We have been chatting with several of our owners about their experiences on Broadblue catamarans. They have kindly allowed us to share their stories and tips with our future owners.

This is the second in this short series and today we speak to Stuart and Angela, they are the current owners of Pompey Lass, a Broadblue 346, which if you follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, you will have seen a lot of! I caught up with them as they were sailing of Portsmouth with a few friends.

They are ex monohull sailors, and for many years (about 20!) bare-boated on a range of boats including Westerly’s, a Jeanneau 35 and later a Bavaria 37. They then retired and wanted a boat for themselves. They were looking for a shallow draft boat and remembered seeing a Broadblue 345 10 years previously. At that time, they were still committed monohulls sailors, but it had made an impression.

They gave Mark Jarvis a call, (Production designer and owner of Broadblue) and had a good look around a 346 Hybrid. They thought the accommodation was “enormous”, and as she doesn’t really heel, they thought would be great for non-sailing friends as well.  They made an order very soon afterwards!

Since then, they have sailed far and wide. Based at Port Solent they have sailed the south coast extensively and have just returned from a 3-week trip to the west country.

What they like about the 346 sounds a little bit like a sales pitch from Broadblue!  Maneuvering they say "is easy, she sails well with just two people and is great for extended sailing, and the covered cockpit is a massive advantage – you just don’t get wet, you’re out of the wind and you are nowhere near as tired as you would be if sailing a monohull after a long sail".

In the interest of providing a balanced point of view I asked were there any negatives. Happily, they replied “Not really” adding “you just be a bit more aware of the sea state as the 346, like any cat it does have a different motion to a monohull and takes getting used to”. But overall, it does everything they want from a boat!

Would they recommend the Broadblue 346, “Certainly!”

As far as tips for cruisers are concerned, well it’s less of a tip but more of a positive observation, they pointed out that, for cats of this size, their experience is that you only pay berthing fees pro rata on the length. This applies to annual and visitor moorings.  "It's a very common misconception as people expect 1.5 times at least".(it may be the case for larger cats!). “In all our sailing around the south coast, Channel Isles and France we have only twice been asked to pay a surplus”. 

Our thanks to them both for sharing.