia 44 and Lagoon 450.
Unfortunately there was no data available for the Bali or current Nautitech designs.

*Disclaimer: All data quoted here was derived from Multihull Dynamics. Catamaran Guru offers the details in good faith and does not guarantee or warrant this data.

>>Click on the pictures above or go to Multihull Dynamics website for a full explanation of the graphs.

While the Fountaine Pajot dealer touts the superior performance of their brand, actual data shows that the Lagoon brand has won more ARC cruising rallies than any other brand of cruising catamaran. These are hardly the statistics of “just a charter catamaran that sails in 50-mile circles and lacks performance”, as is claimed by this dealer. As an example, check out these ARC and ARC+ rally results in which Lagoon consistently features well:

Spirit, Lagoon 450 Flybridge – 1st Multihull
Cat’Leya, Lagoon 52 Sportop – 2nd Multihull
Sea to Sky, Lagoon 450 – 3rd Multihull
Dreamcatcher, Lagoon 52 – 4th Multihull
Sumore, Lagoon 570 – 5th Multihull
Opptur, Lagoon 500 – 6th Multihull
Lea, Lagoon 52 – 10th Multihull
2015: 380 Havhunden, first in ARC+ Multihulls Division in corrected time
2013: 620 Enigma, first in ARC+ Multihulls Division in corrected time
2012: 560 Feliz, first in ARC Multihulls Division in real time
2011: 560 Blue Ocean, first in ARC Multihulls Division in corrected time & third in ARC Multihulls Division in real time
2010: 620 Lady Boubou, first in ARC Multihulls Division & 11th overall in real time

This is NOT an indication of how good or bad one boat over another is, but rather an indication of dealer bias ! We are sure this debate will continue but it is our considered opinion that one should look at the overall boat and not be blinded by issues that might or might not be manufactured by over-zealous sales people. As we have said before, it often comes down to personal preference.

Performance Cruising Catamarans

High-performance cruising cats are becoming more popular and there are a lot more on the market than even just five years ago, but it’s not for everyone, especially if you are not a skilled sailor. Daggerboards and bigger rigs require more skill and are not for the average sailor.

We’ve been racing on and off for years on different catamarans and we’ve always had great fun sailing and surfing at speeds of 15+ knots. But as fun as that is, it can be a white knuckled, wild ride in bad conditions and can leave the crew tired and tense because one has to really pay attention. At these speeds any mistake could be catastrophic since there is so much load on the rig. So, make no mistake, sailing fast in less than good conditions is hard work, particularly when you sail shorthanded.

When only the two of us cruise along on our own boat, we really appreciate the pleasure of gliding through the water at 8-10 knots, relaxed and comfortable. Would we love to be able to coast along at a good clip in very light winds? Sure, we would love to own an Outremer or Catana! But that type of performance cat will cost us probably twice the price of a regular cruising catamaran. Is it worth the money for the average cruiser? Debatable.

With the advancement of technology, more people will eventually be able to sail these performance cats skillfully and will be able to afford them as costs come down but until such time, we believe that the average sailor can very happily sail at fair speed toward their destination, safely and relaxed on an average cruising catamaran as discussed above. The fact is, one or two knots of speed, which is what the difference between these cruising cats MIGHT be, will not make or break your passage.

2020 Update: At the time of writing this article, we owned a Lagoon 450 SporTop , not a rocket ship by any means, but a fair sailing boat. We now own a Bali 5.4 catamaran that is significantly lighter and faster in general as a cruising catamaran and we love the extra speed. However, I have to say that this boat is less comfortable underway than the heavier Lagoon. It is more buoyant, a little more skittish and tend to surf much quicker. So one has to pay more attention in more vigorous conditions. It can be tiring on a long passage, but it sure is fun!

Stephen says, “I personally like the Bali because it is a more lively boat and sails very well – when we picked our boat up in France it was completely empty and bobbed like a cork which we were not used to because our Lagoon was a much heavier boat. Since we have now equipped her with all the world cruising equipment as well as big dinghy, etc. she is a little heavier and a lot more comfortable. It is a fact that weight affects performance – the lighter the boat the better performance one can expect. We flew across the Atlantic when we were nice and light but the boat still performs well now that she is at full cruising weight”.

The Bottom Line

So, to conclude this argument, dealers are always somewhat biased about the products that they represent. Manufacturers go to great lengths and spend a lot of money training their dealer networks to be knowledgeable about their products and represent them well with the buying public. They rightfully expect loyalty from their dealers and expect them to present a positive image to the consumer. We all get that. However, when dealers trash and misrepresent their competition with manufactured issues in order to sell their own products, they do a disservice to the buying public and the industry in general.

We want to hear what you have to say! Tell us about performance on your cruising catamaran and also check out our article on why we chose our own catamaran .

Reminder! Check out these fresh updates on performance catamarans:

Contact us if you have any questions regarding catamarans, Fractional Yacht Ownership or our Charter Management Programs .

Estelle Cockcroft

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13 thoughts on “The Cruising Catamaran Performance Debate”

Thanks for a sober writing. I am the owner of the Lagoon 380 Hahunden, and agter with you. I have a spreadsheet with 75 different cruising cat models and the elapsed times in 29 races, and there is not much difference in perforfance. Can send it if uou want. Greetings.

I would like to see that spreadsheet for sure!

I own a Venezia 42′ and if my boat is part of your spreadsheet I would especially love to see it! Could you please send me a copy even if it’s not on there?

To discuss performance and Lagoon or FP in the same sentence is crass. These are not performance Catamarans, purely floating caravans. They have no pretence to performance only cruising capacity, any indicator of performance is purely coincidental.

I own a Privilege 495 and wouldn’t trade it for any other cat.

Hi Jack, I am interested in the performance of your boat. I understand that mini keels decrease performance considerably. Thanks Di

I would like to point out that the data that you use from Multihull Dynamics is completely flawed due to an inaccurate displacement value. Multihull Dynamcis inexplicably lists the Helia at 14 tons, while Fountaine Pajot and your site list the boat at 10.8 tons. This is quite a big difference and skews all the metrics calculated by the site. The Helia is obviously a lighter boat and performance in catamarans starts with weight, so it is undoubted that the Helia will be more lively than the Lagoon. I totally get your point that that does not mean that it will be more comfortable. Second, on the ARC data front: my father sailed twice across the same route in the Atlantic in the last 10 years and I’m very familiar with the conditions. The trade winds there tend to be rather lively and in those conditions weight will matter less. I would expect to see different results in lighter conditions. All that said, the dealer in question is undoubtedly doing their marketing with an agenda.

Hi Ivan, thanks for your input regarding the Helia 44 weight discrepancy. We are aware of this and it holds good for both vessels. You will note that the Helia 44 shows a displacement UNLOADED of 10.8T while the Lagoon 450 shows an UNLOADED displacement of 15T. In order to get accurate performance numbers we assume that Multihull Dynamics have used a number that represents the LOADED weight of both vessels. This means that for the Helia 44 it went from 10.8T to 14.1T (an increase of 3.3T) and in the case of the Lagoon 450, it went from 15T to 20T (an increase of 5T), since it a larger boat overall with more capacity. Based on the above I think we can safely say that we are looking at a fair and accurate comparison. Your input is really appreciated and we are always open to comment and correction to ensure the information we put on the site is accurate and fair.

Thank you for the clarification on displacement.I do see that they have bumped up the Lagoon 450 displacement as well so that’s a fair comparison. I wish they published that clearly because it changes numbers quite a bit as all manufacturers typically post the weight of their boats unloaded.It looks like the Lagoon makes up for the greater weight with a bigger sail area, so that will probably add up to greater effort needed to manage those larger sails but with modern systems, all these things can be managed. Thank you for the clarification and your insight overall.

I think the misconception people have about “performance” catamarans, is that the reason sailors gravitate towards them is not their speed, it is their ability to sail in light air. If you have a catamaran that will sail at windspeed or close to it in 5-8 knots, you’ll actually sail instead of cranking up the diesel. Those true performance catamarans capable of this that also have all the creature comforts of the Helia/Elba45 or Lagoon450/46, are 50+ feet long, and twice the price unfortunately.

You are so right! Well said.

Good article! For me, the weight includes all the stuff you are taking on a month long (or longer) journey (Full fuel +extra cans, 2 sups, dive tanks and compressor, 4 cases of wine…). My opinion is that the performance cats hull design suffers more when loaded to the gills. Ride quality is also very important and is often glossed over by the performance cat advocates.

You are completely right and that was part of strategy when we raced across the Atlantic with the ARC rally. We knew that all the cats would be loaded to the max for the crossing which no doubt makes them less efficient sailing cats. Fortunately on the Bali 5.4 the buoyancy calculations is for a fully spec’d and loaded boat. So we left and sailed like a bat out of hell right off the bat and we were sailing very efficiently, making 200+ NM distances every day. We figured that as the other cats start using their fuel, water and supplies, they would sail a little more efficiently but by then we would be well ahead of the pack, and it worked. We surprised even the very fast performance cats and all the while eight of us onboard were sailing in complete comfort and were eating gourmet meals three times a day! LOL- Of course the TS’s beat us but it is hardly a fair fight. LOL

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Shape & Resistance

A boat's hull shape and the distribution of volume are key factors in determining how it will behave in varying wind and load conditions. The underwater characteristics of a vessel are responsible for allowing a multihull and its cargo to travel through the water. The faster and more effortlessly the twin hulls can displace the surrounding fluid, the less resistance and more efficient a catamaran will be.

Typically modern catamaran designs have sharp bows to drive the vessel through the seas with as little wave making as possible. High freeboard assures a dry ride. Ample buoyancy helps keep the stems out of the water and spray to a minimum. Elliptical sections make up the first third of the hull, providing an easy entry in the water and some means to resist leeway. Towards the middle of the boat, gradually flattening out towards the stern, the sections become semicircular to help distribute buoyancy. These portions help carry payload and facilitate the hull lifting at speed. Basically, the majority of all cruising catamarans share these same underwater features.

