Power 67 #1 - A 2 500-mile delivery trip!

And once she’d arrived in Greece, manufacturer Fountaine Pajot organized a photo shoot of their new powercat: here’s the story of this delivery trip and exclusive pictures.

“We set out from La Rochelle with a well-established northeasterly wind, averaging 25 to 35 knots with a sea that was building as we started to clear the shelter of the coast. The catamaran behaved wonderfully well, the autopilot managing the quartering seas without any worries. At low revs, we quickly reached a cruising speed of 9 knots to achieve derisory fuel consumption. We had set ourselves a goal of minimum 200 miles per day, but exceeded that easily. In under two days, the Bay of Biscay was behind us. The sun finally appeared, along with better temperatures. It was soon time to round Cape St. Vincent, southwest of Portugal and here you’re (almost) at the Strait of Gibraltar. We passed Tarifa, with 18 miles still to run before reaching the anchorage of La Linea and barely one hour of daylight left. This was the moment to take advantage of the twin 480 HP engines: they propelled us smoothly at 17-18 knots: we reached the anchorage at dusk

9 knots cruising speed

The next day, everything went perfectly. After refueling and the review of the two Volvo engines by the local agent, we were back at sea before nightfall. Our objective was to reach Athens non-stop, some 1,500 miles further on. The weather was perfect - the sea was beautiful and the wind light. To complete this magnificent trip, a tuna had the good idea to catch our line. This made a change from the ordinary. Soon, the Strait of Messina laid dead ahead, and then we were leaving Italian waters, already pointing our bows towards the Greek islands. At more than 9 knots cruising speed, the miles skipped by and the comfort under way remained very appreciable. The ice-cubes delivered by the icemaker pleasantly refreshed our sundowners. After passing under the bridge at Patras, we entered the Corinth Canal, a passage that is always tricky for large vessels. The canal is 80 feet (25 meters) wide and the Power 67 is almost 33 feet (10 meters) in beam. No deviation from the course then... But the very light hydraulic steering of the Powercat ...