Design and Construction
Sharp hulls, daggerboards, and a powerful rig give the Windelo 50 a sleek, sporty profile. Rather than traditional fiberglass, the hull and deck use a basalt-and-PET-foam sandwich. The yard uses volcanic basalt fiber in its woven rovings and recycled PET for the core; 45 percent of the catamaran’s structure is PVC and 55 percent is recycled PET. The builder says the recycled PET core has half the carbon footprint of virgin PVC foam. Interior furniture uses a lighter composite made from two layers of FSC plywood over PET foam.
A later revision reshaped the deck and cabintop and lengthened the hardtop. It added roughly 3.5 feet of space for solar panels, increasing energy harvest by about 30 percent.
Rig, Performance, and Handling
The Windelo 50 has a fractional sloop rig with a 92-square-meter mainsail and a 43-square-meter foresail. Upwind sail area is near 184 square meters, while a 161-square-meter gennaker is available for downwind sailing. Daggerboards help the boat point, and the 35-inch bridge clearance is intended to minimize pounding to weather.
Test sailors found the boat light, responsive, and efficient in light winds, yet reassuring in heavy weather. In 15 knots true with a 2-foot chop, it made 9 knots at 60 degrees apparent. Pinched to 40 degrees under the self-tacking jib, it held 6.2 knots. With a code zero, it reached 10 knots at 110 degrees when the breeze puffed to 17 knots. Owners have reported touching 15 knots of boatspeed during a transatlantic ARC passage. It also sails under canvas from just 4 knots of wind.
Cockpit and Accommodations
The open nacelle brings the galley, cockpit, and helm station together in one central living space, with a watch berth, chart table, and several possible layouts. Windelo placed the helms forward in a fully enclosed cockpit. Twin wheels sit about six feet apart, while three winches and line organizers occupy a center console that also houses the windlass. Skylights above each wheel provide views of the mainsail. A glass door can close off the forward cockpit from the salon.
The navigation station is to port and the galley to starboard. The owner’s suite fills the port hull, with a large forward head, a desk, and an athwartship bed aft. The starboard hull contains a narrow forward cabin and an aft double.
There’s no traditional aft cockpit. Instead, the salon serves as the aft living area, opening onto a narrow terrace. A lifting transom carries the dinghy davits.
Visibility and Other Known Issues
The enclosed helm exchanges aft visibility for weather protection. Solid bulkheads behind each wheel reduce the view back toward the swim steps to nearly zero without a backup camera. The bulkhead between the galley and starboard helm blocks the aft view entirely. Reaching the aft deck quickly to handle lines is also difficult.
On one boat, a tester noted that the anchor chain hung below the longeron instead of running in a well above it. It’s an exposed lead path worth noting on any individual hull.
Revisions, Packages, and Production
On early boats, a garage-style door—similar to a Bali’s—lifted from the aft terrace to the cabintop to provide salon access. Windelo has since changed to traditional sliding glass doors. The deck revision also deepened the cockpit seats and extended the hardtop’s solar footprint.
The yard plans to build roughly 10 boats per year and was booking into 2027. Windelo offers three packages: Adventure, Yachting, and Sport. The Sport package adds a carbon mast and boom.
The Verdict
The Windelo 50 is a thoughtfully engineered catamaran that prioritizes sustainable construction and the ergonomics of an enclosed forward helm over conventional aft-cockpit lounging. It’s quick, light-fingered in a breeze, and genuinely offshore-minded for shorthanded crews.
Pros
- Basalt and recycled-PET structure with a low claimed carbon footprint
- Enclosed forward cockpit with centralized sail controls and excellent forward sightlines
- Strong light-wind performance, aided by daggerboards and a self-tacking jib
- Electric-hybrid propulsion, a substantial lithium bank, and walk-on solar
Cons
- Near-zero aft visibility from the helm without a camera
- Difficult quick access to the aft deck for handling lines
- Anchor-chain lead below the longeron rather than in a well
