La Gatta

A Lagoon sailing catamaran of twenty-three metres three, working the Balearics. The pairing is the point: a wide, shallow, stable platform on a coast of sandbanks and clear water, which is the combination those islands reward more than any other.

Her draught is shallow, and around Formentera that is not a convenience but the whole itinerary. The banks off that island are the reason people go, the water over them is the colour it is because it is thin, and a boat that draws little can anchor on top of them.

A monohull of the same length cannot do that. It sits deeper, anchors further out and swings in a larger circle, which means the beach is a longer swim and the water underneath is darker. The catamaran is not a compromise here; it is the correct instrument.

Eight guests across four cabins, two to a room, dividing evenly. Four couples fit as drawn, and so does a family travelling in pairs. There is no odd berth and no room that has to be handed to whoever objects least on the first afternoon.

Four crew for eight guests. It is the right scale for this size of boat: a skipper, and three more to sail her, cook and run the day, which on a catamaran of twenty-three metres means the guests genuinely have nothing to do.

The deck space is wide and flat, which is what a catamaran gives and a monohull cannot. There is no camber, no heel to brace against at anchor and no narrow side deck: the whole top of the boat is usable surface, and with eight aboard that matters.

The Balearics are a summer cruising ground of short passages and long stops. Ibiza and Formentera are an hour apart, Mallorca is a day, and a boat like this spends most of the week at anchor rather than under way, which is exactly the point of her.

Take her if the eight of you want the water more than the mileage. She is the smallest crewed yacht in this part of the fleet, and on those banks she will put you closer to the bottom you came to look at than anything larger.