Bali 4.3 Loft

[motogon]

4.3 is power cat. 4.5 is sailing catamaran. I looked at both of them at Cannes boat festival on Friday. Nice boats, very spacious. Looks like great condomaran. No idea how it sails.

[tripletrouble]

ta very much, just as I guessed from the MDI data. Did you see any other interesting cats?

[motogon]

There was mostly big expensive cats. A lot of nice looking boats but out my league. I liked new FOUNTAINE PAJOT 40, a lot of boat in 40'. My impression is most of modern cats are condomarans.
Only "affordable" cat was Aventura 33', starting at €158K, but non of Aventura dealers speak English.

[o2basailor]

I just returned from the Paris boat show and La Rochelle, where the boats are made. As a person who has actually walked through the decks, spent a day talking with the design team, and seen the boat perform. ..I can say that a lot of the opinions given are just that, opinions. Nothing against that, but the facts are a bit different than you might think.
It ends up that the design team spent a lot of time considering weight balance and on water characteristics. The result amazed me. This boat is not only a screamer, reaching over 14 knots in a much wind and topping out at an unbelievable 21 knots in 25 knit wind, while being smooth, dry, and literally never slamming once. I have never experienced anything like it and I have been sailing cats for nearly 30 years.
Their concept is more straight forward than you might think. With a solid bow, the trend to dig is offset by the greatly added boyancy. In other words, it's kind of like a power boat. The water stays below the hulls instead of coming over them or thru the tramp.
And the price was very good, especially given the long last of standard equipment like lots of tankage, refrigeration, smart technology, etc. Frankly, I wish I had seen this before I bought my boat. Very innovative, and fast often means safe, especially when trying to outrun a storm or bad guys. And holy cow, for a modest size boat, the pen cockpit and salon combination makes it as locale as my living room, with a much better view.
Hope this helos.

[serpa4]

Did it seen worthy of crossing the oceans or more of a cruiser never intended to leave a given area?
I Really like the design as my favorite, but the residential fridge has to go as does the dishwasher. Don't need those to cross the Atlantic as and Pacific.

[monte]

Originally Posted by o2basailor

I just returned from the Paris boat show and La Rochelle, where the boats are made. As a person who has actually walked through the decks, spent a day talking with the design team, and seen the boat perform. ..I can say that a lot of the opinions given are just that, opinions. Nothing against that, but the facts are a bit different than you might think.

It ends up that the design team spent a lot of time considering weight balance and on water characteristics. The result amazed me. This boat is not only a screamer, reaching over 14 knots in a much wind and topping out at an unbelievable 21 knots in 25 knit wind, while being smooth, dry, and literally never slamming once. I have never experienced anything like it and I have been sailing cats for nearly 30 years.

Their concept is more straight forward than you might think. With a solid bow, the trend to dig is offset by the greatly added boyancy. In other words, it's kind of like a power boat. The water stays below the hulls instead of coming over them or thru the tramp.

And the price was very good, especially given the long last of standard equipment like lots of tankage, refrigeration, smart technology, etc. Frankly, I wish I had seen this before I bought my boat. Very innovative, and fast often means safe, especially when trying to outrun a storm or bad guys. And holy cow, for a modest size boat, the pen cockpit and salon combination makes it as locale as my living room, with a much better view.

Hope this helos.

Not that I don't believe that statement, but I do find it unbelievable a cat the same weight and sail area as mine doing wind speed? 14 kn in 14kn TWS? 21 in 25kn? Were you actually on board doing those speeds at La Rochelle? Enquiringly minds need to know

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by o2basailor

reaching over 14 knots in a much wind and topping out at an unbelievable 21 knots in 25 knit wind

I'm with Monte. Not possible without surfing, and then only momentary.

