AN INTENSIVE COURSE PROMISES A FAST-TRACK TICKET TO SKIPPERING A CATAMARAN. HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT MORE
Nestled under the towering castillo on the tiny Balearic island of Cabrera is a simple tapas bar, known as the Cantina. Overlooking the dinghy dock and a short dusty road to nowhere, its terrace is a place where sailors sit to contemplate the stars, the swinging anchor lights, and life in general.
Can one week change your life? That’s a whole lot of pressure to put on a holiday. But for a surprising number of graduates of the Nautilus Sailing catamaran cruising course, that’s exactly what their one week aboard is: a first step to catamaran ownership or liveaboard adventures. Over olives and white sangria my crew mates were considering their next life move, and they were resolute that it would involve buying a catamaran, and making that leap.
Of course, a liveaboard sailing course doesn’t have to be about reinventing your life. It’s a week afloat in the sun, hopping from bay to bay in some of the loveliest sailing destinations around, and an opportunity to pick up the skills to do it all again some time – only next time chartering your own boat, with friends or family. Tacking between the islands of Conils and Cabrera, before tucking into the deeply sheltered nook of the Puerto de Cabrera anchorage, surrounded on all sides by a silent national park where the only visitors arrive by sea, is a day to treasure for anyone cruising the Mediterranean. For those experiencing yachting for the first time, it’s akin to being given the key to a secret world that only sailors have permission to access.
BROAD APPEAL
Catamaran ownership has boomed, but the huge sales of recent years aren’t solely the result of previous monohull owners converting to multihull life. There’s no question that the popularity of YouTube sailing mega-brand La Vagabonde, and other multihull vlogs like Gone with the Wynns and Sailing Zatara, have showcased the liveaboard lifestyle to thousands of viewers for whom moving aboard a more modest yacht would never have appealed.
The other big shift has been in the charter sector, with catamarans overwhelmingly the preferred option in many charter sailing areas. For experienced monohull sailors, skippering a rental cat isn’t usually particularly troublesome. However, for newer sailors looking to charter for the first time, there can be a real learning gap between the introductory courses taught on small keelboats and monohulls, and the reality of taking responsibility for a 45ft catamaran.
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