Felix

Cruiser-Racer Felix

FELIX the magic catboat is a 37-foot LOA, 14-foot beam, 2012 composite built, weekender-racing yacht adaption of a 1920’s Barnegat Bay A-Cat. 

All the classic beauty of a vintage racing yacht with the modern comforts, convenience, cutting edge materials, performance and technology of a cruising yacht today. 

Fresh water cooled 3-cylinder Westerbeke diesel generator-set with power takeoff powers disappearing hydraulic driven propeller/drive-shaft, 110-volt A/C system; electric centerboard lift/lower, fresh water/hot water heater, arid/dry bilge system, refrigeration and deep freezer, force10 stainless steel gimbaled electric stove and oven, Cruisair marine air conditioner, Raritan “electro-scan” biocide macerator, surround sound stereo system. Carbon fiber spar three-point double spreader rig, low friction sail track, carbon sails, Edson radial steering system, emergency tiller drive the boat. New Found Metals cats eyes port lights are one of many finishing touches.

The original A-Cat made it’s appearance in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey at the height of gentlemen’s yacht racing and yachting journalism. Names like Kennedy and Vanderbilt graced the shorelines with the shallow bay’s proximity to New York City. The A-Cat’s designer Charles Mower, once a public school educated underdog and apprenticing naval architect, raced the first A-Cat himself (and won). The rest is history, and only a tiny fraction of Mower’s prolific yacht designing career of both sail and power. With numerous newspaper and book features. He also became the editor of Rudder magazine, where he published the lines he’d drawn of Joshua Slocum’s boat, Spray. 

The Barnaget Bay A-Cat is 28-foot, 12-foot beam, racing class catboat circa 1922. Lower slung and increased laminar flow than a traditional catboat (1840s). The A-Cat boat still has a fleet today on Barnaget Bay where fleet owner’s take pride in their vessels. Well-known for their sailing craft and the requisite skill set that comes with stewarding a classic vessel of such nature. A level of “commitment, dedication, motivation” (Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Associate) are known qualities amongst fleet owners maintaining these vessels. 

This comes as no surprise. Managing builder Art Halpern and owner of the adapted 37-foot Felix said, “perfect is acceptable” when it comes to the construction and performance of the yacht. If the A-cat was a more elegant version of the original catboat, then Felix is no different. An adapted A-cat for cruising and modern racing, increased in size and stability, reduced wetted surface and weather helm. The air draft is 63-foot. To accommodate intercostal waterway bridges, and to aid in the overall balance of the long, beamy, but relatively light yacht. 

At nearly 40-foot aside from providing length, generous accommodations, side deck, foredeck and cockpit space; the unique hull shape also equates to stability, stiffness, and immense strength.This is, for all intents and purposes, weekender vessel. With no ballast. 

However the very carefully calculated design characteristics and construction of the vessel weighing in at 8,000-lbs displacement, make for an extremely stable ride with superior strength. 

The hull is three layers of bi-axial fiberglass bonded on each side (6 total) of thickened epoxy bead and cove cedar planking.The deck three layers biaxial fiberglass each side (six total) core (marine plywood). Mahogany bulkheads, toe rail, centerboard and cabin sides. Carbon fiber mast, boom, skeg and rudder. 1000-square feet of sail area fitted with Technora carbon sail cloth sails.

The results are seamless. Not to mention exquisite and fast. Easily achieve and maintain hull speed (14 knots) under sail. Remember to reef.

A highly skilled team including master yacht carpenters, welder’s, and mechanical engineer’s built Felix at Sail Craft Boatyard in Oriental, North Carolina (Eastern North Carolina). Launching in 2012. A $300,000 project budget overall. This is a Coast Guard documented vessel. 

Felix’s A-cat, catboat lines were adapted by Morgan MacDonald, a naval architect and project manager with strong ties to the northeast and the Caribbean. MacDonald is also the nephew of legendary yacht designer Don Street. Art Halpert (managing builder) as well is a lifelong marine industry veteran. Having worked as a boat builder and mechanical engineer from City Island, NY on classic Americas Cup boats, to the American Virgin Islands in the multihull division.

The boat handles the estuary Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke Island and its tributaries with ease. It would suit perfectly as a 6-pack vessel for a licensed captain on any similar waterways. A day charter business in any port from the mid Atlantic north or south. The vessel can be easily navigated on the intercostal waterway to a new harbor, and has performed well in the Pamlico Sound from ideal to adverse conditions. It would be safe to say the boat would perform similarly with a competent captain anywhere from the Chesapeake Bay, to Long Island Sound, Cape Cod, Buzzard’s Bay and beyond. 

The Felix was designed for racing and cruising on the rivers bays and sounds of the east coast. While not built for the ocean, the Felix does have similar a stability rating as some ocean going multi hulls. But was not designed for ocean swells/waves.

In order to sail the boat to the Bahamas, or on coastal offshore waters, according to the builder it would take a “courageous, adventurous, cautious individual with excellent sailing skills.”

LOA 37-foot

Beam 14-foot

5’7” headroom 

Minimum draft 3-foot centerboard and propeller up (rudder and skeg only)

Maximum Draft with center board down is 10 ft 

Doyle Sails, Technora carbon sail cloth

Main Sail 700 sq feet sail area , 3 reef points

Head Sail 300 sq ft headsail 

Displacement 8000lb