Leopard Catamarans launches new Leopard 42 sailing catamaran

Leopard 42 final design - Exterior rendering © Leopard Catamarans

Building upon almost 25 years of product evolution, Leopard Catamarans, in partnership with design teams at Robertson and Caine and Simonis and Voogd Yacht Design, has officially launched the newest addition to its sailing range, the new Leopard 42.

The vision of Leopard 42 was not a simple replacement for the highly successful Leopard 40. In fact, the result is a much more spacious and superior yacht featuring a sharper exterior, an additional entertainment area, and larger cabins with increased comfort, natural light, privacy, and sense of openness. All while maintaining Leopard's signature balance of comfort and uncompromised performance.

The focus on exterior styling was to evolve and apply the modern appearance of the Leopard 50 (Boat of the Year 2019), which features continuous hull side windows, a continuous hardtop, and contrasting coachroof accents. The look of the Leopard 42 was then sharpened further by featuring a completely horizonal chine and a plumb bow.

The interior design of the Leopard 42 adopted the styling that was developed for the revolutionary Leopard 53 Powercat (Multihull of the Year 2020). With modern contrasts, indirect lighting, and classy finishes, the Leopard 42 brings more luxury and elegance to the Leopard sailboat range.

A dramatic difference between the Leopard 42, and any catamaran under 45 feet, is the addition of the coachroof lounge. The lounge offers another 50 square feet of external entertainment area, which in turn increases the overall exterior entertainment area by 65%. The lounge is the perfect relaxation venue at anchor, featuring an upholstered L-shaped settee and backrest, as well as a fixed GRP table.

"For a catamaran of this size, the goal was to introduce a lounge that not only "fit" into the design but without adding too much weight. By integrating the geometry of the lounge into the GRP hardtop, we were able to achieve a lightweight area that added less weight to the boat than one average sized crew member." -- Michael Robertson, Leopard 42 Chief Designer, Robertson and Caine.

Access to the lounge is a feature that is revolutionary to the Leopard sailboat fleet and a comfortable stairway leads up to it from the port side deck, without intruding into the aft cockpit headroom or interfering with the helm arrangement. The stairwell is tucked inboard of the coachroof combing so it does not impede on the aesthetics of the exterior profile and leaves an unobstructed view from inside the aft cockpit.

The fully protected helm station is still located in the classic Leopard Catamarans position -- raised and to starboard -- and all lines are led back for single-handed sailing. The captain has direct visibility of the coachroof lounge, the aft cockpit, the bows and sterns, as well as the mainsail through a skylight.

Inside, natural light floods in through the overhead skylight and 360-degree windows. The forward- facing settee, situated aft, allows for direct communication with the forward facing, U-shaped galley, now found on all sailing models. Also unique to a catamaran of this size, the Leopard 42 offers the forward, watertight access door that provides superior ventilation, easy circulation and exceptional visibility forward. An innovation first introduced by Leopard catamarans, and part of its DNA.

Down below, all beds, forward and aft, are island berths accessible from both sides, but most importantly are wider than on the Leopard 40. In addition to larger beds, floor space increased by a combined 35% in the guest cabins and 30% in the owner's cabin.

To achieve more sense of space within the hull cabins, an effort to maximize natural light was achieved by utilizing the continuous window along the hull, adding windows wherever space permitted, and maximizing the height of each window. As a result, the Leopard 42 hull interior boasts double the window surface area than the Leopard 40.

All cabins aboard the Leopard 42 include their own private en-suite heads. This is a significant improvement over the Leopard 40, where both guest cabins share one central head. While this is a vast improvement, the most significant achievement is that both guest heads include their own designated shower area; a feature not currently found on catamarans in this size range.

Not neglecting the demand for a well performing catamaran, stepped hulls and a powerful rig with an overlapping Genoa provide for her superior performance in all wind conditions. Additionally, the hull engineering which goes into modern cruising catamarans is as complex as the requirements are stringent. An innovative internal structure design on the Leopard 42 results in a strong and stiff offshore sailing yacht able to go anywhere, while at the same time having a beautiful open plan layout with large windows all around and opening doors aft and forward.

As naval architect Alex Simonis of Simonis-Voogd Yacht Design states, "Although it sounds like all the development goes into creating more space, more windows and doors, the reality is far from that.

For the design of all Leopards, their performance potential remains one of the top priorities. We spend a lot of time refining the rig geometry and the sail layout to boost the efficiency of the rig plan. At the same time, the ongoing refinement in hull and appendage design allows us to create a yacht with better sea motion and more agility. "

The new Leopard 42 has the unmistakable DNA of the brand, with plenty of exciting new technology and building techniques used to make it a magnificent ocean-going yacht with a feel of space, comfort and performance only previously found in significantly larger models.

Test sails will be conducted in Cape Town in November 2020 and the official world premiere will be at the 2021 Miami International Boat Show. Preliminary renderings, technical information and preliminary polars are available online now.

"I am very excited by the launch of this new 42. The project was delayed because of the global pandemic, but we were committed to launch this new model this coming November. We had been focused on larger units with the introduction of the 50 and the 53PC this year, so it is very refreshing to work on a smaller unit, that offers many new ideas, and packs so many features in 42 feet, for the weekly user, long range sailing and for the full time live-aboard in all sea conditions. Simonis-Voogd continues to push the envelope, model after model, with catamarans that offers more comfort and continue to perform like a Leopard. The combination of optimized hull shapes, powerful rig and

stepped hulls continue to deliver great results for our owners and charter customers". Franck Bauguil, VP Yacht Ownership & Product Development for Moorings, Sunsail and Leopard Catamarans.

In addition to private ownership through Leopard Catamarans, this yacht will be available for ownership through the Moorings Yacht Ownership Program, as the Moorings 4200. The Leopard 42 will also be available for charter vacations in select destinations worldwide through The Moorings.

Specifications

• Cabins: 3 or 4
• Heads: 3 or 4
• LOA: 41ft 7in / 12.67m
• LWL: 40ft 11in / 12.44m
• Beam: 23ft 1in / 7.04m
• Draft: 4ft 7in / 1.4m
• Displacement: 27,485 lbs | 12,467 kg
• Mast Height: 67ft 10in / 20.68m Mainsail Area (Standard) 717 sqft / 66.6 sqm Total Upwind Area (Standard) 1217 sqft / 113.1 sqm
• Engine: 2 x Yanmar 45HP Diesel engine with saildrive
• Fuel: 158 US gal / 600ltr
• Water: 174 US gal / 660 ltr