Kinetic Catamarans is a US company that manufactures its catamarans in Knysna, South Africa. There’s a real ecosytem for fast cats in that part of the world (Balance Catamarans are another South African brand).

That’s in some way thanks to the fact that the early Gunboats were manufactured in the country.

The New K6

The company is run by Bob Hayward, a successful US real estate developer, film studio co-founder and farmer and Leon Scheepers, a highly experienced South African boatbuilder.

The Kinetic brand was launched in 2019 but the shipyard has a huge amount of expertise. It was founded by Phil Harvey, who built the early Gunboat 62s (Tribe and Safari) with Scheepers managing the shipyard (Harvey Yachts).

Hayward was having a custom 60ft carbon catamaran built by Phil Harvey when he told him this would be his last boat. Hayward decided to continue the story.

Hayward took over, made Scheepers a partner, kept the shipyard’s highly skilled staff and switched from full custom to semi-custom boats.

From 62 to 54

Hayward’s boat became the Kinetic’s KC62 and the designers, the Dutch- South African firm Simonis Voogd, were retained to design a smaller model: the KC54.

K6

Fast forward five years, and in 2025, Kinetic announced the launch of the K6 range at the Cannes Yachting Festival: short-handed sailing with wind speed+ targets, fast passage making, and a setup that allows you to race if you want to.

The K6 will have two purpose-built lengths—63 and 67 feet. Two finely balanced designs that let you opt for the perfect size for your program.

These are semi-custom yachts that aim to redefines what a true performance cruising catamaran can be.

The Ultimate Helm Position

One of the things we love about Kinetic Catamarans is the helm set-up. You get the best of both worlds, with twin aft helms and a central helm forward in the saloon. This has to be the ultimate helm set up, sailing feel with protection when you need it.