Kinetic KC54

Stunning luxury bluewater performance catamaran, incredibly well-equipped, from Simonis Voogd Yacht Design, built by Kinetic Catamarans in Knysna, South Africa. Continually upgraded and presented in turnkey condition, ready for sale.

FURTHER BROKER’S COMMENTS:

HAPPY TOGETHER is a superb example of the Kinetic 54 series, Hull No. 3, built in 2023. Presented in exceptional condition throughout, with top-tier specification and carbon composite construction offering blistering Bluewater cruising performance, paired with a stunning and versatile 3-cabin 3-bathrooms interior layout and a complete liveaboard cruising inventory.

A rare opportunity to own a true offshore performance catamaran, designed by the legendary Simonis Voogd Yacht Design and built to exacting standards by Kinetic Catamarans in Knysna, South Africa, one of the most respected yards in the business for building serious, go-anywhere multihulls. This yacht combines exceptional build quality with a comprehensive specification, best-in-class choices, making her one of the most complete and capable performance cats on the market today.

HAPPY TOGETHER has been with one owner since new and has recently benefited from a comprehensive 300,000 Euros-plus program of refit, upgrades, and maintenance following her relocation from the Pacific. She is presented in true turnkey condition; simply step aboard and go. Whether you're planning serious offshore passages or effortless coastal cruising, this is a yacht built to deliver speed, comfort, and confidence in equal measure.

HAPPY TOGETHER’s specification highlights include:
• 3-cabins Owners Hull layout finished in wood joinery, with 3 double cabins with three bathrooms, plus a spacious forward toy locker area in the port hull
• Twin Yanmar 4JH80 80hp diesel engines with Saildrive gearboxes and 3-bladed folding propellers
• 3x Helm Setup
• 2x autopilots
• B&G instrument package with chart plotter displays
• B&G forward-facing sonar
• Digital radar scanner
• AIS transceiver
• Dockmate Joystick docking
• Teak deck in the cockpit
• Bauer Junior Dive compressor
• Watermaker
• Retractable bowthruster
• Lithium service batteries with charge controller
• Mastervolt energy battery charger and inverter
• High-output 24vDC engine alternators on each engine
• Diesel Generator 6kW Fischer Panda - 2025
• Solar panels providing 2.6kW
• Underwater lights
• DC switching/monitoring system for lighting, services, tankage, bilge levels and batteries
• Grey and black water holding tanks
• 220VAC electric oven with integrated microwave - 2025
• Fridges and freezers
• Washing Machine
• Dryer Machine
• Wine refrigerator
• Icemaker - 2026
• Microwave
• Outdoor electric grill
• Carbon Electric heads with fresh water flush
• 70,000 BTU reverse-cycle 5-units Air-conditioning system cooling/heating
• Fusion Bluetooth stereo system
• Cream/light grey upholstery throughout
• Broadband Satellite communications System KVH V30
• Starlink Performance Ocean Cruising and Anchorage satellite internet
• Carbon fibre tender davits with Custom fibre 3.5m console tender and 20hp outboard - 2025
• Carbon fibre folding passerelle
• Drop down Swimming Platform
• Comfortable headroom: Salon 2.1m / 6.9 ft - Hulls 2.04m / 6.7 ft

UK-flagged and available exclusive of EU taxes, making her an ideal option for international buyers, HAPPY TOGETHER is now offered for sale due to the fulfilment of her owner’s cruising plans and a wish to move on to new projects.

RECENT UPGRADE/MAINTENENCE HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS:

2026
• Yanmar-certified Complete Engine service (including fluids, belts, removed and test alternators, water pumps, antifreeze, valve adjustments) - March
• New antifouling - January
• Last Generator service - January
• Fuel tank cleaning - August / September
• New Vitrifrigo Icemaker replaced
• New mainsail
• New mandrel
• New pneumatic vang
• Painted boom
• Touch up paint throughout hulls and topsides
• Centerboard service
• Tender service
• Teak service
• New titanium chafe plates throughout
• Replaced all strops and rigging bits
• Replaced windlass motor and gearbox
• Prop speed applied

2025
• Hull Paint patchwork
• 12VDC 105Ah engine start batteries
• 12VDC generator start battery
• Fischer Panda 24V DC 6kVA generator
• 220VAC electric oven with integrated microwave
• Custom carbon fibre 3.5m tender with center console and Bimini top
• 20hp Honda outboard with electric start

OWNER’S COMMENTS:

We started our sailing journey in 2012 with a 49-foot monohull in the Caribbean, which we loved and sailed for three years. We then bought a Leopard 48 catamaran for the increased features of stability and liveability. We sailed this catamaran 30,000 miles from Florida to California and back twice through the Panama Canal. When we set out to cross the Pacific, we wanted to upgrade the boat, so we bought a Leopard 50 catamaran and upgraded it for offshore cruising. Unfortunately, COVID hit and derailed the plans. By then, we were at a point where we were ready to build our dream Cat. I would call it a super cat.

