Rupert and Isa give their verdict on their new D1195 Sueños, after rigorous testing on the Round Britain and Ireland Race and a summer of cruising. (An abridged version in available to read in our Christmas newsletter - Happy New Year to you all.)

Sueños: a dream come true?

In 2008 Rupert and Isa Kidd sat down to write a list of the characteristics of their ideal catamaran, and then started looking for a design that fulfilled those criteria. Rupert and Darren were already acquainted and had been enjoying regular chats at the London and Southampton Boat Shows. Slowly these discussions became more purposeful, the converstion continuing over the next 18 months until Rupert and Isa were happy the Dazcat 1195 was the right boat for them. Sueños was launched on May 15th 2010 and three weeks later was competing in her first race, with Rupert skippering and Darren co-skippering. Rupert and Isa have since given us these comments on their boat - is she their dream boat?

Sueños (meaning ‘dreams’ in Spanish) is proof that you really can have it all: genuine performance, style and comfort in a catamaran that can be sailed shorthanded, is small enough to fit in marinas and not to break the bank, yet big enough to cross oceans safely, to be fun to race and still a pleasure to cruise. The racing performance was demonstrated on the successful completion of the two-handed Round Britain and Ireland Race in June, that started only 3 weeks after the boat was launched. We have had limited time for cruising as yet but we have been very pleased with how comfortable Sueños is to live on, including sailing as late in the season as November.

How did Sueños come about? I (Rupert) have a background of shorthanded racing (Transatlantic/Round Britain etc.) in trimarans (Applejack/Fiery Cross) from 1983 to 1995 and extensive family cruising with small children in catamarans. Over 5 years between 1998 and 2003 Isa and I sailed our Outremer 50, Bagheera about 25,000 miles including four Atlantic crossings. Our primary aim in replacing Bagheera was to acquire a cruising boat that would really sail and be easy to handle short-handed. Above all we wanted a boat I would still be able to handle in 10 years time, when I will be 70. A secondary aim was to have a boat that we could have fun racing as well. In August 2008 we drew up a list of ideal design aims which we wanted to have in our new catamaran, which is attached as an appendix. Reviewing this today I am surprised at just how much of our wish list Sueños delivers and some of the differences were the result of deliberate changes in our preferences following discussions with Daz (Darren Newton) and Simon (Baker).

We looked at production catamarans, primarily second hand, but most of them are way too heavy to sail well. For its generation the Outremer 50 we had sold in 2006 was one of the best around, but the design was getting pretty dated and a bit basic. We deliberately wanted a smaller boat for ease of handling, cost, mooring etc. We also looked at some of the Australian designed boats, the Fusion 40 and Spirited 380, which at least were aiming to be light enough, but we were not too keen on the ergonomics of the steering and sail handling. Furthermore no one was building them in the UK. We did not really want to build a one-off boat, but after sailing on Simon Baker’s D1150 Drama Queen we realised that here was a catamaran that really could perform and yet had good basic accommodation. The hulls were clearly quick, with Drama Queen being the third boat built from the same moulds, but could the bridge deck be modified to provide standing headroom and more comfortable access to the hulls, yet keep a sleek and attractive profile? Could we add the other features we knew from our cruising experience that we wanted?

There was initially some tough resistance to some of our ideas, but in the end most of them have been incorporated in the final product. Fundamentally, though, we were taking what was already an excellent Dazcat design and seeking to improve it and meet our own objectives. Daz, with assistance from Nic Bailey, has drawn a new coach roof and together we modified the interior and that really works well. Multimarine Composites built a mould for the bridge deck, cockpit and transoms so that they can produce future boats in semi production mode. Using a mould will have saved significantly on weight during construction and the bare deck and hulls of Sueños are probably lighter than the sister boat Drama Queen even though Sueños has a bigger coach roof. Initially we were not too keen on the galley half down in the hull, but after sailing on Drama Queen we warmed to the concept and are now totally convinced. This opens up the boat to allow lots of light in from the sides, uses the centre of the hulls which would otherwise be a passageway and by providing space for tanks underneath, enables the weight to be concentrated in the centre of the boat. Standing lower in the galley, where one’s head is at the same level as someone seated in the saloon, is also more comfortable in a seaway with the bonus of providing an excellent all round view. We modified the layout from Drama Queen to provide a small chart table in the saloon. In all, the layout works very well and provides ample space on a 12m boat with standing headroom everywhere you need it, but especially on the two steps down into the hulls, so you don’t have to stoop.

The fixed bimini was a bone of contention for some time but in fact blends in beautifully with the lines of the boat. The deck layout works well with twin helm stations and all the lines brought back to the cockpit, so that there is nothing we would wish to modify. The hydraulic steering was a nightmare initially because of difficulty bleeding air out, nearly causing us to abandon the Round Britain Race at the first stop in Kinsale, but once properly bled has been no problem since. In the cockpit we added a seat across the stern with a table in front, which works well and still leaves plenty of space for sail handling. In all, with larger engines, an inline generator on one engine, inverters, larger batteries, bigger windlass, heavier chain, electric winches, pop up TV, the bimini, and cockpit seat we have added around 500kg to the basic boat.

