Balance Catamarans – a brand entirely built by blue water sailors and big wave surfers, will tell you its origins go back to one simple concept: listening to the wisdom and needs of other sailors.
Today, this innovative catamaran builder offers five models – a 442, a 482, a 526, a 580, and a 750. They are built along the Southern coast of South Africa a place where the company’s U.S.- based company and founder have a strong history as a former world champion sailor who took his honors in Cape Town in 1979 at the Hobie Cat World Championship which had representatives from 72 nations competing.
That moment sealed his bond with both the place and its people.
Balance Catamarans Today
Today, Balance Catamarans is the fastest growing catamaran builder in the world, a credit to its designs and mission – to create a balance between performance and luxury at sea.
“The name Balance is no fluke, it is our core mission,” says Phillip Berman, its founder and CEO. “We wanted to achieve excellent open-water performance and livability at a time when no builder focused on this sailing mission.”
Berman partnered with yacht designer and engineer Anton du Toit in Cape Town in 2012 and began co-designing the first Balance Catamaran, a 526, with him. Their very first boat was hailed as the “perfect performance package,” by reviewers and won the prestigious Import Boat of the Year Award in 2017 when it was introduced to the world. And this model would go on to win the highly competitive Cape2Rio race in 2023.
From here, Berman and du Toit co-designed a 482 quickly followed by a Balance 442. Both models were immediate hits with blue water sailors and immediately sold out the builder’s capacity. What followed was increased production at both two factories that build the catamarans as well as the addition of two more model designs, the Balance 580 the first of which will be launched this fall and the amazing Balance 750 that will launch later this year as well.
“Balance partnered with incredible sailors and big wave surfers that I had known for some time,” explained Berman. “Jonathan Paarman is the manager of Nexus Yachts in St. Francis, South Africa. “He is literally a surfing legend who I tease grew up with salt in his ears. He and his brother Roger are long-time trusted partners of Balance Catamarans,” explains Berman. The factory they run builds the Balance 526 and the new Balance 580.
In Cape Town, Berman partnered with Mark Delany, a second-generation boat builder who grew up working in the boatyards of his parent’s Two Ocean Marine, a company he took over after he completed his marine studies. Today, Balance Catamarans Cape Town builds its 442, 482, and 750.
“We now employ just over 750 people in South Africa between the two factories,” explains Berman. “We have talented builders, technologists, and carpenters who work hard every day to make our mission a reality for sailors all over the world.”
While Balance has become a well-know and very popular catamaran with North American sailors over the last decade and is just now breaking into the European market.
“This summer you will be able to spot our distinctive Balance Catamarans sailing the Mediterranean, sailing in Norway, and, of course in France both at sea and at the Cannes Yachting Festival where we will be displaying a B526 and a B442,” adds Berman.
Why is Balance Catamarans so popular? These sailing vessels are indeed sleek, performance-driven catamarans that offer handcrafted wood cabinetry and signature razor sharp performance hull shapes. But it is also the sailing innovations that are at almost every turn making it clear that sailors designed and built this boat with ease of operations foremost in their minds. Best know is the very popular (and now widely copied) VersaHelm.
Invented by Balance in 2013, the VersaHelm allows for the helm to be shifted from a top position into a down position when weather turns foul enabling the skipper to pilot looking through the catamaran’s aircraft glass windows.
And there are lots of little details as well – solar panels that fit into frames to cool them more effectively, lines that drop out of sight to always keep the decks clear and safe, stairs that are built with times ascendence and descendance in mind, hidden drawers for tools and champaign glasses, and more.
The latest innovation comes from Balance’s longstanding partnership with Integrel Solutions. Seven years ago, Balance pioneered the use of Integrel’s high -output alternators to harness the spare power generated by diesel engines to charge the battery bank that runs all the catamarans appliances. “Integrel uses a 48-volt system that is very efficient,” explains Berman. “We partnered with them in 2018 to test this new system and have remained a key innovation partner with them ever since, leading recently to our adoption of the new Integrel e-Drive hybrid propulsion system.”
“E-Drive is set to be a game changing system that not only reduces emissions and fuel consumption but also provide boat owners with the choice of reducing their environmental impact,” said Trevor Howard, CEO of Integrel Solutions.
This new system boasts up to 30kWs of power generation and 40hp of electric drive with a multihull. This is a dramatic breakthrough to more environmentally sound and safe propulsion and power generation while at sea, adds Berman.
“We are very clear that our catamarans are designed and built for self-reliance because they sail around the globe,” says Berman. And once again, the company balances strength, reliability, performance, energy efficiency and safety with all its innovations, technological and otherwise, explains Berman.
Because Berman launched Balance with such a different vision, he began making videos to explain his ideas. He took cameras into the factories to let others see for themselves what he meant. He introduced the audience to his partners and the people and places of South Africa.
He took a fully open and transparent approach to his work and that of others, something the industry had not been known for then.
He let audiences watch as new models were designed and built in stages. Today, Balance Catamarans has a strong following on YouTube and Berman is recognized for his videos by a passionate sailing audience. The build videos are among the most popular Balance Catamarans creates.
If you want to see a Balance Catamaran in person, you can contact Balance Catamarans directly or you can attend the Cannes Yachting Festival September 10-16. Berman and his team will be there displaying a recently launched Balance 526 as well as a Balance 442.
The Balance 526 is currently captained by two top sailors who provide offshore sailing for “adventurous souls,” according to their website. OUTERPASSAGE.COM . The crew, Daren and Amanda, has raked up over 35,000 nautical miles and will be at the Cannes Boat Show to talk about their experiences onboard the Balance 526, Pippilotta.
To make a reservation to tour the boats in Cannes, contact Cailie@balancecatamaran.com