Our designer introduced us to the Kinetic yard in South Africa, which had a strong pedigree. That is where HAPPY TOGETHER was born. Our plan was to cross the Pacific at some point and then spend a season or two in the Mediterranean before moving on to our next adventure.

We took delivery in early 2023 and spent a year in the Caribbean learning the boat and sailing systems. In only 9 months, we realized the boat was ready and we were ready, so we planned to cross the Pacific in January of 2025. We left Grenada and spent the next year and a half achieving our objectives in the most remarkable way. We spent 2025 sailing to New Zealand and ended up there in November after visiting Panama, Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands, Tonga, Fiji, and North and South Island, New Zealand.

We had been waiting for this trip for 30 years and can't believe how well it was executed. It's all because of the boat. It is the most comfortable, luxurious cruising platform imaginable, and due to its lightweight construction, she is very fast. Carbon boats are different, and if you haven't sailed one, you can't imagine. There is no flex. In crossing the Pacific, you feel like you're in a tank because it's rock solid. Nothing scares us with this boat. She can handle anything.

The sailing systems are probably the most fun part of the boat. It is very high tech but also very easy to use. My wife and I sail as a couple, and we love the performance. We spend a lot of time on sail trim just to increase boat speed because it is fun.

After three months of touring in New Zealand, we loaded the boat on a ship and had it delivered to Palma de Mallorca. We spent the summer of 2026 cruising Spain, France, and Italy. This boat has fulfilled our dream of crossing the Pacific and sailing the Mediterranean. The U.S. East Coast and the Caribbean are our backyard, and we've been everywhere five times, so this world cruise was a dream fulfilled.


MANUFACTURER’S COMMENTS:

The KC54 sets the standard for performance cruisers. All carbon construction, generous and balanced sail plan, and meticulously crafted with a highly customizable interior. Delivered with high quality equipment, North 3Di sails, and a full sail away package. As a performance blue water cruising catamaran, the KC54 has no compromises when it comes to comfort and quality. The perfect balance allowing you to have it all.

SAILING PERFORMANCE:

• North Sails VPP polar data, Kinetic Cat 5403, created 2022-06-27
• Upwind: 8.3–10.7 kts boat speed at 10–16 kts TWS, TWA ~40-45°
• Downwind: 7.9–14.8 kts boat speed at 10–20 kts TWS, TWA ~140-147°

PRESS REVIEW:

An American company also building boats in South Africa, it launched its first model, a 62-footer, in 2019. The company’s latest offering, the slightly smaller Kinetic 54, designed to appeal to active sailing couples, is a highly attractive, thoughtfully designed craft that snagged a nod from SAIL as Best Large Multihull in our 2022 Best Boats compilation.

Design & Construction

As is de rigueur for boats of this type, the design and construction of the Kinetic 54 tips straight out of the world of go-fast racing. Its hulls are narrow and svelte, with sharply angled wave-piercing destroyer bows. The bridgedeck is set high to reduce resistance from passing seas and is cut back toward the middle of the boat, with only a light forward crossbeam and a central longeron carrying headstay loads. Construction is at the cutting edge of lightweight strength—all carbon everything, including interior furniture, cored with foam and vacuum-infused with epoxy resin. Even the toilets on this boat are built of carbon fiber.

That said, there are also some important variations on the theme. Where daggerboards are normally favored so as to maximize performance to windward, Kinetic offers centerboards, which are much less vulnerable in groundings (with daggerboards as an option if an owner prefers). Also, like many modern performance cats, the Kinetic 54 boasts a forward working cockpit just ahead of the cabinhouse, but has its carbon mast-mounted outside the cockpit aft, with the maststep set on the very forward end of the coachroof.