Decades ago very seakindly, double-ended hull shapes were the norm as found in the thousands of Wharram catamarans. They were easy to construct, relatively slippery, and provided ample freeboard. Unfortunately they could not carry a lot of cruising gear, had cramped accommodations and were not the best windward performers. Their sharp V-sectioned hulls and rudders were their only means of resisting leeway as they had no leeway preventing devices. Similarly, the narrow asymmetrical type hull, such as found in the Hobie 16 beach catamaran, is hardly used in today's cruising multihull. The idea was to keep the underwater appendage to a minimum and eliminate any keels or daggerboards.

In contrast, the modern catamaran benefits from tank testing and computer-aided design. Composite molding technology allows for infinite shapes and each designer or manufacturer can now realize his idea of the perfect hull shape. Today's mini keels and daggerboards keep the cat hard on the wind and rival the weatherliness of monohull racers.

Drag on the hulls is the main deterrent to speed and has many components. We have to distinguish between water and air drag. Water-induced resistance can be further broken down into drag caused by wetted surface and wave making. Wetted surface, which is the frictional resistance the hulls experience when they are passing through the water, is the main cause of resistance at low speed. Wave making becomes more important as boat speed exceeds hull speed , or 1.34 x square root of the waterline length. Wave making resistance is not as easy to analyze and is more complex than drag caused by wetted surface; it is primarily a function of weight and, secondarily, of hull shape.

Pitch is another form of drag which can slow the boat down. This unwanted phenomenon is directly related to the buoyancy of the extremities and weight distribution. Wave-making resistance caused by the boat's constant plunging will slow a multihull, especially since it has less momentum to drive it through waves as compared to a single-hulled vessel. In addition the airflow over the sails will be disturbed by a constant change of attitude, further hindering efficient progress. Pitching can also be caused by placing items that are too heavy into the extreme ends of the multihull. In addition, various design- and construction-related issues can cause this problem, such as bridge decks extending too far forward of the mast and a high, heavy rig. Solid decking instead of trampoline nets, and/or large protrusions, which strangely some manufacturers claim break up waves, can also cause a hobby-horsing effect. Not only can this result in more wave-making drag than desired, but can seriously tire the crew. Any structure ahead of the mast can cause major slamming when having to face steep seas. Although many cruising catamarans, such as the Prouts, have been built with large bridgedeck structures extending forward to the bows, it is my opinion that an open trampoline, which poses no resistance to wind and seas, is imperative on a good cruising cat.

above High freeboard and angled-out hulls are trademark features of this capable Catana 521. Much thinking has gone into the hull shape of this catamaran, yet the pronounced step running along the inside of the vessel might create some wave slap in some conditions, a typical example of a compromise between space and performance.

Resistance & Performance

Resistance vs. Speed of four different vessel configurations

A. Traditional, heavy displacement monohull cruiser

B. ULD (Ultra Light Displacement) monohull

C. Typical performance catamaran cruiser

D. Racing multihull, with almost no wave making resistance below A popular French catamaran, as photographed out of the water at the Paris Boat Show . Note that there are barely several inches of clearance between the bridgedeck and waterline. The pronounced forward knuckle of the nacelle is claimed to break up waves. In my mind however, there is very little that can resist the continued impact of seas, and any conflict between the wingdeck and waves should be avoided.

Continue reading here: Catamaran Sailboat Wide Bodied Hulls

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Readers' Questions

What is a characteristic of a catamaran hull?

A characteristic of a catamaran hull is that it has two parallel hulls, which provide greater stability than a monohull vessel and help reduce roll, pitch and yaw. Catamarans also generally require less power to achieve a given speed than a monohull and provide improved handling characteristics in open water.

What may cause hull on catamaran to bend?

Hull flexing on catamarans may be caused by several factors, such as high winds, strong waves, heavy loads, and improper loading. Poorly designed or constructed hulls can also be more vulnerable to flexing.

How to construct catermaran hull show pictures?

Unfortunately, it is not possible to construct a catamaran hull with pictures alone. A catamaran hull is a complex structure that requires precise measurements and calculations in order to ensure that it is structurally sound and performs optimally when in the water. If you would like to learn more about constructing a catamaran hull, you should refer to resources such as books, websites, and experienced boat builders who can provide you with detailed instructions.

How far should a catamaran bridge be of the water?

The height of a catamaran bridge will depend on the size and type of the catamaran. Generally, a bridge should be slightly above the water line, typically between 6 and 12 inches.

How to get catamaran hull resistance?

Catamaran hull resistance is determined by a number of factors, such as the shape of the hull, length and beam dimensions, wetted surface area, type of appendages, and underwater profile. To determine the resistance, the hull needs to be tested in a towing tank or in the open water. The resistance coefficients obtained by testing can then be used to calculate the total resistance of the catamaran hull.

Yachting World

Digital Edition

The best bluewater multihulls of all time: a complete guide

Toby Hodges
October 6, 2021

Toby Hodges and François Tregouet consider the best bluewater multihulls and look at the options for sailing the oceans in spacious comfort

What are the best bluewater multihulls for long term cruising? The one you own, or the one you can afford is the simple answer.

There is a wealth of proven designs to suit bluewater sailing and a variety of budgets. While we have focussed here on the best bluewater multihulls in production, we’ve also included some cracking pedigree multihulls which tour the planet and might occasionally pop up on the brokerage market.

If you can afford to, then pushing towards the 45-50ft length will buy you space, pace and that extra payload capacity needed to take all the items you’d want on your home afloat.

When looking at the best bluewater multihulls, the choice will come down to that perennial balance between comfort/space and speed/weight. Choosing a lighter weight performance design will obviously help you cover distance voyages more rapidly and potentially allow you to outrun weather systems. It means you can sail faster, with less sail up and less load and stress. But you’ll have to sacrifice some luxuries and need to be quite scrupulous about keeping weight down and centralised in order to maintain high average speeds.

For the majority of cruisers, however, it is the amount of space multihulls offer once you’ve reached your destination that really appeals. As well as the non-heeling living area and real estate they provide, they’re well suited to typical tradewind sailing .

If you’re considering your first or next multihull, we hope the following will serve as a taster.

Best bluewater multihulls for performance cruising

Outremer 51/55.

When you think of multihulls designed for bluewater cruising, Outremer will likely be one of the first names that comes to mind. Its heritage lies in building catamarans that can sail fast and are built strong enough to do laps of the globe.

The 51, the current version of which launched three years ago, is an archetypal example of what to look for in terms of blending speed and space is a dream design for a family circumnavigation.

The French yard’s new 55ft VPLP design may look boldly different from its past models, but the philosophy behind it remains the same. It is designed to match windspeed up to 12 knots and Outremer reasons that its ability to sail in 5 knots of breeze will allow it to sail for 95% of the time on a circumnavigation.

Read more about the Outremer 51 and Outremer 55.

Photo: Diego Yriarte

Seawind 1600/1370

For nearly four decades the Australian Seawind brand and its founder Richard Ward have been gearing catamarans around safe bluewater sailing, including performance, protection and ease of handling. Its Reichel Pugh-designed 1600, which launched three years ago, is an elegant looking cat with relatively low, long lines and some smart solutions for fast bluewater sailing.

Seawind also launches its new 1370 later this year, a staggering 60 of which have sold on plans alone.

This first 50 is built from a composite sandwich of basalt fibre, a cloth made from volcanic rock, and PET foam from recycled plastic bottles, which helps to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 50% when compared with traditional glassfibre methods.

This new 50 footer is perhaps a more appealing and practical prospect than Rapido’s previous 60 (with its significant fixed beam), particularly as the amas on this new model can fold to reduce beam to 18ft.

Infused carbon foam sandwich construction is used, along with beams, daggerboards and rudder in pre-preg carbon to keep displacement to 8,200kg.

Balance 526

The 526 launched four years ago, designed to suit short-handed sailors and families looking to sail long distances, hence it can carry large payloads and promises easy maintenance. It looks good too.

Berman’s Versahelm design is a key feature. The wheel cantilevers, allowing the helmsman to steer from outboard with clear sightlines or from the hardtop protection of the aft cockpit.

Photo: Christopher White

Atlantic 47

The A47 suits short-handed fast ocean sailing at an approachable size. Lengthening it to 49ft allowed for an aft cockpit. It is available as a sloop or with White’s patented MastFoil ketch rig – rotating aerofoil masts designed for easy short-handed cruising without sacrificing performance.

Catana 53/Ocean class 50

Catana’s performance model from 2017, sports twin aft helms (which may not suit ocean sailors), reverse bows and carbon daggerboards. The high topsides help create good bridgedeck clearance and plenty of accommodation. Its new Ocean Class 50 seems more in the shipyard’s bluewater DNA. The light weight, and dynamic and modern shape with slim hulls and a relatively short nacelle suggests a seaworthy nature and high speeds.

Best bluewater multihulls for pedigree performance

Veteran multihull designers Morrelli & Melvin designed this smaller model for the Gunboat range. It was built to be more manageable for an owner-driver yet still capable of up to 300-400 mile days.

The Gunboat 48 is something of a rare breed, just six 48s were built between 2004 and 2009. Oh, to have a spare €1.3m right now… one of them is actually on the market.

Chincogan/Lightwave

Tony Grainger has been drawing fast multihulls for 35 years, including racing trimarans and the Lightwave and Chincogan cruisers. The popular Lightwave 38 has admirable performance and comfort, and the Chincogan 52 (pictured) has the length to clock high average speeds.

Outremer 45 G. Danson

With its characteristic roof, narrow hulls and daggerboards, the Outremer 45 is a standout design which has become somewhat iconic. Despite a rather spartan interior, it has been a great success with fast cruising enthusiasts. On board, family ocean crossings at an average of 10 knots are the norm.

Best bluewater multihulls for family cruising

Photo: Nicolas Claris

The Lagoon 450 remains the most popular model in Lagoons already popular range. It exemplifies the VPLP/Nauta design partnership which has made these the very definition of modern mid-size cruising catamarans which can appeal to families and charterers alike.

Indeed the 450 marked the modern look of Lagoon and was the first with interior styling from Nauta. It originally launched over a decade ago as a flybridge design with central helming position (450F), before this ‘sport top’ option (450S) was offered with a starboard helm station and lower boom.

