Striking the perfect balance

Nautitech has prided itself on offering a great blend of comfort and performance, and its new N46 Open looks to keep up the good work, as Sam Jefferson discovers

- Sam Jefferson

The sailing world has always been rather divided on multihulls. They have something of a tendency to polarise opinion – some think they are the best thing since sliced bread, others that they are about as appealing as stale Mighty White. There are a number of reasons for this; one is that the cruising catamaran is rarely a thing of beauty. Two hulls with essentially a large shed-like structure is always going to be tricky to make aesthetically pleasing. And there are other reasons that are more historical. The early multihulls unleashed on the charter market were incredibly comfortable but generally sailed on the wind in the most unconvincing fashion. Go to the Caribbean and the classic view of a charter catamaran was one of motor-sailing with the mainsail pinned hard in.