Balance 526

BoatsBalance 526

See her sail

The Balance 526, on the water

The fleet's own footage — the truest look at how she really moves.

Is it for you?

Character

Where this design lands on the numbers a shopper trusts — read straight from her own ratios.

Shoal draftDraws 1.16 m, board up where she has one — creeks, sandbars and thin anchorages most keels have to stay out of.

LightHeavy

90 — light for her waterline, so she is easily driven and quick to accelerate.

Displacement / length 90

EasygoingPowered-up

30.3 — a lot of sail for her weight; powered-up and eager, a real performer.

Sail area / displacement 30.3

Draws more than ~78% of boats her size on file
Beamier than ~77% of boats her size on file

Compared with 224 boats of the same type within a quarter of her length.

What the fleet has seen

The Balance 526, as the fleet has seen it

Derived from the videos the fleet has analysed of this model. ▶ marks open the moment aboard.

The Balance 526 is a 16.0-meter fractional sloop catamaran with a rotating spar, designed by Phillip Berman and Anton Du Toit and built by Balance Catamarans since 2016.4:05 It features twin daggerboards and displaces 12,199 kg, with an all-carbon XP version displacing 10,600 kg. The Balance 526 is part of a competitive performance catamaran market, where builders like Balance Catamarans maintain distinct production strategies.watch

The living fleet

Sailed by the fleet

Where the fleet has filmed this boat.

Basemap © Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

The record

Full specifications

The complete reference set — tap any figure to switch between metric and imperial.

Dimensions

Weights

Rig & sail area

Rig

Frac. Sloop (Rotating Spar)

Ratios

SA / displacement

30.3

Displacement / length

89.6

Hull

Hull type

Catamaran Twin Dbrd.

Construction

E-glass/cabon

Production

Years built

First built 2016

Designer

Phillip Berman, Anton Du Toit

Builder

Balance Catamarans

Boats like this, on the water

More boats like her, on the water

Comparable boats the fleet has on camera: same type, within a quarter of her length. Open the boat, or watch the video — a timestamp means she only appears in passing.

Outremer 5215.73 mSame hull family0.3 m shorterA VPLP-designed performance catamaran featuring twin daggerboards and a high sail-area-to-displacement ratio for speed

Outremer 52 – Alone at the top0:14 from SEILmagasinet

Neel 5215.85 mSame hull family0.2 m shorterA high-performance trimaran from Marc Lombard featuring a massive 8.8-meter beam and a high sail-area-to-displacement ratio

SAILING ATYPIC AT THE PAVOIS IN LA ROCHELLE13:14 from VOILIER ODIN

Seawind 160015.74 mSame hull family0.3 m shorterA Reichel-Pugh designed performance catamaran featuring twin daggerboards and a high sail area-to-displacement ratio

Finding a secret 200ft waterfall in French Polynesia... (Episode 230)2:40 from Sailing Parlay Revival

Outremer 5115.65 mSame hull family0.4 m shorterA 15.65-metre performance catamaran built since 2013, featuring a fractional sloop rig and a 2.35-metre draft