"One day ..." Who hasn't thought about just doing it one day? Leave everyday life behind and set sail. The first Balance 750 will certainly be travelling fast. "Someday" is a lightweight that weighed just 30 tonnes when it was launched. By comparison, a touring cat of the same length, but with a flybridge, displaces around twice as much. At 21 tonnes, only the semi-foiling "Someday" is even lighter. Persico Cat 72'with which the American Magic team aims to reach over 40 knots. Balance's flagship was not designed to be quite so extreme. The hulls provide ample volume for long-distance cruising comfort and a stylish finish in line with the British studio's specifications Design Unlimited with.
Double hull history of Balance
The shipyard, which specialises in sailing cats from 46 feet, builds in halls in Cape Town harbour, just a few hundred metres from Table Bay. Balance Catamarans was founded in 2013 by Phillip Berman, who became Hobie Cat 14 world champion in 1979 and, after many decades as a yacht broker, asked himself why there were no high-performance catamarans with pleasant living comfort.
Commenting on the Balance 750, the founder and president of Balance Catamarans said: "With this launch, we have fully realised our vision of handcrafted, state-of-the-art catamarans from 46 to 75 feet in length, whose exciting high performance is purposefully paired with unparalleled luxury, quality and comfort."
High vertical integration at the Cape
The 750, whose lines were developed by Anton du Toit and Philip Berman, has three helm stations, a forward working cockpit and a high-performance carbon rig designed for fast and safe ocean crossings. According to Balance, the flagship has the characteristics of a performance catamaran and the spaciousness and sophistication normally reserved for luxury motor yachts.
Balance pursues a manufactory approach, resulting in handcrafted furniture with real wood veneer or all composite work. E-glass is used with significant carbon fibre reinforcement in the heavily stressed areas of the hulls and decks. The Balance 750 is laminated by hand and vacuum-packed with closed-cell foam cores in full epoxy construction. Alternatively, the South Africans offer a full carbon fibre version.
Typical Balance: variable helm position
The steering configuration of the 750 is equally innovative and has three different steering positions: a forward cockpit steering position, a fixed steering position on the port side and the typical Balance swivelling "Versahelm" on the starboard side. The wheel can be folded upwards by 90 degrees for a steering position all the way out. In bad weather, it can be folded down into the entrance area of the all-round glazed saloon.
For the 750, owners have the choice of opting for a lounge-style flybridge or a fully enclosed flybridge roof. The 23.19 metre long and 11.34 metre wide multihull carries up to 342 square metres on the wind and is designed to sail at wind speed in light breezes, but can also reach the 20-knot range with more pressure in the sheets.
High standards of speed and comfort
"The 750 is for cruisers who don't want to compromise, who want to travel far and fast, but want to travel elegantly," says Philip Berman about "Someday". "To be clear: there are very, very few catamarans on the market today that can match its performance. And none that can lay claim to being the most luxurious high-performance catamaran in the world."
The Balance 750 caps off a remarkable season of innovation for Balance Catamarans. In April, the company launched the first two catamarans in its new 580 range. The recently launched Balance 502 takes to the water in August this year, closely followed by the new 464 in Cape Town. These new additions complement the proven 526 to form a complete range of high-performance luxury catamarans from 46 to 75 feet.
Technical data Balance 750
- Total length: 23,19 m
- Width: 11,34 m
- Mainsail: 223.5 square metres
- Self-tacking jib: 100.5 square metres
- Sail area on the wind with genoa: 341.6 square metres
- Asymmetric spinnaker: 477.10 square metres
- Draught (swords at the bottom): 3,35 m