Fountaine Pajot Saona 47

The 47 has a modern shape, with straight bows and a reverse sheer line. It incorporates significant volume in the hulls below the bridgedeck to create room for the optional athwartships cabins. Cabin space is a prime selling point, particularly the owner’s suite to port, where there is also abundant natural light and headroom.

Photo: Tui Marine

Leopard Catamarans, together with designer Simonis Voogd and builder Robertson and Caine, produce the archetypal dual-purpose owner-operator or charter boat in their modern catamaran range.

Key features of the 45 are the amount of light in the saloon and the incredible volume and space on offer in the cabins above the relatively narrow waterlines. Vast social living areas include the flybridge, saloon and dual cockpits.

Nautitech Open/Fly 46

During the 1990s and noughties Nautitech earned a good reputation for its elegant catamarans. The 441 is a timeless example and the 44 can be credited with the ongoing trend in hardtop biminis. While its acquisition by Bavaria seven years ago helped Nautitech implement industrial build techniques, the French brand has retained its DNA at its Rochefort sur Mer yard.

The modern Marc Lombard designs have tall rigs with generous square-top mainsails. Twin wheels in the aft quarters of the Open 46 offer a direct feel on the helm, however those spending long periods in the tropics may prefer the shade of the bimini-equipped flybridge option. The layout is also open, with a saloon more outside than in. Styling is clean, modern and simple, and the standard of build and finish are good.

Photo: Olivier Blanchet

First impressions of the Neel 51 are sure to centre on its sheer size and space inside. But as you’ll see from our review of the Neel 43 on page 83, when you sail one overriding impressions quickly centre on its performance.

These trimarans are becoming a popular mass production-built option.

Photo: Christophe Launay

The Excess 11 packs plenty of potential as the smallest yacht offered by the big production yards. A little like the Lagoon 380 of old, it presents a good value new entry-level boat for genuine cruising in a more sporty, modern and enticing design. Some may argue against aft helms for ocean sailing, but those coming from monohulls will appreciate the more direct steering they offer.

Broadblue 385S

Broadblue is a UK brand which offers a distinct line of cruising and Rapier performance catamarans. Its staple 385 packs a lot of cruising comfort into its length, including generous tankage, and has been sailed all over the world. Broadblue built its first electric drive catamaran 12 years ago and offers the only all-electric production sailing catamaran under 40ft in Europe.

Photo: Christophe Breschi

Bali Catspace

For those looking for maximum volume within 40ft, it’ll be hard to beat the Catspace – although it is more of a holiday apartment than a traditional bluewater cruiser. Bali’s garage style sliding aft door does help offer an enormous amount of enclosed (or open) living space.

Best bluewater multihulls for luxury cruising

Photo: Nico Krauss

Privilège 510 Signature

The 510 is designed to take a serious amount of cruising gear – up to six tonnes of it in fact. The excellent helm station now has a fixed windscreen and all lines lead to hand. Finish quality including the electrical installation is first class and Privilege’s trademark, an admirable full beam (26ft) forward cabin, is sumptuous.

Photo: Jérôme Houyvet

Garcia Explocat 52

Garcia Yachts has cornered the market for series-built aluminium monohulls and multihulls in the last decade and this new Explocat 52 is sparking real interest. We ran a full test report in our February issue, describing it as a go-anywhere cat with an enticing combination of space, pace and rugged construction.

Read our review of the Garcia Explocat 52

Built in Argentina, the Antares 44 is the ultimate evolution of a model launched 21 years ago. Entirely dedicated to bluewater cruising, it is the yard’s only model and is constantly being improved according to owner feedback.

Time seems to have no hold on this boatyard and, against the trend, the standard equipment of the Antares 44 is extremely complete

Photo: Richard Langdon

Discovery Bluewater 50

This luxury Bill Dixon design may be a decade old now and into its third iteration, but the concept behind its original appeal remains. For those used to sailing high-end thoroughbred monohulls, here is an option to consider for a comparative level of build quality and fit out when moving to a multihull.

Read more about the Discovery Bluewater 50

St Francis 50 MKII

With this latest version of its original model, this experienced South African builder has optimised a catamaran cut out for the unforgiving seas of the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. The MKII allows for an increased load capacity, an important point in long distance cruising.

Xsquisite X5

Intelligent features on the X5 include the protected helm station with glass windscreen, integrated rainwater catcher, UV-protective glass and generous tankage.

Best bluewater multihulls for size & speed

Mcconaghy mc52.

The MC50 (now MC52) was the first and promises some high speed sailing, but it’s the open plan main living deck which will attract the majority. It incorporates an intelligent centreboard system, which hardly affects interior space, but arguably its exposed helms at the aft end of the flybridge will not suit serious ocean cruising.

Photo: Florian H. Talles

HH in Xiamen is building some really impressive large, luxury fast cats up to 90ft. This was its second model to launch, a high-end, high performance Morelli & Melvin design capable of rapid passagemaking speeds and enjoyable regatta sailing. Features include C-shaped boards and central or aft helms.

Photo: Mike Jones/Waterline Media

Ocean Explorer 60

If Nautor’s Swan made catamarans, they may look like this… The Ocean Explorer 60 uses the same designer in German Frers and some of the same builders who worked at the famous Finnish yard to produce this world cruiser. The resultant quality shines through. A new OE72 is due soon.

Kinetic KC54

A young company with plenty of experience, Kinetic produces custom fast ocean cruisers, which can occasionally race. Its 62 is a serious performance vessel with carbon hulls, rigs and rigging, daggerboards or centreboards. With fast bluewater cruising the goal, carbon is used to minimise weight so features/toys can still be added. The swim platform and hardware on the newly launched 54 weighs just 90kg, and the generous sized tanks are all in carbon too. Views from the saloon and forward cockpit also look special.

Best bluewater multihulls for ultimate performance

Marsaudon ts4/orc 42.

Few catamaran builders produce genuine performance cruisers at this ‘smaller’ size: this one is kept minimalist and light weight (around 6 tonnes) – the yard’s philosophy is ‘simplicity, then add lightness.’ The 42 is a cruiser-racer with the ability to outpace most yachts across the Atlantic, win a regatta and still offer some space for island hopping. Standard tankage is minimal however. Marsaudon recently rebranded its TS range to Ocean Rider Catamarans (ORCs) and has an ORC 57 in build.

Dazcat 1495

Dazcat builds fast, seaworthy cats from its Multihull Centre in Cornwall. The 1495 is a true ocean cruiser-racer, which is stiff and rewarding to sail, with direct steering linked to carbon rudders. The 1495 can hit 20+ knot speeds with relative ease, but it is the consistent high average speeds which will attract those looking to cover serious miles. Weight is centralised including engines, tanks, and systems all located amidships to help reduce pitching. Dazcat has a semi-custom build approach and creates all sorts of weird and wonderful craft for all abilities.

Dragonfly 40

Dragonfly trimarans are known for their high quality construction and ability to delight sailors with their ease of planing speeds. For those who can live without the space of similar length cats, the new flagship 40 is large enough to offer cruising space, while folding outriggers and retractable appendages mean you can dry out where others wouldn’t dare.

Looping 45/Freydis 48

These two designs by Erik Lerouge both offer a high-performance vision of ocean cruising. The Loopings were built individually and the Freydis in small series, and on both you can sail as fast as the wind in complete safety. Interior quality depends on whether finished by an amateur or by a shipyard.

Swisscat 48

An attractive combination of luxury, comfort and performance, the S48 is a stiff, go-anywhere premium cat that is easy to manage single-handed. The lightweight build (11t) is in epoxy infusion with carbon reinforcement.

Schionning Designs

Jeff Schionning has catamaran design in his blood. His designs exude performance and seaworthiness with flowing, even aerodynamic lines. On all tradewind routes you’ll find a G-Force (models from 12m to 23m) or an Arrow (12m to 15m) sailing more quickly than the rest. His latest venture is with Current Marine in Knysna, South Africa.

Best bluewater multihulls for pedigree cruising

The long-time best-seller from the world leader in catamarans, with more than 1,000 produced over almost 20 years from 1999. With its characteristic vertical windows, the 380 and its big brother the 410 made the purists scream when they were presented. But the 380 proved a pioneer of its kind. Safe bow volumes and light displacement (7,260 kg) helped its seaworthy behaviour. The high number of boats on the market makes this the most affordable bluewater cruising multihull for its size, even if price range is as wide as condition is variable.

Casamance 44/46

Between 44ft and 46ft depending on the year of construction and the length of its transoms, the Casamance was an impressive catamaran on launch in 1985. The design by Joubert/Nivelt offered good volume and load capacity. Of the 490 units produced, many joined the charter fleets. The exterior of the Casamance is dated, but the interior in grey ceruse oak has retained plenty of charm.

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Cruise, Play, Stay

With all the comforts of home, arrowcat brings back the 20' center console, a unique design, understand why.

Enjoy your boat year-round and stay warm and dry during cooler weather or overnight trips, while also having a comfortable and private space to retreat for whenever you need a break. Here are a few reasons why an ArrowCat power cat is an excellent boat to consider.

A Catamaran Boat

Catamarans have two hulls, which provide more stability in the water. They are less likely to roll or pitch, which means they offer a more comfortable ride, especially in rough conditions and for people who are prone to seasickness.

Power catamarans are typically more fuel-efficient than monohull boats of the same size. It requires less energy and yields more performance per HP. The two hulls create little to no drag or resistance to get on plane, resulting in greater fuel economy. Allowing for longer journeys with fewer refueling stops.

Power catamarans have a shallow draft which means they can navigate in diverse cruising grounds – beaches, islands, rivers, channels, and coastal areas with limited water depth.

An Express Cruiser

Cabin boats are designed with comfortable sleeping quarters and living spaces. They feature a sleeping space with a bed, a galley with a stove, sink, and refrigerator, and a head with a shower and toilet.

Cabin boats provide protection from the elements, such as wind, sun, and rain. This allows for comfortable cruising in a variety of weather conditions, as well as providing a haven during storms

Express cruisers are designed for efficient and fast navigation, offering higher speeds compared to traditional cruising boats. They usually have powerful engines that enable them to cover long distances quickly, making them ideal for day trips or weekend getaways.

