PERFECTLY BALANCED

The Balance Catamarans fleet hits stride at the Caribbean Multihull Challenge in Saint-Martin.

- HERB MCCORMICK

ONE BY ONE, THE FLEET of a dozen multihulls-11 catamarans and a sole French their anchors and hoisted their mainsails, each with a deep reef in the main. In the anchorage off Anse Marcel on the French side of the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin, in the lee of the isle, the waters were calm and serene. Outside in the nearby Anguilla Channel, however, the easterly trade winds were pumping, and it was a sporty scene indeed, with the roiled seaway flecked with whitecaps. ¶ It was the second day of the fifth-annual running of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge in early February. For the first time, the event was also hosting a rally in conjunction with the usual regatta for racing cats and tris. While the race committee was setting racecourses back in Simpson Bay on the island's Dutch side, the cruisers were setting sail for an anchorage on the far side of Anguilla, where an evening of music, dancing and merriment awaited. ¶ As anyone who has been to one of the major boat shows in the past decade knows, the multihull segment of the sailboat sector is far and away