chris white yacht design

Professional BoatBuilder Magazine

Catching up with chris white.

By Dan Spurr , Jul 25, 2019

White’s Atlantic series of fast cruising catamarans, such as the 57’ (17.4m) shown here, have been his most popular designs; a trademark feature is a second cockpit between the cabin and the mast for superior viewing of sail trim.

It was 36 years ago, in 1983, that multihull designer Chris White hung the proverbial designer’s shingle, Chris White Designs , outside his Massachusetts home. He now boasts more than 80 custom cruising catamarans and trimarans under sail worldwide. In the 1970s, he apprenticed, as it were, with Jim “Trimaran” Brown at his shop in Virginia. Inspired, White built the 52 ‘ (15.8m) cold-molded trimaran Juniper on those grounds, and then sailed the heck out of her. She was an object of great beauty, with the Virginia cedar hull exposed inside. I first met White when he asked editors at Cruising World magazine if any would like to join him as he sailed along with the fleet of that summer’s Classic Yacht Regatta on Narragansett Bay. I jumped at the chance. That day, she fairly glided as if above the water, for at that length, there is zero hobbyhorsing in small chop. We stayed out of the way of the great wooden yachts circumnavigating Conanicut Island, reaching off at speeds unimaginable by the designers and builders of those ancient machines, then zooming back in to the fleet for a closer look.

Chris White and his wife, Kate, have run a successful small design business in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, since 1983.

Cockpit forward

Over the years White, now 65, has developed his own concepts, working more with catamaran hullforms, as they are more marketable than trimarans. His unique design stamp is a cockpit forward of the pilothouse and aft of the mast, which affords superior views of the sails. Performance is a feature of White’s designs, so he walks the fine line between speed and safety—many production cruising catamarans are under-rigged to discourage capsize. His designs range from the Discovery 21 (6.4m) trimaran daysailer, built by Aquidneck Custom Composites  in Bristol, Rhode Island, to the beautiful Atlantic 72 (22m), from the same builder. All White’s designs, including the popular Atlantic series, are built in epoxy/fiberglass/carbon composites for strength, rigidity, and light weight.

Mastfoil Rig

Because of the weight of fully battened large-multihull mainsails, the difficulty handling them, and the risks associated with jibing, White offers the MastFoil rig—two-masts with roller-furling staysails set on self-tending booms.

A somewhat recent development is White’s MastFoil rig featuring two rotating wing spars, each with staysails sheeted to booms to make the sail plan completely self-tending. Noting the inherent shortcomings of mainsails—inefficiency, risks associated with jibing, and time needed to douse in the event of a sudden squall—White asks: “Why not just get rid of the mainsail?” Conventional sloop rigs are, of course, also available and perhaps preferred by most customers, but the MastFoil offers an alternative for those daring to try something different, if not entirely new to the world of sail. White says he has noticed so many big boats in the West Indies setting just headsails, because the big, heavy mainsails are too much work to raise and douse. Rigged with what are in essence two jibs on electric furlers, one can be sailing moments after casting off a mooring. Light-air sails—spinnakers and screechers—are options.

Chile connection

Most of White’s recent builds, plus the spars, have been built at Alwoplast Marine in Chile. The patented MastFoils are carbon tubes inside a non-loadbearing ¼ “ /6mm-wall-thickness foam/carbon airfoil, supported by bushings. In the absence of an autoclave, the carbon spars are made with wet laminate. Hull construction is foam core/epoxy/glass with some carbon in high-stress areas. “They make everything there,” White says. Alwoplast has built eight Atlantic 57s during the seven years they’ve collaborated, this after an earlier builder in South Africa “imploded.” (Read Nigel Calder’s update on South Africa’s catamaran builders ).White says Alwoplast had enough jobs in the pipeline when the 2008 recession hit to get them through to 2010 and beyond.

Custom designs, lots of amenities

When we spoke last spring, White was heading to Bequia, a Grenadine island, with a customer on a 72 ‘ (22m) catamaran. The boat weighed 33,000 lbs (14,949 kg) when launched light and now weighs around 43,000 lbs (19,479 kg) fully loaded, which includes all the amenities designers are accustomed to adding during the build and fit-out—plus an ice cream maker. Yet, the skipper says, even with a fairly conservative rig, the boat routinely sails at 18 kts.

With its considerable beam, the Atlantic 47’s (14.3m) accommodation plan incorporates three doubleberth staterooms, a spacious saloon, and an inside steering station alternative to the outside helm in the forward cockpit.

Working with a standard basic structure of amas, bridge, and pilothouse, each White design is custom. He works closely with the builder and owner, charging a percentage of the build cost. Owners of custom yachts are willing to pay to get what they want, and White’s customers get a handsome multihull yacht with sparkling performance. White is firm in his beliefs, and while he, like all designers, must bend to some customer demands, there are aesthetic and performance lines he won’t cross; if he did, the results wouldn’t showcase those beliefs.

