Fastback 43 Sail Catamarans For Sale

The Fastback 43 is a 1990s Australian catamaran design by John Gross that was developed with an emphasis on combining performance characteristics with onboard comfort. The design intent, as reflected in owner experience, prioritizes speed while keeping systems accessible and straightforward to operate, a factor cited repeatedly by owners who favor spending time under sail rather than performing complex maintenance.

Practical cruising experience with this model is documented through a prolonged ownership of a hull named Follow Me, which served as a liveaboard and passage-making platform for eight years. During that period the vessel completed extensive voyaging across the Eastern and Western Caribbean, the eastern seaboard of the United States from Maine to the Dry Tortugas, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Bahamas, demonstrating the type’s capability in a wide range of coastal and offshore conditions.

Systems aboard the referenced Fastback 43 have been kept intentionally simple and renewable-energy oriented. Typical electrical loads are met with solar panels feeding two Victron charge controllers and a four-battery lead-acid “golf cart” house bank, an arrangement that supports sustained cruising without large, complex shore-dependent infrastructure. The owner also reports ongoing maintenance, upgrades and improvements carried out while underway following a more comprehensive refit completed in 2016–2017.

Accommodation layout as reported includes two queen-size cabins and one full-size cabin, complemented by two heads and a galley arranged down with appreciable countertop workspace. A prominent foredeck provides usable deck space for socializing and anchorage-side activities. These features collectively reflect the Fastback 43’s orientation toward comfortable liveaboard cruising while retaining the performance attributes associated with its designer’s intent.