Industry-Leading Catamaran Hull Design Blows Competition Out Of The Water
Lay your eyes upon any of the shadow vessels in the award-winning line of SHADOWCAT support superyachts and you’ll be spellbound by their tantalizing beauty, elegance and design. But SHADOWCAT vessels are more than just stunning artifacts at sea. They are also highly stable, practical, spacious and environmentally friendly, and offer some of the fastest speeds in the industry for its class. All of this combined allows SHADOWCAT, the brain child of YCTS Ltd. and Incat Crowther, to offer a bespoke line of vessels that require no compromise.
One of the first things you will notice on a SHADOWCAT vessel is its distinctive catamaran hull. Crafted in partnership with Incat Crowther, the foremost authority on catamaran design and technology, this unique shadow superyacht is supported by two generous hulls, a fundamental feature that offers significantly more stability over a monohull vessel. The additional stability of a catamaran hull also means that 70 percent more weight can be craned off the side, by way of knuckle-boom cranes for a single-point lift of tenders and beam cranes for secure lifts of larger vessels. This translates to greater safety and confidence during at-sea activities, such as the loading and unloading tenders or during crew transfers.
Along with the incomparable stability, catamarans create less draft, giving owners access to shallow ports or the ability to anchor along any number of stunning beaches around the world, with smaller boats and tenders, SCUBA equipment, ATVs and more in tow.
Speaking of toys, the catamaran hull design allows a SHADOWCAT vessel to carry more of them. With a 40 percent greater capacity than a monohull vessel, SHADOWCAT’s catamaran design includes multi-deck storage for pleasure craft of many sizes, plus an optional helipad on the top deck, and more. Customizable for any number of luxuries, the SHADOWCAT’s mid-deck offers ample room for center-console or speed boats, quad bikes, submarine, dive room and decompression chamber, fresh flower shop, personal gym, and wellness center outfitted with youth-preserving hyperbaric technology, in addition to expansive lounging areas for guests and sleeping quarters for crew. The spacious design even has a special lifting platform designed for the quick launch of smaller vessels, such as jet skis. This commodious layout is made possible only because of the impressive design of the catamaran platform upon which the shadow vessel is built.
When it comes to crew accommodations, SHADOWCATs offer the greatest capacity and flexibility of any shadow vessel on the market. Making more room on the mother superyacht for family and friends, owners can opt to house all crewmembers aboard the shadow vessel, dedicating space for privacy and rest for everyone aboard both vessels. Trained receiving crew aboard the SHADOWCAT can assist with the loading and unloading of tenders and helicopters, without compromising service or space aboard the mother vessel.
Crew aboard the SHADOWCAT can shuttle between the two vessels aboard easily launched tenders, reducing the overall number of staff maintained on the mother superyacht. As shown in SHADOWCAT’s Haven concept, which includes a COVID-19 testing center aboard, having a reduced-crew can better protect against illnesses like the novel coronavirus, allowing owners to test staff and guests frequently to ensure the health and wellbeing of all while dream-like cruises continue uninterrupted.
The SHADOWCAT design is also an environmentally friendly one, requiring less fuel for extended excursions. The needed fuel load for a catamaran hull is an estimated 40 percent less than that of a comparable monohull due to the vessel’s hull efficiency. Even with lower fuel usage, catamarans travel more quickly than monohulls, particularly when moving down wind. SHADOWCAT’s most recent delivered vessel, Wayfinder, offered speeds up to 22 knots, a highly competitive clip for a vessel of its size and class. This get-up-and-go is ideal when a vessel is trying to move ahead of foul weather or arrive at a desirable destination quickly to prepare for the mother vessel’s arrival.
“We intentionally crafted SHADOWCAT to be built upon one of the world’s most stable hulls, designed by our partner Incat Crowther, because we knew it would provide owners with extreme confidence about the vessel’s stability when loading and unloading cargo,” said Robert Smith, CEO of YCTS, Ltd. and founding partner of SHADOWCAT. “Marry that stability with SHADOWCAT’s unlimited flexibility and customization specific to even the most scrupulous owner’s needs, and it is easily the perfect shadow vessel.”
Contact the SHADOWCAT team to learn more about our award-winning line of shadow superyachts.
