Seawind Catamarans owner and CEO Richard Ward started building cats in Australia in 1982 and over the years became that country’s largest multihull builder. Now he has put that experience and expertise into the new Seawind 1170, at 39 feet on the smaller end of the company’s range, which makes it easily manageable by a couple, but also built fully ocean-worthy as a CE Category A multihull.
The interior design is based in what Seawind has found to be proven brand characteristics—twin helms protected in the cockpit with direct communication to the salon, a clever trifold door that can lift into the overhead to fully open the space between salon and cockpit, galley down to allow maximum space for the salon, including a spacious nav station, large windows all around with sturdy opening windows forward for maximum ventilation, and collision bulkheads.
Where things have been updated are in the hulls themselves with a reverse bow for better upwind capability, a step in the topsides to allow more interior volume—especially in the aft cabins—and more headroom throughout. Composite and structural engineering is by New Zealand-based Gurit, who also engineered the 1160 and 1260.
All the tooling is new, done at the company’s Vietnam facility where they have been building Seawinds for 13 years. Hulls are fully infused with vinylester resin, and carbon reinforces key structural areas to minimize weight while enhancing performance.
The sailplan has a self-tacking jib with an optional screecher and a spinnaker that’s tacked to the bowsprit. With all lines run aft, only for setting the latter do you need to go forward, and the sensible height of the boom makes full access to the main easy even for a small person.
The boat is powered with twin 29-hp Yamahas on saildrives. Base batteries are gel, but Mike Rees, Seawind’s international sales and marketing manager, says anyone who’s planning on sailing more than coastally is opting for a lithium package, which the boat is set up to accept easily. “When we do the lithium bank, we bolt on an additional high output alternator which is 120 amps that goes through the regulator and to the house lithium. So you have two times 120 amps coming out, which is huge,” he says. “You don’t need a generator.”
With eyes more firmly on the U.S. and European markets, Seawind has opened a new, 56,000-square-foot factory in Izmir, Turkey, and the 1170’s tooling has been moved there for all future production of this model, Rees says. The new location on the Aegean Sea creates a customer service base out of Europe, so that owners can pick up their boats and immediately be in terrific cruising grounds with access to a variety of marina facilities.
Stay tuned for a full review of this boat in an upcoming issue of SAIL and sailmagazine.com.
LOA 39’3”
Beam 21’4”
Draft 3’9”
Air Draft 61’7”
Displacement 20,000 pounds
Sail Area 910 sq ft (upwind) 1,162 sq ft (w/screecher)
Power twin 29-hp Yanmars
Designer Richard Ward and Seawind Design Team
Builder Seawind Catamarans seawindcats.com
Base Price $510,000, as tested $610,000
