About

When I first heard about this ambitious project I was not particularity enamoured as I just could not get my head around a 26ft sailing catamaran (capable of being transported in a single 40ft container) having the wherewithal to provide a family of 3 enough space and comfort to really enjoy their time on the water. Particularly for a few days at a time. As with many things, it can be said that the "devil is in the detail". In this case the designers of this vessel. When it became known to me that Phil Southwell & Dylan Soares de Melo, two of South Africa's biggest names in naval architectural circles, where not only the designers but the owners of the brand I suddenly took significantly more interest in this project! Having now been party to watching her come together under the watchful eye of these talented men I can say that it has been an inspiration to see them work around various restraints and provide elegant solutions to them whilst maintaining an aesthetically pleasing profile. For those sailors who face height restrictions on their water ways she has a tabernacle system on her mast base which allow the mast to be lowered & raised. It must be said that I particularly like, on smaller yachts, is that she is tiller steered and thus highly responsive to input from the helm. From a rigging &sails perspective she has a single aft mounted mast supporting a roller furling genoa type sail. Sail handling could not be simpler! You may have noticed that she has a built in bow sprit and thus is designed to be able to fly a code zero, or the like, on a soft luff roller furler system. Due to her light weight & narrow hulls I think she is going to a great deal of fun to sail, particularly off the wind! Register with Boatshed to see 175 extra photos of this Nutshell 26 . This Nutshell 26 has been personally photographed and viewed by Bruce Stirk of Boatshed New Build Boats.