Powered By Outboard Motors

Outboard motors can provide excellent performance and speed. They can often reach higher speeds than inboard motors of the same horsepower.

Outboard motors have a simple and standard design and are relatively easy to install, they do not require additional components such as a transmission, propeller shaft, couplings, and struts, that inboard engines do. They are easily assessable and cost less to maintain than inboard motors because they are mounted outside at the rear of the boat.

Outboard motors are often designed with features that make them easy to maneuver. For example, they can be tilted or rotated to provide precise control and handling in tight spaces and shallower waters.

ArrowCat Power Catamarans

The outboard powered express cruising catamaran.

ArrowCat Express Cruisers are designed from the ground up to maximize comfort, performance, durability, and fuel efficiency, making them a better choice for both in-shore and off-shore family cruising. We build our powercats with your safety and enjoyment in mind, designing our signature interior cabin so that you’re not limited by the outside elements, but rather have the ability to enjoy your vessel at any given time, regardless of weather or location. Superior construction, optimized performance, economy, and safety can be found in every ArrowCat we make.

Explore Our 32' & 42' Signature Cabin Models

Perfect for offshore and inshore cruising, long distance and overnight trips, cold off seasons and hot boating seasons, and much more. The ArrowCat 32-foot and 42-foot models provide an exciting and versatile experience on the water. Explore to see which one could best suit your boating lifestyle.

ArrowCat 320 Coupe

Express Cruiser Catamaran Hull Planing Hull Design Twin Outboard Motors Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Wet Head Trailerable Optional Tower Upgrade LOA: 31′ 2″/9.50 meters Beam: 10’/3.05 meters Draft: 20″/.508 meters

ArrowCat 420 Coupe

Express Cruiser Yacht Catamaran Hull Planing Hull Design Twin Outboard Motors Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Full Head LOA: 41′ 9″/12.73 meters Beam: 14′ 9″/4.5 meters Draft: 18″/.46 meters

ArrowCat 420 Flybridge

Express Cruiser Yacht Catamaran Hull Planing Hull Design Twin Outboard Motors Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Full Head LOA: 41′ 9″/12.78 meters Beam: 14′ 9″/4.5 meters Draft: 20″/.5 meters

Smooth, Fast, And Stable Ride

Talk To One Of Our Sales Experts To Schedule A Sea Trial & Experience The Feel For Yourself

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Cruising the Moskva River: A short guide to boat trips in Russia’s capital

There’s hardly a better way to absorb Moscow’s atmosphere than on a ship sailing up and down the Moskva River. While complicated ticketing, loud music and chilling winds might dampen the anticipated fun, this checklist will help you to enjoy the scenic views and not fall into common tourist traps.

How to find the right boat?

There are plenty of boats and selecting the right one might be challenging. The size of the boat should be your main criteria.

Plenty of small boats cruise the Moskva River, and the most vivid one is this yellow Lay’s-branded boat. Everyone who has ever visited Moscow probably has seen it.

This option might leave a passenger disembarking partially deaf as the merciless Russian pop music blasts onboard. A free spirit, however, will find partying on such a vessel to be an unforgettable and authentic experience that’s almost a metaphor for life in modern Russia: too loud, and sometimes too welcoming. Tickets start at $13 (800 rubles) per person.

Bigger boats offer smoother sailing and tend to attract foreign visitors because of their distinct Soviet aura. Indeed, many of the older vessels must have seen better days. They are still afloat, however, and getting aboard is a unique ‘cultural’ experience. Sometimes the crew might offer lunch or dinner to passengers, but this option must be purchased with the ticket. Here is one such option offering dinner for $24 (1,490 rubles).

If you want to travel in style, consider Flotilla Radisson. These large, modern vessels are quite posh, with a cozy restaurant and an attentive crew at your service. Even though the selection of wines and food is modest, these vessels are still much better than other boats.

Surprisingly, the luxurious boats are priced rather modestly, and a single ticket goes for $17-$32 (1,100-2,000 rubles); also expect a reasonable restaurant bill on top.

How to buy tickets?

Women holding photos of ships promise huge discounts to “the young and beautiful,” and give personal invitations for river tours. They sound and look nice, but there’s a small catch: their ticket prices are usually more than those purchased online.

“We bought tickets from street hawkers for 900 rubles each, only to later discover that the other passengers bought their tickets twice as cheap!” wrote (in Russian) a disappointed Rostislav on a travel company website.

Nevertheless, buying from street hawkers has one considerable advantage: they personally escort you to the vessel so that you don’t waste time looking for the boat on your own.

Prices start at $13 (800 rubles) for one ride, and for an additional $6.5 (400 rubles) you can purchase an unlimited number of tours on the same boat on any given day.

Flotilla Radisson has official ticket offices at Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, but they’re often sold out.

Buying online is an option that might save some cash. Websites such as this offer considerable discounts for tickets sold online. On a busy Friday night an online purchase might be the only chance to get a ticket on a Flotilla Radisson boat.

This website (in Russian) offers multiple options for short river cruises in and around the city center, including offbeat options such as ‘disco cruises’ and ‘children cruises.’ This other website sells tickets online, but doesn’t have an English version. The interface is intuitive, however.

Buying tickets online has its bad points, however. The most common is confusing which pier you should go to and missing your river tour.

“I once bought tickets online to save with the discount that the website offered,” said Igor Shvarkin from Moscow. “The pier was initially marked as ‘Park Kultury,’ but when I arrived it wasn’t easy to find my boat because there were too many there. My guests had to walk a considerable distance before I finally found the vessel that accepted my tickets purchased online,” said the man.

There are two main boarding piers in the city center: Hotel Ukraine and Park Kultury . Always take note of your particular berth when buying tickets online.

Where to sit onboard?

Even on a warm day, the headwind might be chilly for passengers on deck. Make sure you have warm clothes, or that the crew has blankets ready upon request.

The glass-encased hold makes the tour much more comfortable, but not at the expense of having an enjoyable experience.

Getting off the boat requires preparation as well. Ideally, you should be able to disembark on any pier along the way. In reality, passengers never know where the boat’s captain will make the next stop. Street hawkers often tell passengers in advance where they’ll be able to disembark. If you buy tickets online then you’ll have to research it yourself.

There’s a chance that the captain won’t make any stops at all and will take you back to where the tour began, which is the case with Flotilla Radisson. The safest option is to automatically expect that you’ll return to the pier where you started.

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56 Best Beach Cruiser Bikes

Based on reviews from 66 experts and 13,515 users
Learn how the BikeRide Score works and see our guide to beach cruiser bikes
Updated March 2024

The BikeRide Guide to Choosing the Best Beach Cruiser

What is a Beach Cruiser?

Locals only – are they just for the beach, bike from the past, geometry and ride style, frame materials.

Components – Handlebars to Eyelets
Fenders, Accessories & Lights

Step-Over and Step-Through

Types of beach cruiser, related cruiser types, direct sales vs. local bike shop, get some sand between your spokes, further reading and useful links.

The beach cruiser is a simple, stylish bike for the unrushed rider. Sometimes simply known as a ‘cruiser’, these bikes rock sweeping lines and wide balloon tires for comfort. There’s no question that the beach cruiser is one of the best looking types of bike out there.

Beach cruisers put the rider in a relaxed position, sitting upright with arms extended. Handlebars are wide for casual steering. On most cruisers, your legs will be stretched ahead of you, as the crank and pedals sit in front of the seat. You’ll never be hunched over the handlebars, with your derriere higher than your head.

Most models have one speed. When it comes to gears, single is simple. This keeps maintenance and adjustments to an absolute minimum. Beach cruisers are heavy, so they’re geared with an easy-going ratio for laid-back rolling down the boardwalk and beach-side path. This isn’t the bike for speed demons. Most specimens are made from hi-tensile steel, which is resilient, sturdy and repairable. But not light.

The beach cruiser suits relaxed and casual cyclists, infrequent riders, seniors and vacationers. Ungeared options suit flatlands and the coastal, beach-side life. They’re an incredibly popular choice for a simple, comfortable bike .

Beach cruisers were adopted by Southern Californians and other coastal residents in the 1970s. Delicate 10-speed road bikes tended to ‘harsh one’s mellow’ amidst this slow-burn lifestyle. At the beach, cyclists seek comfort and durability in a bike that can handle a sandy boardwalk and short, flat rides.

Enter balloon tires. At low pressures, they provide a level of comfort that is only now being discovered by mountain and road cyclists. Wide tires easily handle sandy paths and boardwalks.

Beach cruisers are usually heavy and stable. They’re not built for speed or long distance riding, but they can easily cut through a vacant lot or unkempt back-alley to pick up some corner-store groceries and a 40oz. Your cruiser is not just confined to the beach.

If you like to roll easy and look good doing it, you can’t lose cruising.

Where did the beach cruiser come from? How did these big, slow, flashy vehicles evolve to become the United States’ most iconic bike? And how did those distinctive, flowing frames come to be? The beach cruiser’s past can be traced back to the cruisers of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. We can already see the genre’s distinctively wide, swept-back handlebars and humped top-tube in the 1924 Mead Ranger.

In the depression-era 1930s, bicycles were seen as a luxury. With this in mind, manufacturers switched to constructing simple, durable models that wouldn’t beg for spare parts at a time when materials were scarce. Aesthetically, these bikes took on the flowing curvature that was popular in this heyday of Art Deco design.

This style of bike gained popularity from the 1930s through to the postwar 1950s. In 1933, Frank W. Schwinn released the B10E Motobike (which didn’t feature an engine). The ‘B’ referred to the bike’s ‘balloon’ tires. These large, comfortable tires measured around 2.125” wide and had just reached U.S. shores from Europe in the preceding couple of years.

With the onset of the 1950s, European trends influenced U.S. tastes. This resulted in an increase in popularity of the 10-speed racer and lighter bikes with narrower tires and thinner tubing. The bike that would come to be known as the ‘cruiser’, would fall by the wayside.

However, in this era, paperboys and couriers noticed the reliability and simplicity of these older bikes. For rolling around flat suburban blocks and level city streets, they served their purpose well.

