Earlier this week, speedonthewater.com reported that Swecat Racing—a team that competes on the Union Internationale Motonautique XCAT World Series circuit—has collaborated for the past sixth months with fellow Swedish company Mannerfelt Design Team to create a new canopied offshore racing catamaran called the Hypercat. Swecat also will offer an open-cockpit pleasure version of the carbon fiber vacuum-infused 31-footer, according to a press release issued this morning.

“Seating four people in a comfortable, yet safety-conscious way” provided a significant challenge for the design team, according to the release.

The first open-cockpit Hypercat set up for pleasure use reportedly has been ordered and will be delivered in early 2017.

“Unlike many high-performance catamarans built in other parts of the world, where high-speed boating is predominantly done in flat water, on lakes or rivers, we wanted to build a boat that will make driver, co-driver and passengers feel confident while utilizing the boat’s capability to cover long distances at unprecedented cruise speeds,” said Niklas Sjöö, the chief executive officer of Swecat Racing, in the release. “The obvious choice here is individual suspension seats, not fixed seats and a wide rear bench

“We have been looking at most available suspension seats on the market,” he added. “But eventually decided that none quite tick all the boxes for this extreme Hyperboat, and have designed bespoke seats in-house, taking advantage of all the cutting-edge knowledge of advanced materials in our project team.”

Like the raceboat, the pleasure version was designed around—though not exclusively for—twin 400-hp Mercury Racing Verado outboard engines. According to Sjöö, the first pleasure version of the 31-foot has been ordered and will be “built alongside” the first Hypercat raceboat for delivery to the buyer in early 2017.

Pricing with twin Mercury Racing Verado 400R outboards starts at $364,654 (U.S.).

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