Last 526 Makes Way for New 540
It is so cliché to say, “time flies,” and yet this cliched old thing could not be truer.
Fourteen years have passed since we designed the first Balance 526 and we are now launching hull 36, our final model of the 526, to make way for the new Balance 540.
The Origin of the 526
The story of Balance Catamarans began with the 526 all those years ago when I felt compelled (yes, that is the right word) to create a boat design of my own. I’d been selling other people’s designs through my brokerage company, but my heart was calling me toward something more challenging and creative.
That’s when I reconnected with brothers Jonathan, Mark, and Roger Paarman in St. Francis and their passionate business partner – and avid fisherman – John Heinrick. All of them were a part of the early Hobie Cat and surfer, waterman scene along the South African coast. I’d met Jonathan Paarman in my early 20’s in 1979 at the Hobie Cat World Championships held in Plettenberg Bay. At the time, Jonny was a professional surfer and surfboard maker and arguably one of surfing’s greatest big wave pioneers as he was one of the first to risk surfing 30-foot-plus waves at Dungeons near Cape Town.
After we reconnected, we started working with Anton du Toit to design what we all hoped would become a groundbreaking new catamaran design. We had modest goals to start – sell three boats a year, we vowed, demonstrating perhaps a lack of faith or ambition but we were all taking a risk into uncharted waters and we wanted to get it right the first time.
John Heinrick invested heavily to build and expand the St. Francis factory and we self-funded the first boat although later she was sold out from under us before she even launched! Little did I realize that would be the last time in many years that I would have a chance to own one of the catamarans we created! (I finally owned a Balance myself in 2021 – the lovely 482 inBalance. John Heinrick also had to wait a decade before his very own Balance 602 was launched.)
The Early Years: Risk, Faith, and First Owners
Balance Catamarans’ very first customers came largely from the ranks of former customers of my brokerage who stepped up to order the first few 526s. It takes a lot of faith to purchase a new model design from unknown builders. I remain deeply grateful to those early customers for the trust they placed in all of us to deliver great catamarans.
And yes, those early catamarans had issues for us to resolve. But boat building is a team sport with plenty of blood, sweat, and tears to prove it. We worked together – including with the input of our customers – to create a world -class catamaran. Understanding and patient owners generously contributed ideas and worked hand in hand with our quality, high-integrity building partners.
These remain the fondest of my memories when I reflect on the launch of Balance Catamarans and the 526.
Growing Through Experience
But the time has now come to move even further forward with a new model to replace the iconic Balance 526. It was time to take every bit of learning and feedback we’d gathered over the past fourteen years from customers, partners, technologic advances and more and bake it all into an entirely new boat. Granted a new boat that still held tightly to the things sailors loved about the 526.
Introducing the Balance 540
We made the 540 longer and faster, increased her underwing clearance, expanded her salon, and designed a new rig and sail plan with a racier carbon fore beam and longeron. Perhaps most importantly, we widened her hulls to allow for more payload capacity and truly luxurious 3- or 4-cabin owner’s versions. We also updated her exterior and interior designs to create a truly stunning, contemporary elegant catamaran. And there is more but you will see for yourself soon enough.
The Culture Behind the Boats
As Balance has grown as a builder of performance catamarans, it’s often been challenging for me to know exactly what to do and when. We can’t always anticipate where problems will arise, and sometimes we’re slow to recognize them. But what has held us together as a company is that same glue that brought us together when I created Balance Catamarans – all of us genuinely care about building the best boats we can and supporting our customers as they embark on their blue-water adventures. Time may have indeed flown, but all our original partners are still working side by side to create the best performance catamarans on the water today.
Why? Because each day, Balance catamarans are exploring the world, and our goal is to be there for our customers always, as best we can. Just recently, our staff shipped new side ports to Tahiti to help a customer with a product we didn’t make. We’ve talked customers through daggerboard repairs after reef strikes. And more. So much more.
And we will continue to do this and more. But as one chapter ends, another starts. But before that chapter opens I want to take a moment to congratulate the latest Balance 526 owners – Clay and Aneka – and wish them all the joy in the world on their adventures. We’ve built so many Balance 526s, something my younger self would have had a hard time grasping. Or that Balance Catamarans would grow into the international company we are today. I took my master’s degree in the philosophy of religion, not business so everything I’ve learned to get us here, I did by doing – and failing and trying again – my partners there by my side.
A Legacy in Motion
People often talk about what they want their legacy to be, and honestly, it’s not something I dwell on. But it does bring me joy to think that long after I’m gone, someone will be sailing on a Balance, diving and snorkeling off a Balance, having enlightening and transformative experiences on a Balance. These boats are vehicles for personal and spiritual transcendence. How cool is that!
Thanks to each one of our customers for keeping faith with us. We may not always find it easy to stay in balance, but we’ll never stop trying.