They also came to the attention of another subculture. Surfers and beach bums noticed that these low-maintentance machines were perfect for cruising flatland roads and boardwalks on their way to the beach. Fat tires allowed these bikes to roll on firm, shallow sand. And hey, secondhand specimens were cheap and easy to find.

In 1973 at age 20, Larry McNeely opened his second Recycled Cycles franchise store in Newport Beach, California. McNeely and his father restored 1940s and 50s single-speed, balloon-tire bikes. McNeely noticed that people in Huntington Beach and Newport were only riding their bikes for short distances, “…so we promoted the beach cruiser under the comfort, durability and nostalgia aspects, and that’s when it took off.”

McNeely and his father built these bikes by hand, using backswept touring handlebars for an upright seating position. Original saddles were swapped out for wide, cushioned options. Vintage details included matching fenders and bold color choices. Recycled Cycles couldn’t keep up with demand.

McNeely recalls a conversation with a customer from this time. “Yeah, it’s my bay cruiser”, she told him, “I can take my surfboard, go down to the beach, throw this bike down in the sand, go surfing, come back, and it’s still gonna be there…”

“And I thought, ‘Bay cruiser, huh?’ That’s clever. Beach cruiser!”.

In 1976, McNeely trademarked the name “California Beach Cruiser” and thus was born the bike we know today.

Picking up on the trend, the Schwinn corporation quickly released the “Schwinn Cruiser” in 1977, followed by a court case and settlement with McNeely. Other companies, such as Huffy, jumped on board and caught the wave. Versions of some of the first models are still being made today.

During the 1990s slacker renaissance, beach cruisers enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, which hasn’t waned. This gives the current-day beach cruiser buyer a wide range of options, from brands both big and small. To this day, beach cruisers are the stylish, no-frills, low-cost alternative. Rock-solid, carefree options are still out there, if you know what to look for.

Beach cruiser geometry is chill. You’ll find cruisers and road bikes at opposite ends of the comfort spectrum, with cruisers sporting a relaxed and upright seating position.

On beach cruisers, you sit back with arms outstretched and hands above the height of your saddle. Visibility is excellent, allowing you to see the path ahead.

Swept-back handlebars ensure that steering is comfortable, but slow. They place the rider in an ergonomic position, allowing wrists to bend at a more natural angle. The result is a casual steering style that feels free and easy, but won’t see you whipping through alpine hairpin bends.

Beach cruisers have a long wheelbase, keeping them stable. A long top-tube keeps arms extended, while long chainstays result in a grounded bike and slower acceleration.

Head Tube Angle

A relaxed head tube angle of around 69° to 70° results in relaxed steering. It also contributes to less weight being placed over the front wheel, which is only a problem if you’re attempting a lot of climbs. On a cruiser, this probably isn’t the case.

Seat Tube Angle

At around 67° (but as steep as 70°), a slack seat tube angle places the rider further toward the rear of the bike. With tall bars, riders are seated low and reaching high. With many cruisers; the bottom bracket, cranks and pedals are placed further ahead of the saddle than is the case with most bike types. This means that riders stretch their legs forward when pedaling.

Bottom Bracket Height and Drop

Cruisers usually sit low to the ground, leaving less space between their bottom brackets and the ground, than on many other types of bike. This makes for a more stable ride, especially at slow speeds.

In combination with a slack seat tube angle, this makes it possible for some manufacturers to create cruiser models that allow the rider to plant both feet flat on the ground, while seated. This isn’t allowed by the geometry of most bikes.

On the other hand, this brings your pedals close to the ground on turns. Striking your pedals at speed can cause a crash. But let’s be honest, this usually happens when pedaling through turns at high speeds. And those who cruise, usually coast through bends. So this isn’t a downside or safety issue.

Fork ‘Trail’

The fork on your cruiser bike is almost always curved. If not, a straight cruiser fork is usually situated to place it at a similar distance and angle from the head tube. This results in a lot of rake and loads of what is known as ‘trail’. Basically, your steering is slow and casual, just how you want it.

No twitchiness here.

Low Standover

This is one of the build characteristics that makes a beach cruiser so suited to the casual cyclist . It is especially easy to swing a leg over a step-through cruiser frame. But even on a step-over cruiser, there is plenty of room for a rider to stand over the top-tube, with clearance between the bike’s frame and their crotch.

This makes it easy to stop and start, especially at traffic lights or when it’s important to bring the bike to a stable stop. With their low seat and standover heights, beach cruisers can be some of the safest types of bike to ride.

Most beach cruiser frames are steel. They always have been. It’s the classic choice due to its durability, comfort and ability to be repaired. On the downside, it’s heavier than aluminum. It’s also less rust-resistant, unless it’s received a coating (such as electrophoretic deposition ). This is definitely something to consider when riding beachside.

There are two main types of steel that you’ll find on beach cruiser frames, and there are important differences between them.

Hi-Tensile Otherwise known as ‘hi-ten’, this is the steel used to make a great majority of beach cruiser frames. It’s a low-cost option for a frame that can last a lifetime. But it is heavier and less shock-absorbent than chromoly. On a cruiser, this isn’t a great concern. The relative rigidity of hi-ten steel is offset by wide, low-pressure tires and sprung saddles.

Chromoly is a steel alloy that incorporates chromium and molybdenum. It’s also known as ‘cro-moly’, ‘cro-mo’ and by the numerical designation ‘4130’.

It’s relatively rare on new cruisers, but represents a lighter option, partially because it can be drawn into thinner tubing without compromising strength. This makes it more forgiving than hi-ten, over bumpy surfaces. Its strength can also lead to it being more durable.

But in the end, chromoly frames ask a higher price than hi-ten. Because cruisers are a casual ride, most buyers are happy to get by with the extra weight and lower price of hi-tensile steel. For the kind of riding you’ll do on these bikes, you may not notice the difference.

On beach cruisers, aluminum is rarer and costlier than hi-tensile steel. Nevertheless, it makes a lot of sense.

Aluminum is a lot more resistant to corrosion than any kind of steel. It’s also significantly lighter than a hi-tensile frame (and somewhat lighter than chromoly). This means you can have the classic long, flowing framework found on traditional cruisers, without the weight penalty.

Some geared cruisers use aluminum to offset the weight of gearing components.

Titanium is an expensive, light, durable and shock-absorbent metal that is almost rust-resistant.

When you want a simple and low-cost bike, titanium is probably the last material you’ll think of.

The best beach cruiser might be the one that’s ignored by thieves.

Even on the highest-end mountain and road bikes, titanium is boutique. But if you have deep pockets and want a nigh-indestructible bike that won’t rust, you can find yourself a titanium beach cruiser.

If you find yourself drifting in the direction of natural materials, it’s possible to buy yourself a beautiful, wooden beach cruiser. At the date of writing, there only appears to be one production model on the market, available in either Redwood or Ash. At 28.7 lbs, it isn’t even that heavy.

Sure, it looks great and is undeniably unique. But it’ll cost you a pretty penny.

Swept-back handlebars are one of the signature characteristics of beach cruisers. Not every model uses them (see the high-performance titanium cruiser, above), but a great majority do. These handlebars employ a large degree of ‘backsweep’, setting riders’ wrists at a relaxed horizontal or vertical position (such as on ‘North Road’ style bars). This gives you the feeling of steering an unrushed bus.

Backsweep also ensures that you have infinite room for a basket or anything placed on a rack; be it a crate, box or your double-dinked friend.

Cruiser bars are very wide, often measuring between 24 to 30 inches from tip to tip. If you read our section on beach cruiser fork geometry (above), you’ll see that cruisers are ‘high-trail’ bikes, with heavily raked forks. That is to say, the fork sticks out in front of the head tube. This means that your fork can easily flop around from side to side. The way to counter this is with leverage – and the way to gain leverage is with… handlebar width!

Cruiser bars have a decent amount of rise, varying from a couple of inches to the dramatic ‘ape-hanger’ bars found on some custom ‘choppers’ and lowriders.

Dramatic rise doesn’t really help on climbs, as it results in your weight being set lower and further back.

A couple to a few inches of rise places you in a comfortable, upright position with excellent visibility.

Cruiser bars are usually curved and are rarely flat or straight. On some urban cruisers, they might be more angular in shape, but are still bent for rise and sweep. Subsequently, they might not be the best for standing over on climbs.

One thing they ain’t, is racy. You won’t find drop bars on a cruiser and you won’t find yourself leaning over the bars.

On new bikes, most bars are steel. You can find lighter aluminum bars on higher-end, higher-priced models. They are also available as an aftermarket option.

Coaster Brakes

Coaster brakes are also known as ‘pedal brakes’. You might remember them from childhood, when simple bikes required you to push your pedals backwards to stop. There are no pads or discs and braking takes place largely within the wheel hub. Most coaster brakes provide somewhat inferior stopping power, compared to rim and disc brakes. But as with any other brakes, there is a wide range available in terms of quality and cost. Coaster brake hubs can also be combined with internal gearing.

Traditionally, beach cruisers use just one rear coaster brake. This is how the first cruisers were configured. It’s a good enough option for coastal, flatland riding and slow cruising. On its own, a coaster brake might not be practical or safe in hillier terrain or at higher speeds. Mashing a coaster can ‘cook’ the grease inside a coaster hub. The first mountain bikers had to repack this grease after every descent. A number of new models use a rear coaster brake with a front rim brake. This front brake is usually a V-brake. Sometimes, it’s a caliper.

Coaster hubs only require infrequent maintenance.
A coaster brake does not need cables or levers.
They give your cruiser a neat, clean appearance.

Disadvantages

They can overheat on long, steep descents.
Coaster hubs may need repacking with grease.
There are more powerful options available.
Coaster brakes prohibit back-pedaling.
Bunny-hopping can be more difficult with a coaster brake.
A ‘reaction arm’ needs to be detached and reattached to remove and fit the rear wheel.

It’s common for new beach cruisers to use rim brakes. Some models come with a front rim and rear coaster. Other models, especially geared specimens, come with rim brakes front and back.

Linear-pull Brakes (or ‘V-brakes’) are a type of cantilever rim brake that uses a single cable and two arms. They fit well around fat balloon tires and are easily adjusted and maintained at home. That said, they can still be tricky to center. As far as cantilever brakes go, they’re powerful.

