Design and Competition Role
The Extreme 40 series functioned as a warm-up circuit that brought skippers and crews more accustomed to fast monohulls into tune with the demands of racing a super-fast big cat. It was a new generation of mid-sized catamaran intended to bridge the gap between traditional multihull racing and the wing-sailed developments seen later in the AC45. The plumb stems are not the wave-piercing type used on those AC45 cats, and the boat instead relies on very narrow hulls and a low displacement-length ratio — calculated at 19.18 without crew and 25.46 with crew weight — to achieve its performance envelope.
Construction
The hulls and structural members are all carbon fiber with Nomex Aramid honeycomb cores, and the assembled components are rolled into an autoclave where a vacuum is drawn and the pieces are heated to 120 degrees Celsius. That process yields boats that are very strong but not very durable, a trade-off typical of autoclave-cured racing structures. The lightweight construction also makes the catamaran easily transportable, an asset for a class built to appear at venues around the world.
Rig and Performance
Instead of the large wing sail seen on the AC45, the Extreme uses conventional "soft" sails, with a fractional sloop rig carrying 1,076 square feet of area. The rig set the record for the highest sail-area-to-displacement ratio ever calculated by the reviewer, reaching 72.62 with main, jib, and crew weight, and climbing to 129.25 when the gennaker is included. Top speed sits somewhere between 35 and 40 knots in 25 knots of breeze, and the boat is expected to fly one hull in as little as 6 knots of wind. Boats are crewed by four sailors joined by one non-participant, underscoring the pure racing intent.
Accommodations
The Extreme 40 is a strict one-design racing catamaran with no provision for cruising accommodation; its 2,750-pound displacement and narrow hulls exist solely to support the sail plan and crew. There is no livable interior to discuss, and the boat's identity is defined entirely by its regatta role.
The Verdict
The Extreme 40 is a focused racing instrument: a lightweight, autoclave-cured carbon catamaran with a record-setting sail plan and hull forms tuned for raw velocity. Its one-design status and transportable nature made it a practical spearhead for multihull sport racing, even if the very construction that makes it strong sacrifices long-term durability.
Pros
- Slender hulls and ultra-low displacement-length ratio deliver exceptional acceleration and top-end speed
- Conventional soft-sail rig with record sail-area-to-displacement ratio is simpler than wing-sail alternatives
- Strict one-design format and easy transportability suit a traveling regatta circuit
Cons
- Autoclave-cured carbon-Nomex structure is strong but not durable for sustained use
- No accommodation or cruising provision whatsoever
- Plumb, non-wave-piercing bows differ from later wave-piercing catamaran designs
