Until now, you had to be an athlete or a millionaire to pilot a fully airworthy multihull. There was nothing in between. The market offered sports catamarans such as the Flying Phantom, Nacra 20 FCS and A-Cat - or equipment with a seven-figure price tag such as the Gunboat G4, which has since been developed into the DNA F4.
Now the range is expanding, and with the Easy To Fly, an aircraft suitable for amateurs should be available for the first time that promises lots of fun and doesn't ruin it with capricious peculiarities. Not exactly a small promise.
We took the makers of Absolute Dreamer, the racing team of Vendée Globe pro Jean-Pierre Dick, at their word and tried out the 160,000 euro carbon fibre cat on a test run in the bay of La Rochelle.
As far as foiling is concerned, the projectile certainly lives up to its name. With a little catamaran experience and a knowledgeable crew, it is actually easy to get onto the hydrofoils and stay in the air. However, the handling before take-off does require a certain amount of logistics - without an escort boat, you can't really get out of the harbour or back to the pier unscathed.
And maturity of character would not be amiss in view of the enormous speed potential. During the YACHT's trial run, the GPS tracker showed almost 25 knots, later up to 30 knots. Top speed to date: 36 knots. Any sailing area, no matter how lightly sailed, quickly becomes very small.
Now in the new YACHT: All about the boat, its potential, the ingenious trim systems and why they still don't prevent the occasional belly landing. You can read the eight-page report in issue 5/2017, on newsstands from 15 February - or directly here in the Delius Klasing online shop.
Click here for the Website of the Easy To Fly
