Phillip Berman is the president of Balance Catamarans and The Multihull Company and a lifetime catamaran sailor and racer. He grew up racing Hobie Cats in California in the late 1960’s and published his first book on catamaran racing at the age of seventeen. He was the Hobie Cat World Champion from 1979 to 1981 and won numerous international and national catamaran competitions in the 70’s and 80’s. He went on to write many more books on the subject including the best-selling catamaran training manual of all time, CATAMARAN SAILING FROM START TO FINISH. He has been a regular contributor of articles over the years to Sail Magazine, Cruising World, and a wide range of yachting publications around the world.
Anton has over thirty years of practical sailing and racing experience in various locations around the world. He grew up on boats, spending thirteen years cruising around the world with his family in their Sparkman Stephens Tartan 46 ft. sloop. As such, he has a very practical, hands on level of understanding of what it means to live on a boat and sail seriously in all sorts of winds and conditions. On returning to South Africa in 1990 he worked closely with prominent South African yacht designer Angelo Lavranos & Associates and at world-class yacht building facility Southern Wind Shipyard. He has designed numerous catamarans, both power and sail, and overseen some of South Africa’s largest catamaran build projects. In 2013 he formed a partnership with Phillip Berman and Balance Catamarans to design a range of new performance sailing catamarans.
Balance Catamarans are proudly built in South Africa at Nexus Yachts in St. Francis Bay and Balance Catamarans Cape Town.
NEXUS YACHTS and BALANCE CATAMARANS formed an exclusive partnership together in 2012 to build and market together high performance voyaging catamarans factory direct to the consumer after Phil Berman saw their first catamaran, the Nexus 60, at the Annapolis Boat Show in 2010 and came away deeply impressed with both the build quality and design philosophy. Over the ensuing months and Phil’s visit to the factory to meet the team the two companies joined forces. Nexus Yachts now builds the Balance 526, 580 and 620 Catamarans.
Balance Catamarans Cape Town started in 2019 after Berman and Du Toit designed and built a custom day charter catamaran with veteran boat builder Mark Delany for clients in the Caribbean. Mark completed the build of the vessel in 10 months, and being so impressed with the quality of craftsmanship and professionalism throughout the build, Berman and Delany began Balance Catamarans Cape town and formed a partnership to build the Balance 442, 482, 680, and 760 Flybridge and 762 XP along with all custom crafted Balance Catamarans up to 82 feet, including commercial passenger cats and expeditionary power catamarans. The two companies employ over 300 people and draw from the deep pool of yacht crafting talent for which South Africa is so esteemed.
To say that Jonathan Paarman grew up with salt water in his ears and resin on his hands would be an understatement. Starting in 2000 Jonathan ran the factory floor for Voyage Yachts. These seven years were enormously fruitful in that Jonathan enjoyed working closely with some of the early Gunboat builders, as well as with Uwe Jasperson and Kay Oldenburg. He then enjoyed the experience of working with designers Alexander Simonis and Anthony Key. After 7 years running the composite side of Voyage Yachts Jonathan left to form Nexus Yachts. Jonathan is also a legendary professional surfer.
Like his older brothers, Roger was born into a family with very strong ties to the sea, and he is also a keen and successful surfer. He has a long relationship with the composites industry, having started by working for a surfboard manufacturer, followed by the manufacture of surfboard and sailboard fins, as well as being involved in a canvas blind manufacturing company. Roger has valuable experience in the running of production facilities, and he takes over the administration and management of the business.
Mark Delany is the Managing Director of Balance Catamarans Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. Mark was born into the South African Boat Building business when his father founded his facilities in 1989 from humble beginnings as an extension to a fuel service station, and growing into one of South Africa’s leading custom boat and manufacturing yards.
Meet Balance Catamarans Founder and President Phillip Berman and get to know more about the story of Balance Catamarans and how the brand came to fruition.
Balance Catamarans Founder and President Phillip Berman took some time during his isolation period to send a special message to our Balance Catamarans family.
Balance Team Members Phil Berman and Roger Paarman discuss the Balance Catamarans Learnership Program.
Balance Catamarans President Phil Berman speaks with Lindani Mchunu of Sabbex about the South African Boating Industry.
Balance Catamarans President Phillip Berman takes you on the ground to our new factories currently being built in St. Francis.
Balance Team Members Phillip Berman and Jonathan Paarman discuss what sets Balance apart during our build process.
Phillip Berman is the president of Balance Catamarans and The Multihull Company and a lifetime catamaran sailor and racer. He grew up racing Hobie Cats in California in the late 1960’s and published his first book on catamaran racing at the age of seventeen. He was the Hobie Cat World Champion from 1979 to 1981 and won numerous international and national catamaran competitions in the 70’s and 80’s. He went on to write many more books on the subject including the best-selling catamaran training manual of all time, CATAMARAN SAILING FROM START TO FINISH. He has been a regular contributor of articles over the years to Sail Magazine, Cruising World, and a wide range of yachting publications around the world.
Andrew grew up sailing his father’s Hobie Cat and transitioned that into a long career as a USCG licensed captain in the yachting industry. Working his way up from his college years as a sailing instructor to a position as a private yacht captain aboard a Gunboat 57, he brings with him a comprehensive knowledge of catamarans and the cruising life. His career has taken him on a wide variety of multihulls from his home waters of Cape Fear, through the waters of the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Central and South America, and the South Pacific Islands. He now works as the Technical Director for Balance Catamarans and is eager to share these amazing boats with potential buyers.
Alexis grew up racing dinghies in the waters of Brittany, France. He immigrated to the United States as a young man and developed his interest in offshore cruising and racing in New England and the Bahamas. Alexis began his professional yachting career as a charter captain sailing the storied seas of French Polynesia on a Fountaine-Pajot Marquises 56 catamaran. There he developed a talent for sharing and communicating his love for bluewater sailing to his worldly guests. Alexis is bilingual English-French. He was educated in the United States and has worked in the US, Europe and the Caribbean. He has sailed extensively on multihulls and particularly enjoys performance cats which made Alexis a natural fit as the European Sales Director for Balance Catamarans.
Andrew Holland is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Balance Catamarans and is an avid catamaran enthusiast. Andrew has worked with Balance Catamarans since its formation after graduating from Temple University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Marketing. Before joining Balance Catamarans Andrew worked for The Multihull Company as well as Philadelphia Media Holdings on the Philly.com production team and freelanced for several major magazines around the country.
After joining the The Multihull Company team in 2007 as the Web and Marketing Manger, Andrew began working closely with TMC and Balance Catamarans President and catamaran expert, Phillip Berman, where he quickly learned the many facets of the catamaran industry and soon took over the role of Sales Manager at TMC and Balance Catamarans.