Dave

[Barra]

Originally Posted by o2basailor

I just returned from the Paris boat show and La Rochelle, where the boats are made. As a person who has actually walked through the decks, spent a day talking with the design team, and seen the boat perform. ..I can say that a lot of the opinions given are just that, opinions. Nothing against that, but the facts are a bit different than you might think.
It ends up that the design team spent a lot of time considering weight balance and on water characteristics. The result amazed me. This boat is not only a screamer, reaching over 14 knots in a much wind and topping out at an unbelievable 21 knots in 25 knit wind, while being smooth, dry, and literally never slamming once. I have never experienced anything like it and I have been sailing cats for nearly 30 years.
Their concept is more straight forward than you might think. With a solid bow, the trend to dig is offset by the greatly added boyancy. In other words, it's kind of like a power boat. The water stays below the hulls instead of coming over them or thru the tramp.
And the price was very good, especially given the long last of standard equipment like lots of tankage, refrigeration, smart technology, etc. Frankly, I wish I had seen this before I bought my boat. Very innovative, and fast often means safe, especially when trying to outrun a storm or bad guys. And holy cow, for a modest size boat, the pen cockpit and salon combination makes it as locale as my living room, with a much better view.
Hope this helos.

So its faster than its performance oriented siblings in the form of the carbon infused and vastly more expensive catana line?

I think not.

[o2basailor]

They made a video of the trip, with cameras above deck and below, so you can see the wave action. I believe they are planning on posting it on YouTube eventually. In the clip, there are pictures of the instruments showing the wind speed and speed of the boat. Once posted, you will see speeds of 13 - 14.3 knots routinely, and a couple of times wind the wind picked up where the boat reached 21 knots. I enquired quite a bit about the speed, and they basically said, "at Catana, we're all about speed, so we spent a lot of time on balance and hull shape." That's about as much as I got on the speed issue, basically because I cared less about why it was so fast, than the fact that it was so fast.
As to sea worthiness, I can only say that I wouldn't hesitate to cross an ocean in this boat. She sailed very dry and stable, and even in the winds we had, we never felt inclined to take more than one reef, which was automatic. In fact, with the closed bow, it was much dryer than most cats I have sailed with the tramp. The bow just didn't sem to do much diving at all.
Concerning the fridge. It's really just a residential "style", but it's clearly a marine fridge. Although it has a reefer next to the freezer, and looks upright from the exterior, it is actually full of drawers, from top to bottom, when opened. Very clever, and a ton of space. I would be happy with it until proven otherwise, and my wife absolutely loved it. Even underway it seems secure - which is contributed to by the overall stability of the boat itself. This thing almost seems to glide through the water instead of plow through it. This said, I still love my FPs, and consider them the best boat for the money. In fact I have another FP being built right now. But the Bali is a lot of boat for the money, at 256K Euros for a base boat, which includes a lot of pricey options as standard. I think this might be a real shocker to the competition which tends to be over $100K more similarly equipped. Those La Rochelle builders really take pride in their workmanship and it shows on all the boats out of that region.

[o2basailor]

Originally Posted by Barra

So its faster than its performance oriented siblings in the form of the carbon infused and vastly more expensive catana line?

I think not.

I never said that it was faster than the daddy cats of Catana. I just posted the speeds hit for the given wind conditions. The Catana's with carbon fiber and daggers will certainly outperform the Bali's in general terms and more specifically when pointing up, etc.. But it's still an impressive sped machine.

[monte]

Thanks O2, but I have to ask again...were you onboard during this sail, or is this second hand info from the sales dept? If you were on board, I assume you were sailing off La Rochelle? Can you give us a run down on the actual conditions and points of sail as well as average speeds? Did you sail out and around Ile De Re?

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by o2basailor

Once posted, you will see speeds of 13 - 14.3 knots routinely, and a couple of times wind the wind picked up where the boat reached 21 knots.

Well, I'll look forward to seeing it, because unless they got to these speeds for brief moments while surfing, I don't believe them. The fastest I've ever seen on my boat (non-surfing) was about 14.3, but it's longer, lighter, and has more sail area than the Bali 4.3. Surfing is another matter....

Dave

[serpa4]

That residential fridge is actually a marine one... Nice! That was a concern of mine. A residential one is not the way to live off the hook for years. I'm partial to the 4.5 since the 4.3 has a step down/up in the cockpit floor.

[jimba]

Originally Posted by o2basailor

They made a video of the trip, with cameras above deck and below, so you can see the wave action.

This one ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVea6Mz9h9Q

[aluisscp]

Jimba, that video is beautiful, but it's very "promotional". Would have liked to see struggling parts to see what's to be expected from this kind of trip on a Bali...

Has O2basailor's video "surfaced"? The one with the 21 knot speed?

I've been trying to find it, if I have any luck I'll post it here!