MORNING STAR

The flybridge lounge sits above a cockpit laid level with the saloon and galley, which lets the social half of the boat work as one open space. MORNING STAR is a Dufour 48 Catamaran delivered in 2023, 14.7 metres long on an eight-metre beam and drawing 1.3 metres.

She came out of a yard known for monohulls. Dufour had been building single hulls in La Rochelle for five decades when the 48 Catamaran arrived as its first multihull, drawn by Umberto Felci working with Lorenzo Giovannozzi. They set the mast well aft so she could carry a large self-tacking jib, and gave her narrow hulls with reverse bows refined through CFD testing. She cruises at six knots and tops out at ten.

Four cabins take eight guests. The three queen cabins have en-suite bathrooms, while the twin bunk cabin in the bow keeps its own bathroom a step across the hallway, which makes it the natural cabin for children. Air conditioning runs throughout, and a watermaker, generator and onboard WiFi keep the week self-contained.

Captain Chrisjan Kotze and chef Cleona Kotze run her as a crew of two. Stand-up paddleboards, floating mats, snorkel gear and light tackle are on board, and the dinghy tows the tube. She keeps the same base in every season, working the Virgin Islands and the Leeward Islands out of Road Town twelve months a year.