In 1999 my partner, Jess, and I decided to invest in a cruising yacht to be placed in the charter fleet in the Whitsundays. After many years racing dinghies (mainly NS14s) together, we were to embark on a journey that would eventually lead us to owning and cruising a blue water capable yacht and sailing nearly 28,000 together. I had previously read about cruising catamarans so we visited the 1999 Sydney Boat Show and inspected a Seawind 1000. We fell in love and after receiving a lot of positive feedback from the charter businessw we decided that a cat would be the best way to proceed. So we chose a Seawind 1000 and lined up with a company called Tropical Sailing. The boat (#1073) was built in Wollongong by Seawind and because Tropical preferred their boats to have “Tropical” in the name (they already…

Multihull Central’s recently appointed Event’s Coordinator enjoys her first Whitsunday Rally as a novice sailor. Such a fantastic week had up in our very own Australian Paradise. This year we had 30 people across 7 Seawind Catamarans island hopping through the Whitsunday’s over the entire week. The Whitsunday’s first of all is undeniably beautiful, I was also surprised how pleasant the weather is up there in Winter having never been in season myself before. The first group dinner at Sorrentos was great to break the ice and meet the teams before we set sail the next morning over the Cid Harbour. Unfortunately the rain set in towards the back end of the race, however once we anchored and after our teams creative sandcastles we saw the light and had a stunning sundowner all onboard the party boat, Reflection! I might have been a little…

Maintenance of Glebe Island Bridge over Rozelle Bay on Tuesday 17 February The NSW Government is funding the regular testing of the bridge operation. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Roads and Maritime Services will rotate the bridge deck between 10.30am and 12.30pm on Tuesday 17 February, weather permitting. A contingency date has been planned for Wednesday 18 February. Changed boating conditions During the maintenance work, there will be restrictions in place through the channel for water users. There will be no vessels allowed through the channel during the maintenance of the bridge. The area will be marked by buoys and monitored by safety control vessels. We would like to remind people to wear a lifejacket when boating, especially in craft under 4.8 metres when alone, at night or offshore. We apologise for any inconvenience this work may cause and appreciate the patience of businesses and water users. For…

We are excited to announce the first of our talks for 2015 in the Trips & Tips lecture series. We have three great speakers for you; Craig Margetts who has sailed his Seawind 1160, Scarlett, around Australia speaking on planning for a long cruise. Andrew Turner of Ullman Sails Brisbane talking about sail care and maintenance and Craig Humpheries of Signature Yacht Services giving a demonstration on doing your own fiberglass and gel coat repair. The bar and restaurant will be open at the club for anyone wanting to have a meal or drink. When: 6.30pm, Friday 6th February 2015 Where: Wynnum Manly Yacht Club, Brisbane Cost: FREE For more information please call our Brisbane office 07 3393 5550.

Seawind Catamarans have a long history of facilitating a range of owners’ get togethers all over the world. The Moreton Bay (Brisbane Queensland) regatta has been operating for a number of years, and has moved around the bay exploring different racing and cruising and, most importantly, partying locations over that time. For the last two years the event has been based out of the Wynnum Manly Yacht Club in Manly, Queensland. This year 2014 saw 15 boats attend the event, about par for the course for numbers, ranging from early model 1000’s to the latest 1250. The format for the event is a fun sail on Friday afternoon, for those that can make it, followed by a barbie at the club that evening. This year we had the very great pleasure of a presentation from David and Georgina off Seawind 1160, Nimrod, concerning their…

No other race in Australia consists of two fleets, an offshore and inshore fleet, both starting and finishing at the same place. The Surf to City Yacht Race is also one of a handful of races that see both monohull and multihull yachts compete against each other. Held in January, the Surf to City is now in its 22nd year. In 2014, the Surf to City attracted 85 of the most influential yachts in Queensland and northern New South Wales ranging in size from the mighty Black Jack to 7m trailer sailors. The Inshore Fleet is usually a day race. The course follows the main channel from Southport to Brisbane past all of the islands in the southern part of Moreton Bay. The Offshore Fleet is a day/night race. Starting off the Southport Seaway, the yachts head north around Cape Moreton to enter Moreton…

Nominations are now open for the APC “King of the Gulf” sailing regatta for monohulls and multihulls at Port Vincent, South Australia. The event commences with the racing divisions sailing from Adelaide to Pt Vincent on Friday 20th February (Category 3). The racing divisions will then compete in 5 race coastal series at Pt Vincent while the cruising division will compete in a 3 race series. Great value, great sailing and great competition. The fastest boats in Australia will be there including Queensland’s Mad Max. Nominations Fees: Passage race Adelaide to Pt Vincent $25 5 race (racing) series $75 3 race series (cruising) $50 Passage race Pt Vincent to Adelaide $25 Notice of race: http://myasa.asn.au/kog-2015/45875392

Multihull Central in association with Outremer Yachts is pleased to announce a special tour to the South of France to join and compete in the Outremer Cup. The tour will include sailing on board a late model Outremer and competing in the four days of racing out of La Grande Motte, a tour of the Outremer Factory, plus site seeing and wine tasting at the local vineyards in this beautiful part of the world. The Outremer Cup is open to all models of Outremer and is hosted by the La Grande Motte Yacht Club, home of the French Nacra 17 catamaran Olympic team. Racing is competitive but friendly, with plenty of laughs shared at the end of the day over some nice French wine. Though most of the crews are French, there are several crews from various parts of Europe that travel there to…

The organisers of the Christmas Caribbean Rally have announced that they will be going ‘multihull friendly’ for 2015. As well as an outstandingly well organised event, multihulls can now enjoy reduced costs as they are brought down in line with fees for monohulls. Multihulls will now be charged the same as monohulls for both the event entry fee and berthing in Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote, for up to 3 months in advance of the start on 6th December 2015. This represents a substantial saving for multihull owners for their Atlantic adventure, where the Sailing Rallies team realise costs quickly add up. Entries made before 28th February receive a further 10% early booking discount off the rally entry fee. The CCR welcomed its first multihull, a Privilege 435 in 2014. Skipper Rick Payne commented ‘This is a fantastic event. The organisation has been superb and…