Arafura Cadet Sailboats for Sale

Hull Type

Catamaran · daggerboard

Rig

Fractional Sloop

LOA

11' · 3.35 m

Disp.

79 lbs · 36 kg

First year

1964

Designed in Darwin, Australia, in 1963 by catamaran pioneer Neil Fowler, the Arafura Cadet was born out of a desire to create an ultralightweight, highperformance training catamaran that could be easily built at home. Launched alongside its larger fourteenfoot sibling, the Arrow, the elevenfoot Arafura Cadet was specifically scaled to serve as an accessible stepup trainer for teenagers and lighter adults graduating from basic training dinghies. During an era when offthebeach multihulls were in their infancy, Fowler’s design offered a radical alternative to heavy monohulls, proving that speed and excitement could be packaged into a boat light enough to be easily rooftopped on a small car by a single person. Over the decades, the class has maintained a dedicated following across Australia, governed by a national association that preserves its tight class rules while allowing the boat to gently modernize.