1. General
First of all, I am a coastal cruiser (or at least I pretend to be). No racing, no (extensive) offshore/ocean stuff. The Gemini was not built for blue water sailing. This last sentence was my comment, I received the following from Performance Cruising, Inc.:

Mr Henry,
We would like to congratulate you on your web page, you have done a good gob. One small point you should know about is that the Gemini 105M is CE certified for ocean use. She is NOT just a coastal cruiser. If you don't know what CE certification is, it is a standard to which all things sold into europe must be built. For boats there are four categories; Ocean being the toughest, Off shore, coastal and inland cruising. This certification is based on a series of formulas for stability and quality and takes about three months to get. In fact Gemini is the only catamaran that is not built in europe that meets these standards.
PCI

My apologies to PCI if I misrepresented anything here. I am content to piddle around the "right"-coast with occaisonal jaunts out in the ocean. My home is in North Carolina which has an abundance of large sounds and rivers. This leads to several Gemini "pluses":

2. Shallow Draft
The sounds and rivers in eastern North Carolina are very shallow. The deepest "hole" in the pamlico sound is only 25 feet deep. The majority of the remaining area averages 8 to 12 feet, with a large part at 6 feet or less. The Gemini is the perfect boat for this kind of water. With the centerboards, motor, and rudders up, it draws only 18 inches. Even with the rudders in the up position, they are still steerable due to a clever pivoting system. Lowering the motor increases the draft to 20 inches, and rudders down to 30 inches. With the centerboards fully extended, the draft increases to 5 feet for admirable windward performance for a catamaran. I am regularly anchored in only 3 or 4 feet of water. With 150' of rode available, this makes for some significant peace of mind.

3. Narrow Beam A-typical of most cruisers, I like to marina-hop. The 14 foot beam of the Gemini allows me to get into smaller slips than the 20 foot wide "beasts", and save on marina fees.

4. Simplicity
O.K., this is definitely no F.P. or Atlantic. But.... EVERYTHING is accessable fairly easily. Each of the five large tanks can be removed without cutting any fiberglass. Access panels, while not the most beautiful things in the world, are in all the places that are necessary. Everything is (dare I say) "utilitarian". I have heard the Gemini's called the Volkswagon of catamarans. I think this is true in the sense that everything can be worked on easily and/or replaced without much hassle. To learn more about Volkswagon projects, click here (it's my brother's page!)

5. Engine/Drive I like the fact that the engine is in the cockpit, above the waterline. The noise and vibration are kept outside the boat. Access is via cockpit seats, allowing great workroom. The drive leg, while not the most bulletproof item on the boat (I've heard yoke, drain plugs, gaiter, and bushing stories), is handy in that it can be raised completely out of the water for sailing. The rudders are turned in a push-pull fashion with cables, each independently as the wheel is turned. In addition, the rudders pull from either side on the drive leg, allowing it to steer also. This gives incredible manouverability with all three things trying to turn the boat!