Marsaudon Composites ORC57

57-357-3

Description

If you are buying a catamaran, you have one main decision to make. Do you want performance on the water and a boat that will get you from A to B quickly (and out of trouble if you need to), or do you want more living space to maximise comfort levels while at anchor?

On one end of the scale are the Lagoons, the Leopards and the Sunreefs (if you decide to go up the luxury scale in the case of the final brand). And in the speed section are Marsaudon Composites, Dazcats and Gunboat (again if you decide to go the luxury route in the case of the latter). And, of course, there are many other brands that fill in the spaces in between.

Marsaudon Composites is firmly positioned on the speed axis: a performance catamaran manufacturer that wins races. But they also make comfortable boats that sail with a smooth ride, and none more so than their flagship the ORC57 which has been inspired by catamarans such as the Gunboat 60 and the Outremer 5X.

Photos credit: Marsaudon Composites, Sebastien Mainguet (Voiles et Voiliers), Patrick le Lay

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As Marsaudon’s marketing says, the Ocean Rider Catamarans range are true sailing machines. This boat will be competing in a white hot market against the likes of the O-Yachts Class 6 and the HH55.

The 57 footer has been designed by Marc Lombard who also designs boats for Nautitech and Privilege, so he’s well known in this corner of France: L’Orient. He has done a great job in expanding the range from the smaller 42 and 50 footers that were designed by Christophe Barreau. You can see that he has taken inspiration from the smaller models’ fluid and sporty lines.

The design inspiration has come from the likes of Lotus and the classic 1967 Ford Mustang: form through function. This is a real “muscle cat”.

At just 11.3 tonnes light weight, this catamaran is a serious mover. She’s just over 18m long and carries a 108 m² mainsail and an 81 m² Genoa (J1)

Build

The ORC57 is built with female molds using infusion process. They are well versed in building racing machines at this yard: the process involves sandwich reinforcement with fibreglass and vinylester resin, PVC foam core with an epoxy primer below the waterline. The daggerboards are made of fibre glass/ vinylester with suspended rudders on shafts.

There’s a choice of double tillers for direct steering like you will see on the smaller boats or twin aft wheels for helms.

The standard mast and boom are aluminium, but they have used carbon on the cross beam and bowsprit. There are options for carbon upgrades everywhere of course.

Sailing

The ORC57 is a powerful machine, but she’s been set up for a short-handed crew. There are 8 winches to help you manage the sails: 2 dedicated mainsheet winches, plus winches for the genoa and daggerboard lines. There are plenty of handrails on the roof for safety (8) and a crash box in each bow with watertight bulkheads.

Living Space

This is a 57 foot cat, so there is plenty of space, but it’s not going to compare to a 57 foot cruising cat. It’s not trying to. The saloon sports a large dining area plus a day bed /watch bed, nav station and aft facing galley.

Down below in the standard version are 2 spacious, light aft cabins (200cm x 200cm beds), 2 heads and 2 queen sized forward cabins (200cm x 160com beds).

The finish is what we would call “industrial chic” with luxury touches. Everything has been optimised for weight reduction. So down below, for example, the floor panels are carbon and the sides in the interior are merely painted with aspects to warm the design up. It’s very effective and pretty cool.

Summary

This is one sleek looking catamaran and she is priced very competitively for this market. The ORC 57 is a light, fast sailing catamaran. The design mantra was “Keep it simple and keep it light”. She’s one helluva machine.

FAQs Marsaudon ORCC57 Catamaran

How much is an ORC57?
The standard configuration is priced at just under €1.1m, launched and rigged in L’Orient. Of course, there are plenty of extras that you can add onto this, but still, this catamaran is competitively priced in this market against the likes of HH, Dazcat and even Outremer

Technical Specification

Length WL

17.1m / 56' 1"

Length OA

60' 4"

Beam

9m / 29' 6"

Displ. Light

11.3 tonnes / 24,912 lbs

Displ Max

13.9 tonnes / 30,644

D/L

63

SA/D (J1)

39.4

Mainsail

108 m² / 1163 sq ft

Genoa (J1)

87 m² / 936 sq ft

Bridgedeck

1.07m / 3' 6"

Draft Boards Up

1.5m / 4' 11"

Draft Boards Down

4.5m / 14' 9"

Power

2 x 57 HP

Fuel

2 x 200L / 2 x 53 gal

Water

2 x 200l / 2 x 52 gal

Architect