A delivery captain's verdict after 1,000 miles: quick, composed, and refreshingly bespoke for a 50-foot cruising catamaran.
Standing on the dock in Annapolis, broker Brent Hermann hands the microphone to Captain Don, who has just wrapped a delivery of more than 1,000 miles aboard Chi, a 2016 Xquisite X5 owner’s version. What follows isn’t a sales pitch so much as a working skipper’s report card — and it’s a strong one.
The route down through the Great Lakes served up conditions Don says exceeded what most owners would encounter on an ocean crossing: thunderstorm after thunderstorm on Lake Michigan, 30-knot-plus gusts, and lumpy one-meter seas. The X5 handled it, he says, like a “calm kitten” with a single reef in the main.
Performance Without the Punishment
Speed numbers surprised him. Where many 50-foot cruising cats live in the 8-to-10-knot band, Chi averaged 10 to 12 knots on delivery and topped out at 13.9. More telling for a cruising buyer, upwind performance impressed him even without daggerboards — credit, he says, to the thin hull shape and the self-tacking jib sail plan. “The boat just ate the miles,” he says of one upwind leg.
Just as important is what the X5 doesn’t do. Unlike production cats he describes as worshiping “at the altar of speed,” this one carries enough stance and weight to stay planted. Crew can walk around belowdecks, gear stays put, and the motion in a seaway is what he calls “sedate” — the kind of composure that gives a shorthanded crew the confidence to keep going.
Bespoke, Not Cookie-Cutter
Both men return repeatedly to the word bespoke. The X5 was designed to be finished to an owner’s brief rather than rolled off a production line, and Don points to the evidence throughout: thoughtful storage, a well-executed layout, and safety details like solid handrails that many cats in this size range simply don’t offer. Hermann highlights the aft-galley arrangement, which trades a lower salon ceiling for more headroom where you actually work — and, he argues, a cleaner exterior profile.
Two-Handed and Dock-Friendly
The delivery was crewed by just two people, and Don describes the workload as manageable rather than taxing. Docking impressed him most: the X5 slides sideways into a slip with authority, and he was able to hold position accurately in 25-knot crosswinds while locking through — the kind of maneuvering that humbles a lot of boats.
Where the Market Sits
For context, X5s trade thinly. Two have sold in the last 24 months at a median of $943,500, taking a median of 339 days to move. One other X5 is currently listed at $890,000.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Recent solds (24 mo) | 2 |
| Median sold price | $943,500 |
| Median days to sell | ~339 |
| Active listings | 1 @ $890,000 |
Chi is a 2016 model, US duty paid, with modern electronics and equipment throughout — the kind of package Hermann argues is genuinely hard to replicate at the price. She’s lying in Annapolis, Maryland, and open for inspection.