It was always known that the financial support from major Oracle shareholder and founder Larry Ellison was not open-ended and Team Japan becomes the first casualty of that.

The statement released  regarding SailGP Team Japan reads as follows:

“After much deliberation and taking into account logistical and commercial considerations, SailGP has made the difficult decision to pause the participation of Japan SailGP Team indefinitely. The league would like to thank Nathan Outteridge and all of the athletes and staff involved in the Team for their outstanding performance in the first two seasons of SailGP and wish them the very best for the future.

Season 3 will continue with nine teams racing for the remainder of the season…

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Meet the worldly Casa Blake, a new ownership opportunity in the heart of the Costa Palmas Marina Village. Come explore this collection of residences on the Sea of Cortez in Cabo. Register to find out more.

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Luxury high-end cruising cats with high-performance DNA have occupied an established if somewhat rarified niche in the sailboat market ever since Peter Johnstone launched the first Gunboat in South Africa just over two decades ago. Kinetic Catamarans is an interesting new player in this field. An American company also building boats in South Africa, it launched its first model, a 62-footer, in 2019. The company’s latest offering, the slightly smaller Kinetic 54, designed to appeal to active sailing couples, is a highly attractive, thoughtfully designed craft that snagged a nod from SAIL as Best Large Multihull in our 2022 Best Boats compilation.

Design & Construction

As is de rigueur for boats of this type, the design and construction of the Kinetic 54 tips straight out of the world of go-fast racing. Its hulls are narrow and svelte, with sharply angled wave-piercing destroyer bows. The bridgedeck is set high to reduce resistance from passing seas and is cut back toward the middle of the boat, with only a light forward crossbeam and a central longeron carrying headstay loads. Construction is at the cutting edge of lightweight strength—all carbon everything, including interior furniture, cored with foam and vacuum-infused with epoxy resin. Even the toilets on this boat are built of carbon fiber.

That said, there are also some important variations on the theme. Where daggerboards are normally favored so as to maximize performance to windward, Kinetic offers centerboards, which are much less vulnerable in groundings (with daggerboards as an option if an owner prefers). Also, like many modern performance cats, the Kinetic 54 boasts a forward working cockpit just ahead of the cabinhouse, but has its carbon mast-mounted outside the cockpit aft, with the maststep set on the very forward end of the coachroof.

The heart of the boat systems-wise is a sophisticated 24-volt C-Zone distributed power system designed by Cay Electronics of Rhode Island. This automatically balances high loads and feeds juice to a bank of lithium batteries from a large coachroof solar array, a DC genset (which fires up on its own as needed) and high-output engine alternators. It includes online diagnostics that allow for detailed remote tech support.

On Deck

The Kinetic can be controlled from three different helm stations. The primary station is inside at the front of the bridgedeck saloon just behind the working cockpit. From here you can easily access the winches and running rigging by stepping through a nearby forward-facing door and also operate engine controls, navigation electronics and board controls. A large moon-roof directly above the wheel allows you to easily keep an eye on mainsail trim.

The other two wheels are aft, one at the back of each hull, with full sail controls and a B&G multifunction display at each station. The Jefa steering system linking the three different stations is segregated with clutches, so that only the wheel being used is actually connected to the rudders. When the autopilot is engaged, no wheels are connected. The break-default mode, which engages automatically when anything goes amiss, connects all wheels to the rudders. All sail controls, including the furlers, and the board controls are push-button powered systems, with load sensors to prevent over-tensioning and breakage.

Unlike many catamarans with aft decks dominated by long mainsheet travelers, the Kinetic’s traveler is mounted atop the back of the long coachroof, with a nicely curved track that carries sheet loads more efficiently. This saves lounging guests from accidentally tangling with the mainsail controls and creates a convenient space for an outdoor electric grill and fridge. It also allows for a unique fold-down transom that connects the back ends of the two hulls and transforms the rear of the boat into an immense swim platform spanning its entire breadth.

Accommodations

As we’ve come to expect with modern catamarans, the Kinetic is available with two basic layouts: a four-cabin/four-head plan with double berths in the back and front of each hull; or a three-cabin/three-head plan, where one hull is given over to a vast owner’s stateroom. The most important space, as on any cruising cat, is the bridgedeck saloon. On the Kinetic this truly does have wrap-around views of the outside world, thanks to the absence of the mast forward…

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For Sale: As new FarrX2. Only one owner. Never been raced. Make us an offer!

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Offshore racing in the Caribbean is a relatively new concept. In years gone by it was deemed unsafe to even sail at night in the Caribbean, let alone hurtle around in darkness in a high-performance grand prix racing machine. With the advent of modern charts and navigational aids, though (that and a good deal of courage), the attitude to overnight racing in the Caribbean has changed. In 2009, the Royal Ocean Racing Club held the first edition of the RORC Caribbean 600. Since then competitors—those in the multihull sections, in particular—have been getting faster and faster. The current race record is over 10 hours quicker than the inaugural race, roughly 30 percent faster. American teams have favored well, setting race records and winning the MOCRA Class on numerous occasions. This includes the present race record holder, Jason Carroll’s MOD70 Argo, with a team from New York’s Larchmont Yacht Club.

Not only that, the RORC Caribbean 600 has a long attracted a range of performance-cruisers in addition to record-setting cats and tris. Gunboats, HH Catamarans and a number of other designs have been part of the entry list since the race’s inception. Because the MOCRA Rule considers the size, weight and performance of each boat in computing its corrected time at the finish, they often do quite well.

Held each February, when the northeast trades are usually pumping in from the Atlantic, the RORC Caribbean 600 is a nonstop offshore race around 11 Caribbean islands starting and finishing in Antigua. With myriad maneuvers, it has been described as 12 inshore races, all strung together. After the start outside Nelson’s Dockyard Antigua, there is only one laid mark off the reef at Barbuda. The rest of the turning marks are islands, where wind shadows and acceleration zones add yet another dimension to an already complex racecourse…

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Shouldn’t we be at the point where this kind of thing just doesn’t happen to boats like this?

The first Farr X2 – a yacht specifically designed for two-handed offshore racing – has been lost during a shakedown sail off the Australian coast. Hull #1, named Nexba, was yesterday trying to complete the required 100nm ocean passage to qualify for the Sydney-Gold Coast race starting on July 30.

The keel either broke, or fell off, in testing conditions and the 30-footer turned turtle. The crew was rescued by a Royal Australian Navy helicopter. The keel either broke, or fell off, in testing conditions and the 30-footer turned turtle. The crew was rescued by a Royal Australian Navy helicopter. The hull – without rig or sails – has since washed up on a beach South of Sydney and the $205,000 yacht is presumably a total write-off.

Conditions in the area had been tough for the past three days with large seas and up to 30 knots of wind.

The boat carried substantial sail area, balanced by a 1,970lb bulb on a 6.7ft cast iron keel. The design also incorporates 2 x 250 litre water ballast tanks…

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