Gemini Catamarans in September shifted its boat-building operations to the Catalina Yachts facility in Largo, Florida.
Since 2010, the company had been building its current model, the Gemini Legacy 35, in partnership with Hunter Marine, and then Marlow Hunter in Alachua, Florida.
Gemini Catamarans, now a part of the Catamaran Group, got its start in 1981 when Brits Tony and Sue Smith set up shop in Mayo, Maryland, where they built the Telstar trimaran and early Gemini models. Eventually, production was moved to a new yard, where Performance Cruising, Inc. continued to build multihulls, including the popular Gemini 105M.
By 2008 and 2009, faced with stricter environmental regulations and the affect of the global recession on boat sales, the company evolved to become Gemini Catamarans, joined the Catamaran Group and Tony’s daughter, Laura Smith Hershfeld, took over as president. The company’s present model, the Gemini Legacy 35, was launched in 2013, and to date, 44 have been built, bringing the total number of Geminis sold to 1,193.
In a release announcing the move of production to Catalina, Laura said, “The choice was easy as Catalina’s philosophy mirrors our own. The success of our Gemini has been the balance of tradition and innovation coupled with actively soliciting feedback from our owners and our dealers. She was designed to be what my father called ‘every man’s’ Gemini, and we strive to keep her as fast, fun and obtainable as she has been for the last three decades.”