Caliper Brakes are also specced on some new cruisers. These attach to the frame or fork by a single bolt. They use curved arms, which must be long and wide enough to fit around your tires. For this reason, they are more suited to accommodating narrow to mid-width tires.

Easy to adjust.
Rim brakes lose some power in wet weather.
Winter braking wears down rims as grit and filth gets attracted to brake pads.

Drum Brakes

Some beach cruisers use drum brakes, but they’re more often found on European roadsters and utility bikes (where they’re sometimes called ‘roller brakes’ or ‘hub brakes’). Drum brakes use an internal hub, like coaster brakes, but are cable-actuated in the same way rim and disc brakes are. Drum brakes work by using a conventional brake lever and cable linked to a cam that presses brake shoes outward against the inside of a cylindrical drum, creating friction.

Drum brakes may be combined with an internally geared hub and / or a dynamo that’s connected to your bike’s lighting. They are used on some U.S. cruisers and lowriders.

They are easy to modulate.
Drum brakes are long-lasting and robust.
They require infrequent maintenance.
They usually require a mechanic to overhaul.
Drum brakes are heavy.
They may “stick”.
Braking is not as powerful or sudden as with discs.
Oversized drum hubs affect wheel building and alter spoke length.
Like coaster brakes, a reaction arm needs to be detached to remove the wheel.
Drum brakes have poor heat dissipation, making them prone to brake fade.
They are built into a hub. When one element of this hub is worn out, the whole unit needs replacing.

Disc Brakes

Disc brakes slow the bike by squeezing pads onto a disc, which is attached to the wheel hub. Discs are more powerful and more costly than rim brakes, but are now more affordable than they have ever been. They are more effective in wet weather. They allow for the use of wide tires and don’t wear down your rims.

Disc brakes add weight to your bike. They are also more complicated than rim brakes, when it comes to maintenance, adjustment and repair.

There are two types of disc brake; hydraulic and mechanical. Hydraulic brakes provide greater stopping power and use brake fluid to transmit force. They are more costly than mechanical discs and trickier to maintain.

If you live in a dry climate and cruise by the beach, you might consider cutting costs and using rim brakes. Beach cruisers are attractive for being low-maintenance and low cost. This makes disc brakes an uncommon choice on pedal bikes. They are more prevalent on electric cruisers, to counter the extra speed and weight.

Strong stopping power in all weather conditions.
Allow the use of wider tires.
Protect rims from wear.
Powerful ability to stop a heavy cruiser’s bulk.
Complicated and difficult to maintain.
Require levers and cables.
Don’t leave a cruiser with such a clean look.

Factors to Consider

Used by itself, a coaster brake could fail at high speeds or with extended use on long, downhill rides. To be safe, it’s a good idea to choose a new bike with a front rim, drum or disc brake.

Either new or as an aftermarket option, a rim brake is the cheapest option. When choosing a geared beach cruiser, it’s a good idea to aim for a model with dual brakes, as you’ll be reaching higher speeds.

A number of cheap, single-speed beach cruisers still use one-piece cranks. Some versions can be tougher than others, but in general, three-piece setups are superior. New three-piece cranks use sealed bearings and a separate part for either crank and the spindle. They are lighter and stronger than one-piece options, which can be easy to bend. If this happens, the whole assembly must be replaced. For a three-piece crank, only the bent arm need be replaced. Aim for three-piece cranks.

Traditionally, beach cruisers are single-speed bikes . Internally geared hubs with 3, 5, 7 or 8 speeds are also common. There are also 7 and 9 speed beach cruisers that employ a rear derailleur. Few brands manufacture a beach cruiser that uses more than one chainring, as this avoids the need to deal with the complication of a front derailleur. That said, there are a couple of manufacturers that offer a 21-speed model.

Generally, beach cruisers are geared quite low, in order to offset the significant weight of these bikes.

Single-Speed

Single-speed gearing ratios are easy-going, hovering around 2:1. Chainrings usually have between 44 and 46 teeth. Rear cogs sit between 18 and 23 teeth. Some common ratios on new bikes are:

44:22 – A very common ratio and a good average when considering a new purchase.

Single-speed setups are very simple.
They are low maintenance.
One gear is usually enough for short rides.
Single-speeds suit coastal, flatland and beachside terrain.
There’s no need for cables, derailleurs, shifters or internal hubs.
Single-speeds have a clean and minimal look.
You won’t have a high top-gear on flats or descents.
One gear will limit your beach cruiser to less steep terrain.
A single-speed can be hard work when loaded down with cargo.
It can be difficult to take off from a dead stop.
Single-speed drivetrains can cause knee strain.

Internal Gearing

Beach cruisers with 3, 5, and 7-speed internally geared hubs are common. 2 and 8-speed models are rarer. These options open you and your bike up to hilly terrain and longer distance rides, while maintaining the relatively clean look of an internal hub.

Gears open your beach cruiser up to a wider range of terrains.
Internally geared hubs are sealed from sand and moisture.
A geared hub makes it easier to haul cargo .
A lower gear makes acceleration easier from a dead stop.
Higher speeds can be attained on flats and descents.
Internal hubs present neatly.
They only use one shifter and one cable.
There’s no need for derailleurs.
Internal gearing systems only require infrequent maintenance.
When needed, maintenance can be complicated.
An internal hub requires a shifter, cable and guides.
Gears complicate the rear hub, especially when combined with a coaster brake and / or a dynamo for lighting.

Shimano and Sturmey Archer are names to look out for. When it comes to internally-geared hubs, both are manufacturers of renown.

External Gearing using Derailleurs

Beach cruisers are also available with external gearing. External gearing is exposed to salt air and sand, both of which rapidly deteriorate components. If you’re looking for a 7 or 8-speed cruiser and you actually ride your beach cruiser by the seaside, an internally-geared option will be more durable and require less maintenance.

Derailleur-equipped beach cruisers are available in 7, 8, 9 and 21-speed variants. A 21-speed bike uses three chainrings and a front derailleur, making maintenance and adjustment significantly more complicated than the single chainring setups specced on 7, 8 and 9-speed beach cruisers.

21 speeds can help you cover more terrain.
A large number of gears lets you carry cargo up steep hills.
Low gears make it easier to accelerate from a dead stop.
Higher speeds are attainable, along with acceleration on descents.
External gearing can be adjusted by (some) home mechanics.
External gearing is exposed to rust and sand.
A full drivetrain (derailleurs, cabling, shifters and guides) is complicated.
More tuning and repair is needed than on an internally geared drivetrain.

The complexity of external gearing in some ways defies the simple, carefree nature of the beach cruiser. On flatland escapades, you can do without this many gears.

The Contact Points

New beach cruisers generally arrive fitted with a wide, cushioned saddle. There’s a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, a comfy seat suits the relaxed ride-style and aesthetic of these bikes. Secondly, cruiser geometry puts you in a position where a lot of your weight is resting on your behind.

Some cushioned saddles are well thought-out in their construction and shape. However, excessive cushioning can be misleading. This squishiness is uncomfortable on longer rides and will be felt in your hips, thighs and bottom. It can cause numbness due to restricted blood supply.

It’s best to err on the side of moderation when considering saddle width. A number of female riders find that a moderately wide imprint is more suited to their body shape. Other riders will choose a standard saddle as found on a commuter or hybrid bike.

Many new beach cruisers are only fit with a nutted seat collar. This means that you will need an allen key or spanner to adjust the height of your seat. Thieves will also need a tool to remove it. Other new bikes use a quick-release lever that lets you quickly and easily alter the height of your seat. It also makes it easy to steal.

Sprung Saddles

Sprung saddles are a traditional component of classic cruisers. They are an early but effective form of suspension. These saddles usually feature two large, short springs under the seat of a bike’s saddle. Other examples have a third spring beneath the saddle nose. Some modern versions use elastomers as a lighter-weight alternative to springs.

Sprung saddles are comfortable and provide relief on bumpy and uneven surfaces. But they’re usually quite heavy.

Leather Saddles

Leather saddles are fit to higher-end cruisers and are often chosen as an aftermarket option. The first sprung saddles were made of leather. They are expensive and have a breaking-in period, during which they can be a little uncomfortable.

Once broken-in, they mold to the specific shape of your butt and can easily last a lifetime. Leather saddles are collectible and durable, when cared for.

You can always choose a different saddle for your new beach cruiser. For many people, this is the first part that gets replaced on a new bike. A lot of cruiser and lowrider owners enjoy customizing their bike with a saddle that reflects their personal style.

All kinds of grips come fit to new beach cruisers. Something to be wary of is ‘style over substance’. Some grips look great but will cause discomfort on longer rides. This is not an uncommon occurrence on new cruisers. These are the types of grips most often found on beach cruisers:

Molded Grips

This is the traditional style. They’re molded to fit individual fingers and are made of a firm yet pliable rubber. They are comfortable but don’t offer the highest degree of relief from vibration.

Stitched Leather

There are a lot of synthetic ‘leather-look’ grips fit to new cruisers. They can be spongy and not too grippy. More expensive options use either synthetics or real leather. They may be more ergonomic and less slippery in sweaty conditions. Mostly, leather is for looks.

Ergonomic Grips

Higher-end cruisers may come fit with ergonomic grips. These are comfortable and healthy for the natural shape of human hands. They are usually made from a material that provides adequate shock absorbance.

A good guideline for grips is to seek something that’s comfortable but not too squishy.

The most common beach cruiser pedals are flat ‘platform’ pedals. This traditional style features two rubber inserts on the edges of the pedal. Yes, these look cool, simple and classic. But they’re also the best tool for the job.

Platform pedals offer easy on / off action and footdown when coming to a stop. They’re great for casual shoes, flip-flops and maybe most important of all… bare feet. Be wary that a number of low-cost beach cruisers come fit with low quality pedals. On the worst examples, bearings are poor and axles bend.

Never fear. After saddles, pedals are soon swapped out on new bikes. When seeking replacements, keep in mind that ‘plastic’ does not always equal poor quality. Polycarbonate examples can be long-lasting and feature high quality bearings.

