On Friday the 30^th of October, a crowd of over 130 onlookers watched with anticipation as the world’s newest blue water catamaran was officially launched in spectacular fashion off the Newport Marine Service’s slipway at the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Newport north of Sydney, Australia.

With cheers and applause all-round, the new 41ft Seawind 1250 floated off the slip and Seawind’s Managing Director and owner, Richard Ward, christened the boat with a bottle of champagne in time for the Seawind Pittwater Regatta (Australia’s largest ‘Big Cat’ regatta) the next day.

It was immediately clear that the new 1250 was impressive, with dozens of people flocking to inspect the boat with many guests commenting on the many new features, including the spaciousness, protective twin helm seat design, brilliant visibility & ventilation, navigation-up layout with day-bed incorporated into the saloon and custom designed pull-out freezer. Of course the innovative features that Seawind are famous for, such as the Tri-Folding doors, performance Flared Hulls and shorthanded sailing systems were all there, however the subtle design element also impressed such as the new modern timber fitout, huge storage lockers and 6’6” head height to name just a few.

"This new design is similar to our award winning Seawind 1160, however it’s bigger and in some ways better,” Richard Ward commented at the launch, “It is larger in length, beam, height, rig, sails, fuel tanks, storage lockers and head height and has some other new features plus we expect its performance will also be very strong.”

The boat’s performance lived up to expectations the following day, with 33 x Seawind’s racing in a 10-15 knot north-easterly in bright sunny conditions. Always at the front end of the fleet, it was clear that this new production catamaran will be hard to catch on the water and will continue Seawind’s reputation as an innovative producer of performance catamarans built to a superior level of quality… features insisted upon by the fastidious Australian yachtsman.

With 7 boats already sold, the Seawind 1250 now goes on tour around Australia including display & demo weekends in Sydney Harbour, then competing at the 3^rd annual Seawind Moreton Bay Regatta (20-22 November) which will also provide customers the opportunity to inspect and test sail with schedule demonstrations. Then to the Melbourne International Boat Show in early February.