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Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2009 © Dominion Enterprises (888.487.2953) www.passagemaker.com
 
Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2009 © Dominion Enterprises (888.487.2953) www.passagemaker.com
CAT
A RARE BREED OF
Leopard 37
Boasts Livability In A Seaworthy Package
rom kayak to megayacht, all boating is about connecting with nature and cementing the bonds of family and friendship through shared adventure. The Leopard 37 power catrelies on a rare formula to further that ideal. Designers of the 37 have createdextraordinarily livable outdoor spaces on a platform that can also cross oceans if need be.
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story by peter swansonphotography by billy black
F
 
Confirming this notion of livability could hardlybe easier, because Leopard’s South African builder,Robertson & Caine of Cape Town, is the exclusivesupplier of power cruisers to The Moorings charterfleet. The Moorings re-brands the Leopard 37 as theMoorings 372 PC (while offering the Leopard 47 asthe 474 PC).So, for the price of a vacation, you can test the veracity of what you read here by actually using the Moorings 372 PC in the waters for which it wasdesigned: the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands,the Sea of Cortez, and other warm-water cruising grounds around the world. “Try before you buy” issuch a sensible idea for any major purchase that manytrawler manufacturers and dealers have begun offering charters, but none can equal the worldwide scale of  The Moorings, which celebrates its 40
th
anniversary inbusiness this year.As far as ocean-crossing ability
—
and this is thetruly impressive part of the 37 story
—
every boat in The Moorings’ B.V.I. fleet has been driven from SouthAfrica to Tortola on its own bottom. The 6,634-nautical-mile voyage requires two stops for refueling:the first at the remote South Atlantic island of St.Helena and the second at Fortaleza in Brazil. Theentire trip takes more than 30 days.Now this is not to say that the Leopard 37 isdesigned for transatlantic passages. For these deliveries, The Moorings adds about 400 additional gallons of diesel in extra tankage and mans the boat with tough young South Africans like skipper Piet Schepers.Schepers reported having waves wash over him
on the   flybridge 
during his first delivery and then flew back toCape Town in time to hop on the next 37 to Tortola.Schepers is a good example of someone who suffersfrom a malady I call sea-state amnesia.Meeting the Moorings executive in charge of theseheroic deliveries puts the program in a somewhathumorous perspective. His name is Anthony Steward,and the brawny South African holds the distinction of being the only person in history to have circumnavigated
Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2009 © Dominion Enterprises (888.487.2953) www.passagemaker.comTop left: The helm on the Leopard 37/Moorings 372 is nicely designed. Note the liferaft beneath the dash. Above left: Engine roomaccess is through hatches in the cockpit. Aft of the engines, there’s space for storage or a genset. Above right: David Rohr, Mooringsproduct manager, demonstrates the 372’s push-button dinghy davit system.
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