[PCW] Fountaine Pajot Cumberland 44 & Cat A rating

[Candy Chapman and Gary Bell]

Gram commented and asked:

Michael,
You have my sympathy, and I hope it all works out for you. I also  
hope that I (and others) will manage to steer clear of your cowboy  
broker, whoever he/she may be.
After all thi disappointment and cricitism of F-P, then, would anyone  
care to comment other makers. I have heard of Geminie's capsizing  
fairly, and I read that one of James Wharrams's lost a mast or  
similar. The sea is obviously a harsh place, but is there not be  
someone who takes pride in top-class quality; the Rolls Royce, or  
Porsche, of the sector? Or is there?
gram.


REPLY:
As a Rolls and Bentley owner I can testify that the difference between 
those and so many other marques of cars is chiefly the attitude and 
effort of the builder.  It is not the price, nor the exotic fittings, 
but rather what shows up in the sound of the door closing, the lack of 
fuss when motoring down the highway, and of course the affection of the 
owners.  I also own and love a PDQ 34, and I greatly mourn the recent 
loss of this builder to issues surrounding building in Canadian dollars 
while selling chiefly into a US dollar market, plus the overall rise in 
matierial costs and the economic based slump in sales industry wide.  
You may struggle to imagine how sincerely I hope for a resurrection of 
this line -- I really miss their emphasis on sound, light weight and 
high tech. construction; to slender hull/low power economy (perhaps the 
salvation of boating for regular folks in times of increasing fuel 
costs); combined with a uniquely clever and practical layout.  They were 
about the earliest big success in this power catamaran enterprise (113 
hulls completed for the 34 foot line), and held strongly to virtues that 
promise to see the rest of us through tough times ahead, like escalating 
fuel costs, remote and difficult to control third world construction 
practices, and the great inertia in the general boating world to 
recognizing the power (and motorsailer) catamaran's unique promise 
instead of cleaving to antique traditional notions of what comprises a 
'proper' and therefore desireable boat. 

Gary Bell