Bali's Bright Star

Heading Bali’s second generation of catamarans, the new 4.8 is its second-biggest model, offering all the brand’s signature features and up to six cabins with en-suite bathrooms, a rarity on a sub-50ft sailing cat. Meanwhile, dealer Asiamarine has ordered a specially customised unit for Asia.

- Francois Tregouet / Multihulls World

Since the first Bali models were launched in 2014, it’s clear that the range, created from scratch by Olivier Poncin, has silenced the doomsayers. Not only has the Catana Group become one of the world’s top catamaran builders but it’s also pursuing its ambition by producing models to match sizes offered by the competition.

The 4.8, the brand’s seventh opus, has an overall length of 48ft 9in and fills the gap between the 5.4 and the 4.6, with all the expected Bali features – and some new ones, too.

With a rigid foredeck, fully open interior, full-width tilt-and-turn door that opens or encloses the saloon in seconds, plus huge 220V refrigerators “just like at home”, Bali catamarans have made the most conservative yachtsmen who haven’t yet assimilated the multihull revolution shout out loud.

Technically, Bali boats benefit from the know-how of parent company Catana Group, notably an integral construction in closed-cell PVC foam sandwich, and above all bulkheads that are not simply glued but laminated, an assurance of rigidity and longevity.

Apart from size, the new 4.8 is distinguished from her predecessors by an evolution in the exterior style, as we observed first-hand ahead of a sea-trial from the builder’s hometown of Canet-en-Roussillon in the south of France.

The exterior is more fluid, in line with the Bali Catspace, with both models unveiled in 2020 and joined later in the year by the 4.6 as part of the brand’s ‘second generation’ of models.

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