{"id":3663,"date":"2021-12-17T13:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balancecatamarans.com\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2025-04-09T14:10:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T14:10:55","slug":"sailing-world-2022-boat-of-the-year-best-multihull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balancecatamarans.com\/sailing-world-2022-boat-of-the-year-best-multihull\/","title":{"rendered":"SAILING WORLD: 2022 Boat of the Year – Best Multihull"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/sailboats\/2022-boat-of-the-year-best-multihull\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n

The Balance 482<\/a> is a bluewater voyager with high-quality construction, performance and value<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Sailing World Magazine\u2019s\u00a0annual Boat of the Year tests are conducted in Annapolis, Maryland, following the US Sailboat Show. With independent judges exhaustively inspecting the boats on land and putting them through their paces on the water, this year\u2019s fleet of new performance-sailing boats spanned from small dinghies to high-tech bluewater catamarans. Here\u2019s the best of the best from our\u00a02022 Boat of the Year nominees \u00bb<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n

Life, like sailing, is all about balance, says Phil Berman, who, as a teenage Hobie class champion, wrote the authoritative book on catamaran racing. That was way back in the 1980s, but for our Boat of the Year tests, he\u2019s on board the tropical-sunset-wrapped Balance 482<\/a> performance catamaran. This South African-built 48-footer is a sabbatical cruiser for sure, but it\u2019s just the sort of cruiser a competitive sailor like Berman would just as well take across a starting line and go for the hardware.<\/p>\n\n

His story may sound familiar, but it\u2019s also the story of this boat. He started a multihull brokerage long ago, and after surveying and selling so many boats, he came to the inevitable conclusion: \u201cI said, \u2018You know, I think I can design a better production catamaran, one that isn\u2019t designed for the charter trade, but one that\u2019s going to be a boat that\u2019s as comfortable to sail as it is on anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s the equilibrium Berman strives to achieve in all of his boats, and it is this lens through which our judges evaluated Hull No. 1 of the Balance 482 in Annapolis. \u201cThis is a boat that\u2019s fun to sail, but has space to live and is robust enough to sail in the Southern Ocean,\u201d he tells the judges, \u201cand easily sailed singlehanded, if required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

And with that said, he draws the judges\u2019 attention to the boat\u2019s helm station\u2014the one and only\u2014to starboard. Here, he shows them how he has full command of the engine throttles, and sail trim controls and halyards led through banks of low-profile clutches to three powered winches. Every line\u2014literally every line\u2014leads to this workspace, with the tails disappearing neatly into line boxes. From this vantage point at the helm, he can also see everything forward and above without having to look through a dodger or crazed vinyl. Such protection from the elements, Berman says, isn\u2019t necessary. When the wind and water in your face get to be too much, you can simply disengage the plunger lock on the pedestal and pivot your helm downward into the salon, where there\u2019s a bank of instruments at the ready and great visibility through the boat\u2019s gigantic thick-glass windows.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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