She looks like a steady, comfortable cruising catamaran — but there’s more to the 9m Catalac than meets the eye, as David Harding reports. When the Catalac was introduced in 1971, she took a few people by surprise. Here was a rather boxy-looking catamaran derived from Bill O’Brien’s chunky, chined, glassfibre-sheathed plywood Bobcats. She looked like a practical family cruiser for those who wanted space rather than pace, yet she sailed far better than the world expected.