The Round Britain and Ireland Race (RB&IR) was certainly one of the toughest commissioning cruises anyone is likely to do. Daz has already documented this in his blog of the race, at inordinate length and with some very open and honest comments on some of the problems we inevitably had with a boat only launched 3 weeks before the race. Although detrimental to our race performance these were all very minor in nature and readily enough fixed. The Selden carbon mast from Allspars remained totally stiff, despite some severe thrashing to windward, the only problem being the reef downhaul eyes we pulled off, which need re-enforcing pads. The one aspect of the boat we were not happy with was the steering. The skeg rudders (for drying out on moorings) are not big enough and will be enlarged over this winter. We also had some trouble with setting the spinnaker, which did hurt us on the RB&IR, which is also being modified. Otherwise the Banks sails were excellent, especially the screecher which works brilliantly. This is also a great sail for cruising.

In all I thoroughly enjoyed the RB&IR, although disappointed that it was all upwind or downwind with only a few very short reaches. We did, though, get to see speeds in the high teens on a few occasions, some compensation for the four periods we had to kedge on the last leg. It was brave of Daz to agree to do the race with me, as we had never sailed together before, and he must have felt rather unsure of what reaction he might get if the boat failed to perform. I am delighted to say we got on very well and I thoroughly enjoyed his company. Daz did the cooking, while I did the navigating and route planning. Not sure who did the sailing but Daz certainly did all the blog writing! I am sure, being a new boat and with no training time before the race, we did not push Sueños as hard as we could, but nevertheless we were very pleased with the performance of the boat straight out of the box. There was not a single crack on the boat, the only breakages we had being rig related and minor at that.

The RB&IR demonstrated just how quick the Dazcat 1150 Drama Queen and 1195 Sueños are, with Drama Queen mixing it with the Class 40 monohulls (and Sueños not far behind) until the heavy weather downwind leg out of Lerwick, which was a Class 40 benefit, while the cats had to slow down in such conditions. It is impressive how quick the Dazcats are upwind for boats with all the windage of the bridge deck. This is in part due to the reduced pitching, as a result of the concentration of weight in the middle of the boat and the hull shape. Drama Queen and Sueños seem pretty similar in speed, with little to choose between them upwind while Drama Queen may be a little quicker downwind, which should be expected with Sueños being about 500kg heavier. The weight for Sueños’ rating certificate prior to the RB&IR was just under 5000kg, since when we have added about 100kgs more with the bimini and davits. The lightship displacement must be around 4500kgs. Most typical production boats are going to be close to twice this.

In summary Sueños is a beautiful boat that is both quick and comfortable and easy to handle and I would recommend anyone looking for a true performance catamaran of this size to look no further. A fleet of similar boats would rally give us some fun racing. We look forward to seeing more of them. I would like to thank Daz, Simon and all the crew at Dazcat and Multimarine Composites for building us such a great boat. Sueños is indeed a dream come true.

Rupert and Isa Kidd

Appendix
Idealised catamaran design parameters compiled by Rupert Kidd in August 2008. Comments on how Sueños compares are in bold

Principle features
• Performance cruiser Overused expression but yes Sueños really is
• Easy of handling short handed Yes
• 40 to 45 feet Just under 40 feet
• Displacement 4-5000kg max empty, 7000kg with payload Bang on
• Modest accommodation for length Surprising how much there is
• Narrow hulls with chine on inside as necessary Hour glass x section roomy
• Separate buoyancy compartments fore and aft in hulls, crash bulkheads. Up to half height
• Robust, i.e. kevlar or equivalent in hulls, stiff. Carbon and Kevlar as appropriate The stiffness of the boat is impressive
• Good bridge deck clearance Yes

Handling
• All sails can be handled from cockpit including reefing (except spinnakers) Yes
• Self tacking jib and gennaker on furlers (possibly 3 sails on furlers such as jib, code 0, fuller gennaker) Furling jib not compatible with self tacker, but easy to tack
• Electric winches for mainsail and reefing Yes
• Good visibility from steering position(s) but preferably some protection behind bulkhead, rather than exposed position Yes, remarkably dry
• Dagger board/centreboards Yes
• Ability to dry out (i.e. protection for props and rudders, plus reinforced bottom) Yes
• Self stowing anchor chain Does not self stow with 10mm chain
• Easy access via transom steps with walk through (not climb over into cockpit) Walk through not possible but easy steps to get up and back down into cockpit

Living on board
• Bridge deck windows minimise direct sunlight i.e. not large and gently sloping, but good ventilation Achieved with forward opening hatches
• Hulls with side hatches with few deck hatches (avoiding sun) Yes
• Owner style cabin one side (i.e aft cabin with bunk in hull, forward shower/toilet), desk etc. in middle. More or less
• Galley up on bridge-deck, close to cockpit doors Changed to galley half down in starboard hull, which works very well
• Other hull with double/twin single cabin aft, single forward/,shower/heads, workshop Two cabins either end with galley in the middle
• Minimise headlining i.e. fill and painted interior Done with good finish
• Planned space/plumbing for watermaker, washing machine (yes), heating Heating is done, space for the washing machine but not installed. For long distance cruising watermaker will save dramatically on weight of water
• Fixed bimini as part of coach roof Built in spite of designer's reluctance, works well
• Good social area in cockpit, separate from sail handling Aft seat and table fitted, well worth it
• Davits for dinghy, raised with electric winch Yes

Engines/power
• Diesel/electric hybrid (one engine/one generator+electric drive) or 2 generators/2 electric drives or 2 Yanmar style engines with built in 240 volt generator 2 Nanni with insert generator, electric options too heavy and expensive
• Prefer engines outside of accommodation Not possible in a boat this size when we also want to keep the weight in the central core to reduce pitching
• Solar panels, water driven generator Solar panels fitted on bimini
• LED lights etc. to minimise power consumption Done throughout