There’s a moment most sailors know. You’re motoring back into the marina after a good day out, spray still drying on your jacket, and someone asks: what’s next? For a growing number of New Zealanders and Australians, the answer is increasingly the same — a catamaran, a coast, and the kind of life you’ve been sketching in the margins.
It’s not a fantasy reserved for retirees or the wealthy. The numbers tell a different story. Multihull ownership across the South Pacific has been climbing steadily, driven by a generation of sailors who want more from their time on the water — more space, more stability, more independence — and who are increasingly comfortable handling a capable boat with just one other person aboard. Shorthanded sailing, once the domain of hard-core offshore racers, has become the norm for coastal cruisers. The boats have simply caught up.
Nowhere is that shift more visible than at this month’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, where Multihull Central will be berthed on Marina D/E Pier with two of the most compelling examples of the modern performance cruising catamaran: the newly released Seawind 1160XL and the award-winning 1370. If you’re anywhere near the Gold Coast between 21–24 May, this is worth the trip.
The entry point: Seawind 1160XL
Think of the 1160XL less as a boat and more as a first chapter. Released in April 2025, it is Seawind’s most successful model rethought from the waterline up — broader in the beam, taller in the freeboard, and refined over more than 30 design changes developed in collaboration with naval architect Stuart Bloomfield. The result carries ISO Category A offshore certification, meaning it is rated for open ocean sailing in the harshest conditions.
The 1160XL carries offshore credentials, but it earns its keep in far more familiar waters. It was designed for the weekend anchorage, the school holiday run up the coast, the lazy afternoon when the trifold saloon door opens to merge inside and outside into a single sun-washed space. That transition — from sealed, seaworthy cruiser to open-air pavilion — takes seconds, and it changes the whole character of the boat.
At 11.83 metres on deck with a 6.6-metre beam, the XL carries meaningful volume. Three private double cabins sleep six comfortably — enough for a family or two couples sharing costs and passages. Headroom below is 1.96 metres throughout, and the galley-down configuration is genuinely liveable rather than merely functional.
Upright saloon windows track the horizon and haul light into spaces that would feel cramped on a monohull of comparable length. Wider hull forms mean wider cabin doors and level soles — the kind of detail that matters when you’re aboard for a week rather than a weekend.
For families weighing up the commitment, the safety architecture is notable. Lifelines run to 800mm, side decks are wide enough to walk confidently in a seaway, and the dual-helm arrangement under weather protection lets whoever’s on watch stay comfortable and connected. Twin Yamaha 25hp high-thrust outboards handle the manoeuvring, with 269 litres of fuel and 700 litres of fresh water giving genuine range for extended coastal passages.
The 1160XL is not a vessel you outgrow quickly. It’s a platform that grows with you.
The progression: Seawind 1370
Ask someone who owns a 38-footer what they’d buy next, and the answer is usually bigger. Ask them what they actually want, and it’s more nuanced: they want to go further, with less effort, and feel less like they’re compromising somewhere.
The 1370 answers that at 13.7 metres. Built for couples serious about extended cruising — the kind of sailing measured in months and oceans rather than weekends and bays — it draws from a fundamentally different design brief than the 1160XL. Where the XL is the ideal family starter, the 1370 is built for the owner-operator who views sailing as the point, not just the vehicle.
The hull and deck are vacuum-infused with strategic carbon reinforcement, producing a structure that is both stiff and light at 12,300 kilograms displacement. Mini keels replace daggerboards, splitting the difference between regatta performance and the shallow-draft access that matters in Pacific anchorages. Two 40hp Yanmar diesel saildrives sit in each hull, and the running rigging leads cleanly aft to twin protected helm stations that make single-handed sail changes a practical reality rather than an exercise in anxiety management.
Below, the galley-up layout places the cook in the centre of the action — part of the conversation, part of the view. Three double cabins sleep six, making the 1370 equally at home on a couple’s bluewater passage or a family adventure with older kids aboard. The panoramic coachroof windows and the same trifold door system seen on the 1160XL create a unified living environment where the boundary between cockpit and saloon dissolves.
High-capacity solar integration and 520 litres of diesel range support extended off-grid stays in remote anchorages where other boats simply can’t linger. With 600 litres of fresh water and a headroom of 2.1 metres throughout, the 1370 doesn’t ask you to sacrifice comfort for capability.
It is, genuinely, a home that sails.
The Multihull Central difference
Buying a catamaran is not like buying a car. The decision touches how you spend your weekends, your holidays, eventually perhaps your years. Getting it wrong is expensive in more ways than one.
Multihull Central’s proposition is built around that reality. As the South Pacific’s leading multihull specialist, they operate across the full arc of ownership — from accredited training programmes that get first-timers confident on two hulls, through charter experiences that let you trial life aboard before committing, to the purchase itself, the handover, the warranty period, and eventually the resale when the next chapter calls. It is a genuinely comprehensive operation, and it means the advice you get from them is informed by what happens after the contract is signed.
Their appearance at Sanctuary Cove follows a successful showing at this year’s Auckland On Water Boat Show, where the Seawind 1170 drew strong interest and solid enquiries. The Gold Coast show brings a broader Australian audience and the two newest models in Seawind’s lineup — a combination that rarely presents itself in the same place at the same time.
If you’re at the show, find them on D/E Pier. If you want to start a conversation before you go, the enquiry form at multihullcentral.com is the fastest route to the right person.
The catamaran life is not a distant dream. For a lot of people, it’s one good conversation away.
To enquire about the Seawind 1160XL or 1370, visit multihullcentral.com or find Multihull Central on D/E Pier at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, 21–24 May.
