Haruki 2-year review
Join Douglas Jackson, owner of the Stealth “Haruki”, as he tells us about the last two years sailing a Stealth Performance Catamaran.
The past two and a bit years since launching Haruki have been wild.
We’ve managed to spend around 12 months total living on board, basing Haruki in Phuket and flying in for 2–3 months at a time.
The experiences Haruki has given us and the people we’ve met by being a part of the Stealth and Phuket racing/sailing community have been genuinely life-altering. The cruising and racing here, and the ability to share that with family and friends, have just been too good to ever consider taking her back to Australia.
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HIGHLIGHTS
It’s impossible to narrow down all we’ve done to just a few highlights, but here are three that stand out:
North Sumatran surf adventure
In mid 2025, we spent 2 months cruising remote Sumatra in search of surf. It’s a trip I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid, exploring unnamed breaks, jumping straight off the boat and surfing perfect reefbreaks with no one else around.
The reality lived up to every expectation. The Banyaks are only a few hundred nautical miles from Phuket, but it feels like a world away. It’s paradise, but there’s no one there.
That said, you suddenly have a lot of friends when you have a boat parked up in Indonesia, and we had a revolving door of visitors on board to share the experience. It was made even better by WOW joining us (the only buddy boat that can keep up is another Stealth).
It also proved the first real test of Haruki in some truly nasty conditions, and showed just how solidly she’s built. From taking an absolute beating when we mistimed the infamous Aroih Cut with 30 knots of wind against 7 knots mid-tide Springs ebb, to over 40 sail changes on an overnight passage as the Sumatrans rolled through one after the other, changing from 4 to 40 knots within minutes, then back again.
A once-in-a-lifetime trip we’re planning on repeating many more times.
Winning the 2025 Bay Regatta
The Bay Regatta is one of those magic events that perfectly combines good racing with a great social atmosphere, making for a damn good time on and off the water. In 2025, the stars aligned.
The boat felt slippery, the crew were on, and we managed to take home the trophy against a tough fleet. Every regatta is a good regatta, but that one was special.
New Year’s Eve at Nai Harn
We’ve found the best New Year’s Eves tend to be spontaneous, and this one was no exception. We had no plans, but a few other Stealths (WOW, Boreas and Twister) were heading to Nai Harn, so we decided to join them. Cue a multi-course boat crawl set to beach fireworks and lanterns floating overhead (and sometimes not-so-overhead). Good people and a great vibe. That one will stick in our memories for a long time.
HARUKI
It’s tough to narrow down what we appreciate most about Haruki, because we genuinely love everything. And we can’t thank Roger, Zam, Peter and the Asia Cats boys enough for all they continue to do, long after launch.
That said, here are three things we’ve really come to appreciate:
We sail almost everywhere
Haruki is a joy to sail, a demon on the race track, and it still amazes us how effortlessly she eats up the miles. We’ve met cruisers in Sumatra and Thailand who are burning bulk fuel in the predominantly light winds. They’re stressing out, whereas we rarely ever fill up. If it’s 3+ knots, engines are up. And with the Zero, we’re doing windspeed or above.
It’s really comfortable
People expect such a quick boat to be a stripped-down minimalist day cruiser, but they’re always surprised at how livable it is when they get onboard. A spacious, well-thought-out layout, a full-sized galley, two heads with electric loos and separate showers. The ventilation is amazing. Starlink, a watermaker and a washing machine. What else do you need?
Outboards over diesels
I’ve always been attracted to the idea of outboards, but the longer we use them, the more I’m sure I wouldn’t want anything else. The plug system works amazingly well. They’re powerful and almost never cavitate, even in big seas. Servicing them is simple, and they’re super reliable.
One passage during the wet season with no wind, we had to motor, and must’ve lifted them at least 10 times to clear nets, bags, tarps, ropes and other rubbish. That would’ve been a real problem if we’d had saildrives. And while everyone we met in Indonesia was hauling months’ worth of diesel in jerry cans, we found it easy to fill our tanks as needed from almost any pump (with a little stabiliser).
The only problem with Haruki is that when we get the cruiser’s tour of someone’s ‘luxury’ cat, we have to fake enthusiasm. Yeah, your HH is nice, but offer me any boat in the world? I’d still stick with our Stealth, thanks.
Asia Catamarans would like to thank Doug for this two-year review and for the great pictures and video on our YouTube Channel.
There are more video of Haruki and their adventures on the Haruki Video Channel.