Once upon a time, cruisers used steel rims. No doubt, some of them were very sturdy. But these rims rocked some heavy, rust-prone metal. In addition, brake shoes are more effective when biting into alloy. For these reasons, rims on new beach cruisers are made of aluminum.

Aluminum alloy rims are lightweight and highly rust resistant. Aluminum can achieve the same strength as steel at a much lower weight, while retaining a high degree of stiffness. As a material for wheel rims, it isn’t expensive either. If dented, it can often be repaired.

Sealed wheel bearings roll smoothly and protect bearings from salt and sand. Beach cruisers using sealed wheel bearings may cost a little more than models using cage bearings. The durability is worth the extra cost.

Beach cruiser rims are wide, in order to accommodate balloon tires at low pressures. This allows your big tires to spread out to an even wider footprint, creating a large contact patch, for grip and stability.

On beach cruisers, these are the approximate internal rim widths needed for beach cruiser tires:

20 to 22mm covers the most common beach cruiser tire sizes (from 2.0” to 2.35”)
25mm rims are needed for bigger and ‘plus-size’ tires (2.4” to 2.7”)
35mm to 50mm for fat-tire cruiser options (2.8” to 4.0”)

Wide rims can be expensive. It’s worth taking rim width into consideration if you plan on upgrading or customizing with truly fat tires .

700c Wheels

20 to 25mm rims will fit tires from 35c up to 54c (the most common 700c cruiser sizes).

New cruisers usually use 32 to 36 spokes.Look for 32 spokes at a minimum, to provide support under a heavy frame and bike.

New bikes should use regular gauge spokes in a 14G width. Anything wider would be a bonus.

For a real beach bike, look for stainless steel spokes to impart rust resistance.

Almost all beach cruiser wheels are 26” in diameter. This is a classic size. It’s also the same size that was adopted as the mountain bike standard, up until the 2010s. This means that there are plenty of spare wheels and rims available.

Of course, bigger wheels would be faster. But speed is not a priority for the beach cruiser.

26” – 26 Inch

Most adult beach cruisers use this size. These wheels can proscribe a tighter turn-circle than 700c wheels, on what is a comparatively long wheelbase bike. Most frames allow for fat, balloon-style tires. With fat rubber, the total diameter of your tires is increased.

700c / 29” – 29 Inch

This is the standard size for road bikes as well as many hybrids and commuters. They are used on some cruisers that are also intended for commuting and longer distances. Being of larger diameter, they roll faster. Wide 700c rims are known as ‘29 Inch’ in the mountain biking community.

They also roll over small bumps without the need for such plump tires as on 26” varieties. Even so, you’ll want ample rubber for comfort and flotation on sandy surfaces. Your new bike should sport tires at least 35c in circumference, but preferably 38c to 50c. Your cruiser’s frame should have clearance for tires of at least 38c.

Cruisers for shorter riders and juveniles sometimes use 24 inch wheels. This allows for a more proportionate build with smaller frame sizes. 24” rims are also used on standard frame sizes to accommodate very fat tires.

Smaller children’s cruisers use 20” and 24” wheels.

All beach cruiser tires share similar traits. They have moderate tread and ample width.

Big balloon tires are:

Comfortable.
Bouyant on firm and shallow sand.
Good lookin’.

They are designed to:

Have superior rollover on bumps and debris.
Bestow moderate traction.
Provide a low rolling resistance.

Lets face it, with beach cruisers, looks can be important. The same goes with tires. New and aftermarket tires sport a variety of colors and styles.

Beach cruiser tires usually bear a ‘mixed’ tread. This pattern isn’t knobbly, like on mountain bike tires. But it has enough tread to maintain traction on some sand, especially on turns. A moderate tread allows you to ride your cruiser on unkempt roads, grass and hardpack dirt. But if you regularly roll through urban streets, you won’t want your tires creating excess drag. For this reason, you can choose between smoother ‘semi-slick’ tires and moderately tread tires with zig-zag and waffle patterning.

Beach Cruiser Tire Sizes and Widths

Standard widths usually range between 2.0” and 2.35”.
Fat tire options can be as wide as 4.0”.
On cruisers, tires usually start at a width of 38c.
Maximum widths peak at around 50c.
2.125” is a popular width.
Widths generally vary between 1.75” and 2.15”.
24” tires are often used on ‘dragsters’ and fat bikes with 3.0” tires.

20” and 16”

These sizes are used on kids’ cruisers with widths from 1.75” to 2.15”.

Really? Yes. Suspension exists, for beach cruisers.

Springer Forks

The Springer Fork is the traditional form of beach cruiser suspension. They often use a single, central spring attached to the threaded headset assembly. They do provide relief over bumps and poor terrain, but the centrally located spring can have a tendency to swing from side to side, creating steering lag and a spongy ride.

Good quality options are hard to find on off-the-shelf cruisers. But they sure do look good. A more stable option uses this same central spring in combination with a ‘double-sprung’ fork, attached by pivots to either side of a ‘second fork’.

Bosses, Eyelets and Mounts

Many beach cruisers don’t have mounts for bottles, as they’re intended for short-haul rides and jaunts. Some stylized frames don’t leave room to attach bottle bosses or to fit a bottle in the frame. If you plan on going on longer rides, keep an eye out for a model that does allow a bottle to be fitted. Many geared and commuter cruisers come equipped.

Many beach cruisers have mounts for a rear rack. Check for the appropriate eyelets or mount-points near the dropouts or on the seat stays of your new cruiser’s frame. For some cruisers, you may need to purchase an aftermarket saddle clamp adaptor.

Front Racks

Front racks can also be attached to your beach cruiser. Many Cruisers may not have eyelets to attach the kind of front rack that you would attach to a touring bike , but they can be attached to the headtube and / or handlebars, using a bracket.

Baskets, Boxes and Crates

These are popular, traditional and stylish options for cargo . Crates and boxes can be mounted on a front rack, while smaller baskets can be attached to the handlebars.

Surfboard Racks

Because this is a ‘beach’ cruiser we’re talking about, you may need a way to carry a surfboard. Specialist racks tote a surfboard beside you as you ride. Some models even have their own proprietary rack.

When looking for a new cruiser, keep in mind that many models won’t have mounts for any racks .

Many beach cruisers arrive fit with matching fenders or at least with eyelets to attach them.

This may be a ‘beach bike’, but you never know when an unexpected saltwater puddle or onshore rainstorm is coming to harsh your sunny buzz.

Accessories

Many beach cruiser accessories are stylized to suit the retro aesthetic. Options are almost endless, including horns and cup-holders for your Mai Tai.

Aside from electric models, few beach cruisers come equipped with lights. For aftermarket lighting, you might consider aesthetically appropriate options.

Beach cruising is not an expensive cycling genre. At heart, beach cruisers are intended to be simple and low-cost, as relates to both upfront and ongoing costs. This is due to their minimalistic build. Even so, low cost models can be low quality. There are numerous examples on the market.

That said, a few hundred dollars should buy you a sturdy ride. Geared models will cost more, but a 3-speed, internally-geared bike may be similar in price to a 7-speed cruiser with a derailleur. Of course, beautiful designer models fetch a premium.

Many custom enthusiasts will buy a cheap complete bike, intending to strip all parts from the frame. With this in mind, there is less concern over the quality of components.

Cruisers with 3-piece cranks and / or sealed wheel bearings will cost more. For the extra money, you get a bike that is better sealed against the elements, more durable and easier to upgrade.

The main beach cruiser variation is between the two frame shapes. Cruisers with step-over frames have a higher standover height, meaning the top-tube curves upward from the head-tube. This means that it sits up higher from the ground than on a step-through frame. Step-through frames have a downward-sloping top-tube and a much lower standover height.

Traditionally, this means that step-over frames were favored by male riders, while step-through frames were marketed to women. This is still predominately true. Step-through frames do make it easy to mount a cruiser in a dress. But in reality, some shorter or less-able men choose step-through frames, while some taller women prefer a step-over frame. Many cruiser models are available in both styles.

Commuter Cruisers

These bikes are daily commuters that retain the cruiser’s flowing framework. Often, they use chromoly steel or aluminum tubing. This makes for a lighter, more comfortable rig. Unlike their flatland counterparts, they’re geared. Some models use 700c wheels to achieve greater speeds and cover longer distances.

Fat Tire Beach Cruisers

Fat cruisers look extra bad-ass. Tires range from 3.0” to 4.0” wide on both 26” and 24” wheels. Some of them are all about the look. But like other fat bikes , a few of these cruisers exhibit so much flotation that they can actually be ridden on sand. They are heavy, slow and not practical for everyday use.

Electric Beach Cruisers

Wide tires and relaxed geometry make the beach cruiser well suited to e-biking . Long frames easily accommodate batteries without inhibiting aesthetics. E-Cruisers should use disc brakes, which can be either mechanical or hydraulic.

What could be better than the synthesis of two of the world’s most popular vacation bikes? New tandem cruisers should use wheels with at least 36 spokes, to handle both riders’ weight.

Urban Cruisers

These bikes employ the same relaxed geometry as beach cruisers, but often use sturdy, angular frame construction. They come in single-speed options but are often available in geared versions to suit urban commutes .

Board Track Racers / Café Racers

Like cruisers, these retro bikes feature arched frames with flowing lines. They are reminiscent of Board Track and Cafe Racer motorbikes of the 1910s and 20s. Handlebars are low, in an old-school racing position. They often use large 28” wheels with balloon tires, to attain higher speeds. They may be geared, with up to 5 speeds in an internal hub.

They may be slow to accelerate. But at speed, big wheels and tires unite with ample weight to make for an unstoppable steamroller of a bike.

Mountain bikes originated from cruisers. In the 60s and 70s, the sport’s pioneers adapted cruisers from the ‘20s and ’40s. Knobbly, off-road tires were added, while fenders and chainguards were removed. The Klunker was born. Riders needed to repack coaster hubs after long, rapid off-road descents. Modern versions are a niche style that harks back to these groundbreaking bikes. New models often use disc brakes.

Buying a bike online is a world apart from the experience of choosing a bike from your local bike shop. The benefit of a direct sale from the manufacturer, is that you aren’t paying for the middleman. If you’re buying a bike from an online retailer, they don’t have to pay for the rent of premises and they don’t need to pay an experienced, professional mechanic to assemble and tune your bike. For these reasons, you pay less.

