UPDATE 01/15/2022: Mithril is about 4 days out from Fort Lauderdale and has travelled 3100 NM so far since she left from the Canaries. The passages were slower than expected with light winds almost the entire way across the Atlantic. The boat and crew have held up well and have reported few issues. We look forward to her arrival and we will share lots of info when we debrief the crew.
UPDATE 12/29/2022: Mithril departed Tenerife in the Canaries heading across the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale non-stop. Steele and his crew took over from Benjamin and will report back every day. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates and pictures.
UPDATE 12/06/2022: Mithril has been delayed due to weather which in turn messed with the schedules for our delivery crew. We sent them all home and will move the boat in late December 2022. We will keep you updated.
Learn more about the specifications and building process of the Catana 50 OC.
See the comparisons of performance of several performance catamarans.
Mithrill is on her way to Fort Lauderdale!
Mithril, our Catana 50 OC, has completed her boat show circuit in Europe and she is about to depart from Toulon, France to the Canaries, on the first leg of her journey to Florida with seasoned French skipper, Benjamin Monier.
Our chief RYA sailing instructor, Steele Greyling, and his crew will take her across the Atlantic to Sint Maarten on the second leg where we will get onboard to sail her back on the final leg of the journey to Florida. We cannot wait to get onboard the boat and start playing with our “sports car”!
Benjamin sent this picture to us this morning (evening in Toulon) of Mithril getting ready to leave port.
We are anxiously watching the weather forecast and it looks like it will be a spirited passage for Benjamin and his crew!
We spoke to him earlier this week about their upcoming trip to the Canaries from Toulon in France. This is what he had to say: “I am super excited about delivering Mithril and I take the subject to heart! Departure is scheduled for early evening on Friday night, November 18th. We’ll be taking advantage of a 15 to 20 knot NW front in the evening with a wind that will increase to 30 knots on Saturday.
We’re going to try to find another front on the Spanish coast to get between Ibiza and Spain. I’m waiting for the latest data to calculate my route.
The passage of Gibraltar will undoubtedly be a bit complicated with a headwind! The forecast I have at the moment is not the best. A wind on the beam but mainly upwind for almost the whole of the crossing. We’ll see. I hope to arrive in Le Canaria on 27th November (2022). “
“We have almost every possible sail configuration:
- Main + Genoa
- Main + Code 0
- Main + Genaker
- Main + Spinaker
First of all, I will leave the Code 0 in place because I hope to use it during the first front. Then we will play with the different sails depending on the wind. I hope to be able to average 10/12 knots under sail and I’ll be doing 7 knots under engine when needed.
First of all, I will leave the Code 0 in place because I hope to use it during the first front. Then we will play with the different sails depending on the wind. I hope to be able to average 10/12 knots under sail and I’ll be doing 7 knots under engine when needed.
There will be six of us for the crossing. I wanted to share this with friends but above all I wanted to be able to sail the boat in its most loaded configuration to have real technical data of performance at sea to assess our comfort and performance in real time.
My team consists of:
- François the mechanic / technician
- Théo the physiotherapist
- Hugo the video maker
- Alizé (the only girl on board) who will be the second skipper
- Guillaume the chef
- And myself (Benjamin) the skipper
BON VOYAGE TEAM MITHRIL!
Follow the journey! We will send regular updates on Social Media until she arrives in the Canaries. From there we will post a link from the IridiumGo onboard for the Atlantic crossing and then our Starlink from Sint Maarten to Florida. We will also do a report on how the Starlink worked out for us during passages.
Learn more about the specifications and building process of the Catana 50 OC.
See the comparisons of performance of several performance catamarans.
