Design
VPLP Design: Mathias Maurios
The original brief for Catch Me, the first GP70, was to design a blue-water cruising cat that was sufficiently sober to be both fast and comfortable. This philosophy led to a number of bold choices, made possible by state of the art construction. The result is an exterior style with taut hull lines and shapes, and a unique side hull edge, giving the boat a timeless, racy look. To respect the spirit of the project
we had to go straight to the essentials, both in architecture and outfitting. Hull interiors were painted and furniture was designed to be integrated into the structure as much as possible. It was possible to maintain a high
level of comfort while keeping things simple. Some clever architectural and technical and solutions have been implemented, such as retractable engine controls and natural ventilation in the saloon. On deck, large storage lockers have been integrated into the forward cross-deck. A high-end electrical management system with wind turbines and solar panels avoids the use of onboard generators. In a quest for performance through
weight reduction, most of the boat was built in carbon where there was a significant gain to be made. Carbon deck, superstructures and bulkheads ensured a very stiff platform. The slender hulls validated by CFD, fitted with centreboards or low aspect-ratio keels and the powerful sailplan enable the GP70 to approach 25kts. At the customer's request, the GP70
has tiller steering from bucket seats, a feature more commonly found on racers that ensures exciting steering. Thanks to the customer and his
technical advisor, we were able to design a coherent boat in line with his programme and the performance required. The build was particularly well executed by Trimarine in Lisbon with the final weight well under control. Without being extreme, the GP70 is
able to maintain high average speeds in comfort, while including all the conveniences of a modern boat without excess. The GP70 is the ideal boat for fast round-the-world sailing in total comfort and safety.
82 SEAHORSE
The lack of daggerboard casings allows more scope for interior design innovations inside the twin hulls
The first boat was moulded in France, then finished and fitted out at Trimarine in Lisbon, where all subsequent boats will be built
styling, the very spacious bridgedeck area has a system to lower the glass in the forward windows, creating excellent natural ventilation when underway in light and moderate conditions, or at anchor. The carbon foam sandwich furniture is
painted to such a high standard it gives no hint of the nature of its construction, while there’s enough wood veneer on the saloon table, galley work tops and so on to create a feeling of warmth, without losing the wonderfully bright feeling created by a huge amount of natural light. The decision to optimise the GP70
solely as a fast cruiser avoids many of the compromises that are inevitable in a dual purpose boat. There's no need, for example, to prioritise a deck layout for a race team of 10 people to make super- slick spinnaker hoists, gybes and drops on the racecourse. This in turn facilitates a simpler and more streamlined layout that is easily handled with only one or two people on watch. This is achieved through a number of
resulting in a very efficient deck layout. The theme of simplicity even extends
to the tiller steering. This is by no means unprecedented on multihulls of this size (it works well on MOD70s for example) and offers a number of advantages over wheel steering beyond simply the more direct and responsive feel of a tiller. For a start, the helm seats are very comfortable and are naturally angled slightly inwards towards the centre of the boat. ‘This makes it a convivial aspect of the boat,’ says Paclot, ‘so you can easily communicate and chat with everyone else in the cockpit when you’re steering.’ Halyard and
‘Many of the technical solutions are borrowed or adapted from solo racing’
reefing lines are handled by two electric winches at the mast step, which reduces friction to
elegant technical solutions, many of them borrowed or adapted from the world of high-performance solo offshore racing,
the absolute minimum. This makes sail handling quick and easy – a critical factor when reefing – as well as reducing chafe in lines. The only downside is that you have to go forward to reef, but on a catamaran of this size you are a long way from the water and the deck is designed to give easy and safe access from the cockpit. ‘I like the system because it's simple and efficient,’
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