Chris White Designs, 5 Smith’s Way, South Dartmouth, MA 02748 USA, tel. 508–287–6233,

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Chris White Designs “Cerulean” Atlantic 57

Cerulean - Chris White Atlantic 57 Sailing Catamaran #3

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Chris White Atlantic 47, MastFoil

Discussion in ' Multihulls ' started by bearflag , Nov 21, 2011 .

bearflag Inventor/Fabricator

The Chris White Designs MastFoil™ (patent pending) is a unique combination of modern rigid airfoil technology with proven soft sails. The basic concept is not new and you can see examples of large rigid wings and soft sails in the current America's Cup catamarans. However the MastFoil has some critical differences. The main difference is that the MastFoil is a small part of the overall sail plan and can rotate 360 degrees around the load bearing mast which allows it to be feathered on any point of sail and in any wind velocity. Left alone, the foil will continuously feather if the control is set in that mode. Without this critical ability to feather on any heading, a rigid airfoil would typically not be suitable for use on a cruising boat. Another important difference is that the foil does not carry any of the mast compression loads. This enables the foil to be lightweight, structurally simple and rotate easily around the mast. Why eliminate the mainsail? Most sailors agree that the mainsail, particularly the large roached, full battened mainsail combined with the aft-led-shroud, no-backstay-configuration that is used in most catamarans today, is by far the most troublesome sail to hoist, reef/unreef, furl and cover. In addition, mainsails create significant safety liabilities because they cannot be easily or quickly reefed or furled when sailing downwind. In violent squalls this feature has caused more than a few capsizes. The conventional catamaran mainsail can also be somewhat risky to gybe in a blow. For all the trouble associated with the mainsail, what do you get? Per unit of sail area, the mainsail is the least efficient sail on the boat. Sailing upwind, the mast - at the aerodynamically critical leading edge of the mainsail - robs a great deal of its power. Sailing downwind, the shrouds prevent easing the sheet enough to unstall the sail. Also the large roach area of the sail contributes to significant weather helm which slows the boat and can make steering more difficult. At the other extreme in sail handling is the modern roller furling jib. You don't need to hoist and drop the sail every time you use it. It reefs easily on any point of sail. It furls completely in seconds. Couple these attributes with a rugged self tacking set up and there is not an easier to handle or more efficient soft sail. In the quest for simplified handling and improved safety, let's just do the obvious. Get rid of the mainsail. And in its place substitute more jib area combined with a super efficient MastFoil™. ...​  

CatBuilder Previous Member

What the?!? I can see the self tacking, double head sails, but does that foil actually do anything? It looks so small. I wonder what lift it provides compared to the headsails. Do you think that Atlantic 57 capsize a while back has him thinking this way - to lower the center of effort by using double headsails rather than a big main?  

Doug Lord Flight Ready

It appears to be a very high aspect ratio two element wing sail. Can't tell if it has a slot or not.... Not much info. Somebody posted about this here or on Boat Design not too long ago and no better info showed up I don't think.... It's also on SA-haven't checked that thread today again.  

More discussion over here MastFoil, opinions? (BoatDesign) (fixed) And on Sailing Anarchy Sailing Anarchy (fixed)  

bearflag said: ↑ MastFoil, opinions? (BoatDesign) And on Sailing Anarchy Sailing Anarchy Click to expand...

Doug Lord said: ↑ ================= BF-both links seem to be non-functional-would you double check them.. Click to expand...

Thanks CB- MastFoil, opinions? (BoatDesign) And on Sailing Anarchy Sailing Anarchy  

catsketcher Senior Member

Mainsails are efficient I don't get where Bearflag gets his data that mains are inefficient. The most efficient boats in the world are either ice boats, C class or AC 45 cats or similar. They have no or only small jibs. In the classes where only total sail area is measured - like 16ft skiffs and NS 14s they have big mains and small jibs. 16s don't even have rotating masts. I don't mind the idea of a cruising cat with a large jib for downwind work but the loads involved in winching large genoas in and out going to windward is much higher than a small blade and a main with a traveller, vang - or wishbone. The main aint dead yet and as it is more efficient than the jib upwind - especially if you don't go the ketch design as in the first post - it will be around for some time to stay.  

Sorry Bearflag I am gobsmacked - I really like Chris White's book and some of his designs but I find that Bearflags post is straight from White's site. I can't believe a good designer could write such silly stuff - "the roach contributes to weather helm". Cmon Chris - the roach actually reduces tip drag and makes the sail more efficient and often reduces side loading due to an increase in lift to drag - See Dashews book on a few retrofits. Any reasonable designer will calculate the total sail area including roach in their design and then incorporate this into the balance calcs. To attribute weather helm to roach only is certainly not standard yacht design practise - think of the many boats with lots of roach that sail very sweetly - Farriers etc. I can also tell you of many monos with little roach that have terrible weather helm. I know I have designed only one sailing cat and he has designed heaps but still he is putting stuff up on his site that isn't up to intellectual scrutiny.  

