Atlantic 57 Catamaran Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

White's construction brief was structural honesty without accommodation-driven compromise. The hulls present no bump outs, steps, chines, or bulges to pamper the interior, and the laminate itself is epoxy resin with triaxial E-glass over Core-Cell and AirLite foams, vacuum-bagged by the builder with an impregnator controlling the resin-to-glass ratio across nearly 3,000 square feet of panels. Three main crossbeams tie the hulls, their flanges in carbon fiber, and longitudinal bands of carbon run in the hulls themselves. Curving, translucent engine mounts, fuel-filter and steering-cable brackets, and even dorade vents are all molded in biaxial E-glass from male molds. Practical touches include 9-foot-by-1-foot belly fins that spare the hull in a grounding and let the boat sit on a beach or in a yard, and a generous three and a half feet of bridgedeck clearance above the water.

Rig and Handling

The boat is a cutter-rigged composite cat with a forward cockpit placing the wheel and all sail handling right behind the mast, linked to a 16-foot-wide bridgedeck pilothouse. Deep, foam-filled asymmetric daggerboards are worked up and down to provide lift to windward, while a self-tacking staysail and a big high-aspect battened mainsail of 933 square feet do the close-reaching work; an asymmetric cruising spinnaker covers downwind. Harken electric winches handle main halyard, mainsheet, traveler, and runner loads. In 10 knots of breeze she sails to windward under staysail and main at 7.2 knots, and with the masthead genoa out she reaches 10 to 11 knots in about 14 knots. Chris White has subsequently taken her upwind in 30 knots under staysail and single-reefed main, reporting 13.5 knots. The helmsman works a carbon-fiber wheel, often with two fingers.

Performance Underway

Owners confirm the passage-making pace the magazine measured. Hull Nogal, owned by Frank Middleton, crossed 3,700 miles from the Canaries to Caicos in 17 days, hand-steered the entire way and averaging 9 to 11 knots, surfing at 20. The design is credited with knocking off 350-mile days, and under the twin 54-horsepower Yanmar diesels at 2,500 rpm she motors at 10 knots on about a gallon an hour, or 8 knots on a single engine.

Accommodations

Inside, the boat offers 1,052 square feet of usable living space—about a 68-percent increase over a contemporary 57-foot center-cockpit monohull. Vertical- and plain-sawn cherry joiner work gleams under high-gloss varnish. Identical master cabins amidships in each hull give a roomy vanity, head, and toilet area for maximum privacy, while aft in both hulls a double berth comes with dresser, seat, and hanging locker. The starboard hull holds a 9-foot galley with a 9.3-cubic-foot fridge and 7-cubic-foot freezer; the port hull mirrors that space with a stainless-steel workbench, vise, tool drawers, and slide-out toolbox. The bridgedeck pilothouse has an inside steering station with 360-degree visibility, a nav workstation, and a saloon with dinette and cocktail table under bronze-tinted tempered glass. A 16-by-8-foot back porch with built-in seating, dinghy davits, and a vinyl-coated bimini carries the dinette table on fold-down legs for open-air meals. Forward 16 feet of each hull, behind two collision bulkheads, stows sails and fenders.

Equipment

The electrical plant splits into 12- and 24-volt-DC circuits with 120- and 220-volt shore power and a 920-amp-hour bank backed by a Fischer Panda ACG 4000 genset. A Spectra Newport 400 watermaker makes 17 gallons per hour. Air-conditioning, diesel forced-air heat, freshwater electric toilets, saltwater deck washdown, a large fridge/freezer, and a full nav and comms suite round out the systems.

Known Issues

On the Nogal Atlantic crossing the A3 blew out after eight days. No structural or systems defects appear in the record.

The Verdict

The Atlantic 57 is a rare thing—a light, sharp performance cat that does not sacrifice voyaging integrity or livability to hit a number. White's refusal to let the accommodations bulge the hulls, combined with carbon-reinforced structure and a forward cockpit that puts the crew where the wind is, makes her a considered choice for serious passagemaking.

Pros