The Seawind 1600 Passagemaker is the yard’s 52-foot flagship, and the clearest statement of what four decades of multihull building can produce. Reichel Pugh drew the hull, and their fingerprints are everywhere: long, fine waterlines, captive daggerboards that lift to leave only 0.6 metres of draft, and a rig sized to turn 200-mile days into routine. This is a catamaran built to cross oceans with two people aboard, then host a family once the anchor is down.
The twin helm stations sit under hard protection with 360-degree sightlines, so night watches stay dry and the off-watch crew in the saloon stays connected to the deck. Kevlar-reinforced, resin-infused hulls keep weight honest without sacrificing strength, and the retracting boards and rudders open up anchorages that deeper cruisers cannot reach. Below, the layout favours self-sufficiency: large solar arrays, serious tankage carrying 750 litres of fuel and 658 of water, and stowage sized for genuine liveaboard range.
What sets the 1600 apart from charter-bred cruising cats is its balance. It sails well enough to satisfy a performance sailor yet manages the loads for a shorthanded couple, and it does both while delivering the volume of a far less capable boat. For buyers weighing a serious bluewater multihull, it rewards close inspection against anything in the 50-foot class.
Length
16.1M
Beam
8.1M
Draft
2.6M
Day Guests
10
Sleeping
6
Cabin
3
Cruise Speed
Max Speed
Fuel
750L
Engine
2 x Yanmar 57 hp / 43 kw diesel saildrives
Naval
Reichel Pugh
Exterior
Reichel/Pugh / Seawind
Interior
Seawind
New Starting From
€1,100,000
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Two hundred mile days are the design target, not a marketing boast. The Reichel Pugh hull carries long, fine waterlines and captive daggerboards that give real upwind pointing while keeping the deck clear of protruding foils. Raising the boards drops draft to just 0.6 metres, and the lifting mechanism routes to a cockpit control so no one scrambles forward under way. Kevlar reinforcement and resin-infused laminates keep the structure stiff and light, which translates directly into speed and an easy motion in a seaway. Power for manoeuvring and calms comes from twin Yanmar 57 horsepower saildrives. The combination of low windage, a generous sail plan and a hull that rewards trimming makes the 1600 genuinely quick for a cruising cat, closing passages that leave heavier charter-style multihulls well astern.
The profile reads purposeful rather than flashy, with a low coachroof, a large targa top shading the cockpit and helms, and clean lines uninterrupted by the hardware other builders leave exposed. Protected twin helm stations are the signature, offering 360-degree visibility and real shelter on a cold night watch. Wide side decks and triple lifelines make moving around the boat secure under way, and the deep cockpit seating sits behind a lockable trifold door that closes the saloon off completely at sea. Deck stowage swallows a cruising couple tender, dive gear and passage spares. Every exterior choice serves the offshore brief first, which is why the boat still looks right after years of hard use rather than dated.
Below, the 1600 is built around self-sufficiency and light. Hull volume is given to comfort and storage rather than squeezed for an extra cabin, so sightlines and headroom feel generous throughout. Owners can specify layouts to suit a family or a cruising couple with occasional guests, with the accommodation sleeping a family comfortably in port. Natural light pours through forward-facing saloon windows and overhead hatches, and the cross-flow ventilation keeps the interior liveable in the tropics without leaning on air conditioning. Materials are chosen for durability in a marine environment, finished to a standard that reads warm rather than clinical. This is an interior meant to be lived in for months at a time, far from the nearest marina, and it is detailed accordingly.
The heart of the boat is the seamless link between saloon and cockpit, opened up by the trifold door so the two zones read as one when the weather allows. Whoever is cooking stays part of the conversation, and whoever is off watch can keep an eye on the horizon from inside. The galley is laid out for safe work in a seaway, with handholds and fiddles where they matter. On deck, the targa-shaded cockpit becomes the social centre at anchor, while the foredeck trampolines and lounging areas give the crew room to spread out. It is a layout that scales naturally from a quiet couple passage to a full boat of family and friends in a sheltered bay.
Built in Seawind own facility to RCD Category A, the 1600 is certified for unlimited offshore service, and the resin-infusion process gives the consistent laminate quality that underpins that rating. Large solar arrays, substantial fuel and water tankage and generous storage are designed in rather than added later, supporting genuinely autonomous cruising. The captive daggerboard and rudder systems reduce the maintenance and windage that trouble some performance multihulls. A worldwide dealer and service network backs the boat wherever an owner takes it. New examples sit around 1.1 million euros depending on specification, with a healthy brokerage market for recent hulls. For a buyer who intends to use a catamaran as it was meant to be used, crossing oceans under sail, the 1600 Passagemaker makes a compelling and well-proven case.
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