Yahoo Lifestyle This New 60-Foot Power Catamaran Is Made for Transatlantic Cruising
The Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia isn’t a place for faint-hearted mariners. Towering waves, gale-force blows, and nowhere to hide keep most boaters far away.
But when the new owner of the first Demey 60 Spaceship mentioned he’d like the boat shipped to his home in Sydney, Australia, 1,300 miles from the New Zealand shipyard, company founder Nic de Mey’s instant reaction was: “No problem, we’ll drive there.”
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So in late December, de Mey and a crew of three cast off from Tauranga, on New Zealand’s North Island Bay of Plenty, for the week-long voyage across the feisty Tasman Sea to Australia’s Sydney Harbor.
“We got hammered,” de Mey tells Robb Report. “Twenty hours from Sydney, we had constant 25-knot winds and 12-foot seas right on the beam. We throttled back to 12 knots, but we were still surfing down waves at 23 knots. It was all pretty exciting.”
After three days and three hours at sea, and still with around 800 gallons of fuel, or just less than a third of total fuel capacity, left in the tanks, the catamaran arrived unscathed into Sydney, confirming de Mey’s mantra “Range at Speed.”
Designed by de Mey and his in-house team, the new 60 is powered by twin 550 hp Cummins turbo diesels with conventional shaft drives. The 32-ton semidisplacement cruiser boasts a top speed of more than 26 knots (29.9 mph), with a friendly cruising speed of just over 20 knots (23 mph).
New Zealand naval architect Roger Hill designed the vessel’s twin, wave-slicing hulls, also mandating that it be constructed with carbon-fiber composites and e-glass epoxy with a foam core. The result is a boat that delivers high strength and rigidity, but with light weight.
As for the “range” part, the 60’s total 2,640-gallon fuel capacity gives it a transatlantic range at 10 knots of 3,225 nautical miles, almost the exact distance from Gibraltar, gateway to the Mediterranean, to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. Even at 18 knots, the Demey 60 Spaceship consumes just 1.5 gallons per nautical mile, giving it a potential range of 1,733 nautical miles.
“Going the distance was always a top priority,” says de Mey. “For our buyers, it means peace of mind for embarking on long, ocean passages. For others, it’s the convenience of filling up maybe just once a year.”
The company has been building high-tech, carbon-fiber boats since 1994, including a line of fast Phantom ski boats. De Mey’s biggest project so far is a custom 69-foot foiling catamaran, powered by quad waterjets and capable of 50 knots, built for New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart.
The new Demey 60 certainly has the look of an intrepid power cat. With its tall, vertical bows, and an all-black, glass-filled superstructure with a trawler-style and reverse-angle windshield, the big cat looks modern without being over-styled. The low profile and slender flybridge hardtop also avoid a top-heavy look.
In keeping with the growing trend in power cat design, the overall beam is a relatively modest 22’5”, with a Bahamas-friendly draft of just 3’5”. Despite the slender beam, the overall space, both inside and outside, is generous. The open rear cockpit has a cozy dining area protected from the elements by glass extensions. Overhead, the upper deck shades the entire cockpit from the sun.
Sliding glass doors connect the cockpit to the light-filled salon, with a commercial-grade galley in the rear left corner. How commercial? The entire galley’s work surface is one custom-made piece of formed stainless steel.
The no-nonsense, commercial look also stretches to the central helm with a trio of 22-inch Garmin screens as well as a tiller and joystick controls. Don’t go looking for some fancy, wood-rimmed steering wheel. There isn’t one.
Stairs alongside the helm lead down to the full-beam owner’s suite, with its king-sized bed, spacious bathroom, generous headroom, and bright, almost Scandinavian style. The port hull houses the roomy VIP suite with a private entry, while the starboard hull is a cabin with a pair of twin-bed cabins.
Several design misses might turn off sun-worshippers. On the forward deck, there’s no typical entertaining space with built-in sofas or lounges. The flybridge is also surprisingly compact, with just a small U-shaped sofa and table and, at least with this hull number one, no upper helm station. De May says each Spaceship will be customized to each owner’s needs.
This first boat was built for a well-known former America’s Cup sailor who splits his time between Sydney and the U.K. De Mey is currently finishing a second 60 for a New Zealand client.
For the third hull, the Kiwi builder hopes a U.S. buyer will emerge, someone looking for a fast, long-distance power cat for long offshore Florida-to-Maine runs or Los Angeles to Cabo adventures. Or, of course, extended exploration of the Bahamas, or even the Caribbean. Depending on options and engine choices, the Spaceship will run from $4.8 million to $5.4 million.
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