Good online bike retailers will pre-assemble as much as 80% to 95% of your bike before shipping and will provide the tools required for the remaining adjustments.

Whatever route you choose, there are benefits and drawbacks.

Beach cruisers are meant to be easy. Easy to buy, easy to ride and easy to maintain. These simple and beautiful machines are a mile away from the technical and competitive worlds of road and mountain bikes, where flowing lines are rare. While they should be low cost, this doesn’t mean that they should be ‘cheap’.

When it comes to coastal coasting, choose wisely and roll on!

Have questions about which bike to choose? Ask in our Forum .
Want to win a bike instead of buying one? See our bike Giveaway .
Find out more about BikeRide .
Anne Mathews, Upright Bikes – Sit Up and Enjoy the Ride
John Allen, Bicycle Drum Brakes
Jon Williams, Steel Rims vs. Alloy Rims for Bicycles
Jan Heine, Handlebars: Wide vs. Narrow
Rat Rod Bikes, 3 Piece Cranks vs. 1 Piece Cranks?
Handsome Cycles, What Does ED Coating Mean For Bicycles?
Rat Rod Bikes, Springer Fork Mistake?
Mead Cycle Co., Mead Ranger Bicycles, Chicago, Illinois 1924
Chicagology, Bicycle Manufacturers
Schwinn, Schwinn History: 1930 to 1939
Kathryn Bold, Retro Bikes : 1930s to ‘50s Balloon-Tire Bicycles Worth Peddling
Andy Uhler, He Built the Beach Cruiser and Sold a Lifestyle
Andrew Small, The California Beach Cruiser Built a Bike Movement
Alex Matoso, Cruiser Bicycles’ Early History and Their New Name: Beach Cruisers
Shawn Sweeney and Gary Meneghin, The First American Balloon Tire Bicycles
Los Angeles Times – July 27th, 1978, 1930s ‘One-Speeds’ Back in Style, Old Bikes Produce New, Expensive Fad
Leon Dixon – Popular Mechanics – January, 1978, If It’s Not Too Late – Hang on to That Balloon-Tire Bike!
Statista, Percent Share of Specialty Bicycle Sales by Bike Category From 2005 to 2012
Wiktionary, Double-Dink

Bike Categories

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Catamaran Cruiser 31 Hobo coming in through Boca Inlet after an ocean cruise
130+MPH Speed Boat!

COMMENTS

The 8 Fastest Cruising Catamarans (With Speedchart)
The speed of the Lagoon 440 usually maxes out at 10 knots with low winds, but with higher winds, it can quickly gain speeds up to 20 knots (some argue even higher, but I'm doubtful). The Lagoon 440 is an excellent cruiser and comfortable catamaran, but it is not an all-out racing cat.
How Fast Do Catamarans Go?
August 30, 2022. ‍ Catamarans are known for their speed, and some vessels are fast enough to break world sailing speed records. Catamarans can go between 15 and 30 knots, with the fastest achieving speeds well in excess of 60 knots. Sailing catamarans are sometimes twice as fast as monohulls and cut through the water with greater efficiency.
How Fast Do Catamarans Go? 5 Examples (With Pictures)
Sailing catamarans typically average about 10 knots. Pontoon boats average about 20 mph. A powerboat cruiser can average anywhere between 30 and 50 mph. Cigarette boats can even reach close to 90 mph in the proper conditions. Sailboats average between 6 and 12 mph depending on wind conditions.
Fastest Catamarans for Cruising in 2023
Sailors and those interested in sailing are drawn to catamarans for various reasons, and speed is one of them. These boats are renowned for their swiftness, and there are numerous brands and boat designs that make the most of this quality. ... Notably, the 471 is a fast cruising catamaran that is a favorite among long-distance cruisers. On the ...
6 Best Performance Cruising Catamarans (Buyer's Guide)
The Outremer 4x is a stable and comfortable high-speeding cruising catamaran that performs ocean crossings and confronts any weather with remarkable ease. Named the European Boat of the Year in 2017, this 48-foot (14.6 m) bluewater cruiser sails faster than wind speed and attains maximum cruising speeds of 20 knots.. The 4x is an upgrade of the extremely popular Outremer 45, thus retaining ...
Sailing Catamaran Speed
Sailing catamarans come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are optimized for living space and comfort, while others are designed with fast cruising speeds being the sole goal of the boat. The Gunboat 68, one of the fastest cruising sailboats currently made, can exceed 30 knots.
Cruising Catamaran Speed! With Examples and Explanation
The Ice Cat 61 is a luxury catamaran. At 61 feet (18.60 meters) long, it is a large catamaran that has been designed with both speed and stability in mind. While its average cruising speed is 12 knots, it can achieve up to 25 knots. The ICE Cat 61 has been designed with carbon and glass fiber - materials that allow the boat to be lighter.
[Updated] The fastest cruising catamarans of 2020
This catamaran costs 5.5 million euros. These are the top five fastest cruising catamarans of 2020 according to us. Other impressive cruising multihulls include the Dolphin 42, Privilege 435, Fountaine Pajot Belize 43, Nautitech 44, Lagoon 440, Voyage 44, Outremer 45, Prout 45, and Leopard 45. Explore their features and more catamaran ...
Performance cruisers: the best new catamarans for racing and fast
HH Catamarans has been turning heads since 2012 with a line of sporty, high-tech boats that feature a luxury fit-out. What started off on the drawing board as a fast 48ft cruising cat has grown to ...
Catana 47: Catamaran Speed, Yacht Level Luxury
Catana 47: Catamaran Speed, Yacht Level Luxury. Speed and safety continue as hallmarks of this sleek and revamped 25 knot catamaran from a respected French builder. By Zuzana Prochazka. May 6, 2012. ... For long range cruisers, a smart idea here is the separate desk which keeps the clutter off the dedicated nav station but still provides an ...
2022 Boat of the Year: Best Performance Catamaran
2022 Boat of the Year: Best Performance Catamaran. Quick, fast and fun, the South African-built Balance 482 is a cat that will get up and go, but offers plenty of comfort once the hook is down. By Cruising World Editors. December 15, 2021. During and in the four days immediately following the US Sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland, the ...
The Cruising Catamaran Performance Debate
We Bought a Performance Cruiser Catana OC 50; Cruising Catamarans Performance. ... Base Speed - An empirically derived indicator of the speed a given boat could average over a 24-hour period (best days run) under a variety of conditions. Here again the Lagoon had better numbers with 9.82 knots versus 9.46 knots for the FP Helia 44 - this ...
Fast Bluewater Cruisers: the best new performance bluewater catamarans
Here ' s where the fast distance cruisers like Outremer, Catana, Swisscat, Seawind, Balance, Atlantic, Neel and Ocean Explorer help offer that potential sabbatical or retirement dream. Just ...
Hull
Resistance vs. Speed of four different vessel configurations. A. Traditional, heavy displacement monohull cruiser. B. ULD (Ultra Light Displacement) monohull. C. Typical performance catamaran cruiser. D. Racing multihull, with almost no wave making resistance below A popular French catamaran, as photographed out of the water at the Paris Boat ...
The best bluewater multihulls of all time: a complete guide
Lagoon 380. The long-time best-seller from the world leader in catamarans, with more than 1,000 produced over almost 20 years from 1999. With its characteristic vertical windows, the 380 and its ...
HH Catamarans
Nov 20, 2023. HH44 Awarded Breakthrough Launch of the Year. Nov 16, 2023. HH 44SC: SAIL Magazine Top 10 Best Boats Nominee. Nov 14, 2023. Explore HH Catamarans, the premier builder of luxury performance cruising catamarans. Discover award-winning designs and innovative carbon construction.
How fast do sailing catamarans motor?
Re: How fast do sailing catamarans motor? For a typical 38ft cruising cat you will motor at about 8-9 knots top speed. Going 8 knots will use about 50% more fuel than 7 knots so you motor at 6-7 instead. Drag is related to the square if the boat speed so going fast needs huge amounts of power and fuel.
Archipelago Expedition Yachts 47-foot explorer all-aluminum powercat
Power cruising multihull boats are one of the fastest-growing segments of the recreational boating market. From multihull center-consoles to mid-size catamaran cruisers, and from large high-speed sport-fishing catamarans to luxury multihull motor yachts, the advantages of multihull vessels are being appreciated by a growing audience.
ArrowCat Power Catamarans
Better Performance & Faster Speed. Express cruisers are designed for efficient and fast navigation, offering higher speeds compared to traditional cruising boats. ... Express Cruiser Yacht Catamaran Hull Planing Hull Design Twin Outboard Motors Standard Layout: 2 Cabins/ 1 Full Head LOA: 41′ 9″/12.78 meters Beam: 14′ 9″/4.5 meters
Cruising the Moskva River: A short guide to boat trips in Russia's
Surprisingly, the luxurious boats are priced rather modestly, and a single ticket goes for $17-$32 (1,100-2,000 rubles); also expect a reasonable restaurant bill on top.
56 Best Beach Cruiser Bikes (March 2024)
Traditionally, beach cruisers are single-speed bikes. Internally geared hubs with 3, 5, 7 or 8 speeds are also common. There are also 7 and 9 speed beach cruisers that employ a rear derailleur. Few brands manufacture a beach cruiser that uses more than one chainring, as this avoids the need to deal with the complication of a front derailleur.
Russian cruiser Moskva
Moskva, formerly Slava, was a guided missile cruiser of the Russian Navy.Commissioned in 1983, she was the lead ship of the Project 1164 Atlant class, named after the city of Moscow.With a crew of 510, Moskva was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet and the most powerful warship in the region. The cruiser was deployed during conflicts in Georgia (2008), Crimea (2014), and Syria (2015).
Moscow river cruises and boat tours 2024
Buy tickets. River Cruise aboard a River Palace Yacht from City-Expocentre (International Exhibition) HIT SALES. Daily, from April 27, 2024. Departure from the berth City-Expocentre (m. Vystavochnaya), mooring place "A". Cruise duration 3 hours. We invite you on a river cruise aboard a premium class panoramic yacht starting from the main Moscow ...