New Windelo 50 Test Sail, Boat Tour and Walkaround. What a Fantastic Eco Sailing Catamaran! 

Great, I am glad that was useful

Good feedback, I will pass that on to the Windelo team 👏🏼

Read Katermarans site written review of the first fifties round the Atlantic trip back via Iceland … there’s also an account on download of a highly spirited days sailing in the tramentora off the south of France. It’s very dry safe and comfortable as well as sporting .. even with a young family aboard . The Nautistyles couple went out in a fair chop on one and found it very relaxing. The low central helm/bridge means you can sail in your sox and keep everything dry and reassuring even facing big 5-7m pyramid artic waves. They said in the whole N Atlantic return trip they never took more than a bucket of water into the cockpit . Think that should do nicely… The only other vessel approaching this or prior to this but going even further at the same 55ft length is the Broadblue Rapier 550. The Windelo is considerably greener and should be a lot more impact and scratch resistant in part due to its natural Basalt inner and outer skin sandwiching the recycled PET core . Clive🧙‍♂️ definitely one of the best in category cats and the greenest until someone produces a chemicaly engineered wood cat with similar features and possibly just a basalt skin. Though MettalWood is reckoned stronger than steel lighter than aluminium and is rot and fire resistant . For green and comfortable underfoot flooring flooring I’d add cork it’s also microbe and mould sterile fire resistant, light and insulates very well.

I will make sure I take a look at that

Thanks for the positive feedback!

Some feedback from the team at Windelo: This area is officially an outdoor cockpit and drains as such. Typically it can be sprayed or washed down. If the surface does get sprayed, crew will typically stay dry including in heavy rain which is the main difference to a traditional outdoor helm. The clears shield very well from spray, only in very heavy conditions or heavy rain is there any ingress

With enough experience, sure. I wouldn't set off on a 50' Cat as my first boat, if you are comfortable and confident with your sail handling and manoeuvring, this boat is set up for short handed sailing, all lines controlled from the forward cockpit, hop up to the mast to reef, anchoring...you are right there. I'd spend some time practicing the docking from the fwd cockpit, but that's just putting in the practice at the dock

hi Stephen, are you concerned about the clears clipping onto the inside of the cockpit? We has good weather during the crossing, so I couldn't check that, but let me know your exact concerns - info (at) katamarans.com and I will take it up with Windelo

Like any forward helm, there are scuppers (drains) for any water ingress. In a storm, the forward cockpit can be closed off from the salon with sliding doors. In actual sailing the front helms of catamarans can stay very dry due to how far inboard they are from the gunwales. The amount of spray from waves depends on a number of factors, mostly forward hull design.

Hi Jon, I had a Nautitech 40, so I know what you mean- so easy to back in with aft helms and throw the lines ashore. It's doable on your own on the Windelo, but more difficult obviously. The saving grace is that you are moving around on one level if you back her in and everything is well prepared before. I think if it was blowing and I was on my own, I would come in bow first and then you are just a quick hop up to the foredeck to throw the lines, then spin her around when the wind dies off (for a Med mooring obviously). Or remote control for the throttles for the last bit? The flip side to that is anchoring, where you are right there. You can see the anchor and chain going in from the forward cockpit- that´s easier.

Some feedback from Windelo for you: Docking a 50ft cataramaran single handed is not as straightforward as a monohull or a smaller catamaran, for sure. At Windelo, there is some work being done at the moment to be able to offer a “remote” set of throttles.

@@katamaranscom That's interesting. I fitted Glenndinning engine controls on mine and considered their remote system at the time. Didn't bother in the end and get on fine but it was a nice bit of kit.

@@jonvenner6319 They have a reversing camera option to cover the one blind spot … most cars have them now and even distance sensors … why not a million Euro hatch plus there was an option to have a clear view from the starboard helm through the galley area separating panel.

Smaller lighter generators and back up for the batteries plus it can run for over a 1000miles as an electric diesel hybrid. .. assuming you lost your sails and also you had poor light levels. Like sailing home on a N Atlantic loop via Greenland and Iceland the Faroese islands and Shetland like the original 50 did. You need heating and it’s all electric .

Mostly for redundancy on long ocean voyages. I believe most people just fit one.

​@@vanessabryan786Hakuna (the 50 that did the Atlantic loop) had a diesel heater I believe. But they spent quite a bit of time in Scotland, as you say

@@katamaranscom Yes, and Manot and Robert recently sailed their Windelo 11,000 miles crossing the Atlantic twice without using their single generator even once. A performance boat can sail in light winds, and the hydrogeneration uses wind power to get more energy into the batteries, in addition to the solar.

I wouldn't say it was inefficient, there will be more friction compared to an aft helm set up, I would agree (more turns, longer sheets). But on the flip side, all the reefing lines are shorter as you helm by the mast which is arguably where the most issues with friction occur. On a boat with the helm further back, your jib sheets in a blow are longer. They have spec'd very high quality gear from what I saw (winches, blocks, clutches etc)

That would be "comes with reverse discounts"

@@katamaranscom Sorry. what does that mean?

This catamaran has electric shaft drives

From 1 075 000 € EX-VAT

Rigid framed glass solar panels are a bit more efficient due to lower temperature, but walk on solar panels are vastly more practical for a sailboat. With the transom "gate" up and the rear doors closed, the possibility of water ingress from large following seas would seem minimal. Also the boat is fast enough to sail away from most storms, and of course weather planning/routing has improved enough to avoid most storms in the first place, much of the time. I think the style is excellent. Different people can have different tastes.

All good points, but there are less moving parts on an electric motor, less to go wrong (also they are shaft drive). That's an advantage. But you still have the generator as back up, as you say. On trade wind passages, this set up makes a lot of sense as you are powering up your batteries through hydro over long periods. I am guessing they are going to get to the point where the generator location/set up is optimised for reliability and easy maintenance for occasional use. Your point on speed... the idea is to boost your daily averages rather than out and out speed. and that's going to help you avoid the bad weather on longer passages. You can argue that it's primarily a safety feature.