I copy and pasted it from Chris White's site. The "relative" inefficiency of a non rotating non wing mastedmain sail without a headsail is fairly well known. Of course there are several caveats there. Of course what efficiency means itself is a mixed bag.  

catsketcher said: ↑ I am gobsmacked - I really like Chris White's book and some of his designs but I find that Bearflags post is straight from White's site. I can't believe a good designer could write such silly stuff - "the roach contributes to weather helm". Cmon Chris - the roach actually reduces tip drag and makes the sail more efficient and often reduces side loading due to an increase in lift to drag - See Dashews book on a few retrofits. Any reasonable designer will calculate the total sail area including roach in their design and then incorporate this into the balance calcs. To attribute weather helm to roach only is certainly not standard yacht design practise - think of the many boats with lots of roach that sail very sweetly - Farriers etc. I can also tell you of many monos with little roach that have terrible weather helm. I know I have designed only one sailing cat and he has designed heaps but still he is putting stuff up on his site that isn't up to intellectual scrutiny. Click to expand...

brian eiland Senior Member

Mainless Rigs The Chris White Designs MastFoil™ said: Why eliminate the mainsail? Most sailors agree that the mainsail, particularly the large roached, full battened mainsail combined with the aft-led-shroud, no-backstay-configuration that is used in most catamarans today, is by far the most troublesome sail to hoist, reef/unreef, furl and cover. In addition, mainsails create significant safety liabilities because they cannot be easily or quickly reefed or furled when sailing downwind. In violent squalls this feature has caused more than a few capsizes. The conventional catamaran mainsail can also be somewhat risky to gybe in a blow. For all the trouble associated with the mainsail, what do you get? Per unit of sail area, the mainsail is the least efficient sail on the boat. Sailing upwind, the mast - at the aerodynamically critical leading edge of the mainsail - robs a great deal of its power. Sailing downwind, the shrouds prevent easing the sheet enough to unstall the sail. At the other extreme in sail handling is the modern roller furling jib. You don't need to hoist and drop the sail every time you use it. It reefs easily on any point of sail. It furls completely in seconds. Couple these attributes with a rugged self tacking set up and there is not an easier to handle or more efficient soft sail. In the quest for simplified handling and improved safety, let's just do the obvious. Get rid of the mainsail. And in its place substitute more jib area combined with a super efficient MastFoil™. Click to expand...

Agree with CatBuilder on this one; however, that isn't to say this plan isn't without merit, if you read his page he says it is for safe handling cruisers and singlehanded sailing. I cross posted it on Brian Eiland's aft-mast page even though it is a "ketch" because it seemed to borrow a few of the things he has been addressing in his thread.  

pool Junior Member

keep it simple ! that looks all pretty complex to me, the twin masts on a 47' cat as well as the standing rigging on the aft mast all you need is an A-frame mast with a boomless rollerfurling main and full vertical battens, and you have an efficient, safe and simple rig layout for a small crew on a big boat.  

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Ketch Rig CatBuilder said: ↑ Agreed. I still think this has something to do with Anna, that Atlantic 57 that capsized. It pretty much capsized due to insufficient reefing of the main and an inability to get to the sheet to let it lose in time. It had all that nice roach way up top, which contributed in those conditions. I seriously think he is a little gun shy in his designs now because of it. Look at how low the COE of those sails are in the picture. A gale would hardly put a dent in reserve righting moment. Click to expand...

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Introducing the Christopher Farr Cloth x Véronique de Soultrait Collaboration: A Fusion of Artistic Embroidery and Timeless Design

The collaboration: where fabric meets art, styled by virginia white: a vision of timeless elegance to bring this collection to life, a collection for the discerning eye.

Crash of a Tupolev TU-104B in Omsk

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Owners, Press, Racing

I’m frequently in contact with owners of my boats, many of whom are now valued friends. Sometimes they seek advice, other times they tell me about their sailing experiences. Their comments are often valuable and gratifying. I occasionally get ideas for design modifications from them, and what sailor (especially a landbound one) doesn’t enjoy a good sailing story?

Chris White Designs has been in operation since 1983, and there’ve been many articles written about my designs in the yachting press. Here are a few of them. Thanks to all publications for reprint permission.

Yacht racing is not my thing. With very few exceptions the boats I design are intended to cruise, not race. These days, a competitive race boat is by definition, fragile, over canvassed, and under equipped for cruising. Typically it also has a very short life span due to excessively light construction scantlings.

That said, I enjoy boats that sail well, and most of my designs move along smartly, even when loaded for cruising. Occasional racing is a great way to sharpen your sailing skills and really find out how your boat does compared to others.

Over the years owners of my designs have had some noteworthy results, a few of which are posted here.

Sail Magazine November 2013: Sail's Best Boats 2014: Atlantic 47

SAIL Magazine. May, 2013, Different Strokes, A profile of Chris White

Cruising World Magazine, June 2012, Patagonian Shakedown

Latitudes and Attitudes, February 2010, A57 Espiritu Santi

Cruising World Magazine, September 2007 Atlantic 57: A Balancing Act on Two Hulls, by Tom Linskey

• First cruise of the rebuilt Atlantic 57 LEOPARD
• 2017 Summer Update
• On the Water Reports
• Race Results
• Capsize of Anna
• Chris’ Comments
• Leopard Capsize