The heart of the boat systems-wise is a sophisticated 24-volt C-Zone distributed power system designed by Cay Electronics of Rhode Island. This automatically balances high loads and feeds juice to a bank of lithium batteries from a large coachroof solar array, a DC genset (which fires up on its own as needed) and high-output engine alternators. It includes online diagnostics that allow for detailed remote tech support.

On Deck

The Kinetic can be controlled from three different helm stations. The primary station is inside at the front of the bridgedeck saloon just behind the working cockpit. From here you can easily access the winches and running rigging by stepping through a nearby forward-facing door and also operate engine controls, navigation electronics and board controls. A large moon-roof directly above the wheel allows you to easily keep an eye on mainsail trim.

The other two wheels are aft, one at the back of each hull, with full sail controls and a B&G multifunction display at each station. The Jefa steering system linking the three different stations is segregated with clutches, so that only the wheel being used is actually connected to the rudders. When the autopilot is engaged, no wheels are connected. The break-default mode, which engages automatically when anything goes amiss, connects all wheels to the rudders. All sail controls, including the furlers, and the board controls are push-button powered systems, with load sensors to prevent over-tensioning and breakage.

Unlike many catamarans with aft decks dominated by long mainsheet travelers, the Kinetic’s traveler is mounted atop the back of the long coachroof, with a nicely curved track that carries sheet loads more efficiently. This saves lounging guests from accidentally tangling with the mainsail controls and creates a convenient space for an outdoor electric grill and fridge. It also allows for a unique fold-down transom that connects the back ends of the two hulls and transforms the rear of the boat into an immense swim platform spanning its entire breadth.

Accommodations

As we’ve come to expect with modern catamarans, the Kinetic is available with two basic layouts: a four-cabin/four-head plan with double berths in the back and front of each hull; or a three-cabin/three-head plan, where one hull is given over to a vast owner’s stateroom. The most important space, as on any cruising cat, is the bridgedeck saloon. On the Kinetic this truly does have wrap-around views of the outside world, thanks to the absence of the mast forward. The galley is to starboard, with an electric Miele induction stove and oven (gas is optional), a three-drawer Vitrifrigo fridge system, loads of storage and a very useful island. A dinette and settee are to port, and the nav station is forward, just to the right of the inside helm station.

Finish quality throughout is superb. Though the furniture is all foam-cored carbon to save weight, it is mostly covered with attractive wood veneers. The joinery includes hardwood inserts for fastener attachments and on the corners. The countertops are fine thin-milled ceramic porcelain. A range of treatments can be selected when you order the boat.

Under Sail

I sailed the boat on Chesapeake Bay off Annapolis in about 10 knots of true wind in sumptuous circumstances. There was a large party of prospective buyers and journalists aboard, and we were feted with wine and delicious hors d’oeuvres throughout our excursion. Despite these distractions, I did spend some time focused on the boat’s performance.

Our test boat was equipped with the standard North 3Di sails and rig. This features a fixed carbon Marstrom mast supported by fiber stays and an in-boom mainsail furler. A taller racing rig is also available, as is a rotating mast, which will broaden the range of wind angles at which the in-boom main can be deployed and retrieved. For Luddites who like to actually handle their sails, a conventional main can be specified if desired. However, I suspect the builder will discourage this. The Kinetic is designed to be a push-button boat.

In spite of the very moderate breeze, at no point during our sail did we experience single-digit speeds. We ranged easily up to a 40-degree apparent wind angle under a full main and a solent jib, accelerating the apparent wind to 20 knots apparent and the boat up to 14 knots over the ground. Bearing away with an A-sail flying at angles varying from 85 to 125 degrees we moved along nicely at 12 knots. Sailing a deep broad reach, we still managed to maintain 10 knots.

Steering the boat I found a bit more friction in the system than I expected, but this was not intrusive. As with any cat, it took me a little while to get the feel of the boat. But once tuned in, I found the helm was quite responsive, and I had little trouble finding a groove and staying in it.

As for close-quarters maneuvering, this is handled by a Dockmate remote joystick system that can put the boat most anywhere you want controlling the engines alone. For even more agility, a drop-down bow thruster can be specified.

Conclusion

At a price point this high, you expect to get a superb vessel, and the Kinetic 54 certainly delivers! It is as well thought out as any luxury performance cat on the market and has several unique features that should make it attractive to buyers looking for boats of this type.

Sail Magazine