Excess Campus 2025

Talk about events you don't plan to be at and never would have imagined yourself at... the Excess Campus easily lies on that list. Even a few days before the start we were discussing not showing up at all - but the pros simply far outweighed the cons.

As some of you may recall, we attended the International Multihull Boat Show on a bit of a whim, mostly to learn what all is out there (or coming) in the boating world and also to entertain, at some level, our far-fetched dreams of (if absolutely everything went precisely right) potentially buying and owning a new boat.

At the time, we could only imagine (even if everything did fall into place with the sale of svKarma and timing and money/financing and...) that boat being a Bali 4.2. The 4.2 is essentially a newer and slightly larger version of Karma—exactly what we've grown to know and love over the last six years of cruising/sailing.

Of course, as is typical, the universe often steers life in a different direction than you anticipate or can see coming. For us, spending time at the Excess booth at the show started a new potential branch off our path.

As we spent time at the booth talking with David (from Sail Tahiti) and with the rest of the Excess team, we couldn't help but notice ourselves being impressed. We were familiar with the Excess brand, but not necessarily with the themes and goals behind it (which they often refer to as "their DNA"—namely, to create a truly performance boat at a reasonable/obtainable price point (and one that's also fun enough under sail to woo lifelong monohull sailors to a catamaran).

and... of creating a "Tribe" of owners that not only can share ideas amongst each other but also share experiences/ideas back to the brand so that it can continually improve. To build a balanced boat that not only lives well and comfortably at anchor but also sails like a performance boat. Lofty goals for certain.

Over the last few years we've started to pay attention to and yearn for the performance, but throughout our time aboard (especially our first few years on a Bali catamaran, which at that point was a brand entirely focused on building boats for charter rather than liveaboard)... we were desperately seeking others for the type of community/tribe that Excess is trying to build now. We would have given almost anything for it.

Our friends aboard Leopards and Nautitechs had WhatsApp/Facebook groups with other owners so that when boat-specific problems or issues arose, there was someone to reach out to and ask for help. For us, not only had we never sailed or lived aboard, there was nobody to reach out to for specific issues related to the boat. As we hopped through the Caribbean, we would stop in to various charter boat companies asking to look at their Balis or how they handled specific issues, but as you can imagine, we typically got the cold shoulder from someone plenty busy doing their job/fixing their own boats. (By the way, there are Bali Owners groups now, but there were zero when we were freshies in 2018).

We heard that Excess had taken this community idea even a few steps further, with the "Excess Lab"—a collaborative forum online for Excess owners and potential owners where they feed news and events and actively ask for/look for feedback from those onboard - both ideas and real-time user experience.

I dove in and was shocked to find past posts suggesting some of the same improvement and ideas we had now seen firsthand integrated into the new model, the Excess 13 which was launched at the show.

We also heard about the Excess Campus—a hosted gathering of new owners specifically to help those owners get to know their own new boat, learn some basic knowledge about engine, maintenance and even docking and medical skills. It's fair to say we were impressed, and it definitely fit the family/tribe feeling we had experienced at their booth (even despite the entire Excess team being VERY busy with what easily seemed to be the most consistently crowded booth at the show).

Honestly, we had seen drawings of the Excess 13 at David's office last year but weren't entirely interested. While the boat was beautiful, the layout is much more "traditional" and we were pretty convinced that the open floor plan of the Bali we had become so accustomed to was a "must have" for any new boat we would consider.

But... the more time we spent on the boat throughout the show, getting a feel for the space and all of the very well-done design details, the more we caught ourselves opening up to the idea.

Open enough, to not say no when David suggested we join him for a sea trial of the Excess 13, the new Multihull of the Year winner.

We said yes—and that sea trial, if we're completely honest, was the day our path started to shift. Obviously feel free to read about our entire experience at the Excess 13 sea trial, but suffice to say we left that day with a far more open mind than we started it (and with far more questions than answers), mostly due to the fact the boat sailed along faster than we were used to - even in winds smaller than would even allow us to raise sails. It was a truly impressive performance!

Over the next few weeks/months, we caught ourselves doing more and more research about the Excess brand and their boats (specifically about the new XCS13), which had solved our biggest concern from years past - namely the exposed feeling at the very open helm position at the back of the boat.

The new folding transoms/sugar scoops (one of those community-discussed ideas/solutions from the Excess Lab) not only solved that exposed feeling but also created a very generous and comfortable access point and swim platform—a great combination of form and function, at least for my design brain that wants everything onboard to perform more than one function.

At some point... we decided to attend the Excess Campus, which was an outstanding event by all metrics. To say we were blown away would be an understatement, and it really is the best possible example of just how differently Excess is approaching its clients than any other brand. We've talked to a LOT of boat owners over the years about their boat buying experience—and we've never heard of anything remotely like this! But on top of being a highly educational experience, a priceless chance to use and sail a couple Excess Catamarans, this entire event felt more like a fun retreat.

The Excess team treated us all with luxury, the wine and food served throughout the days of the event were superb, and we left feeling like we knew more about these boats than we did after several months aboard Karma trying to learn as we went (though to be fair, back then we were still learning to sail and our very modest goals were simply to "learn one new thing a day").

A nicely orchestrated balance of classroom presentations from weather/routing to medical/emergencies onboard, time on the boat for basic engine/maintenance, rigging, and even hands-on docking practice (which, for the record, is incredibly easy with the aft helms where you're in effect an arm's reach from the cleat at the end of a maneuver).

We even visited the local sea rescue team to learn about rescue/safety from their side, what to do should a worst-case scenario arise, and even testing flares, inflating liferafts, etc. (and somehow enough time for meals and celebrations).

The final day was a daysail to an incredible historic port just in time for a romantic afternoon stroll through town and a private dinner in what had to be the best spot in town. A tucked-away, almost hidden stone-walled bistro with candlelit tables, sea breeze somehow finding it's way in to the courtyard , and the kind of meal that makes it difficult to focus on the conversations at hand.

We opted to sail back in the dark after dinner, which gave us more time onboard and more time considering the epic little historic bay we had just experienced. There's a chance we need to reconsider spending some time exploring the Med as well (whether that be by boat or by van)...

All in, this was an incredibly professional and fun event that left us feeling like the Excess team's primary job was hosting world-class events rather than designing/building and selling boats. Bonding with the other attendees—and talking with them about their new goals and sailing plans—was simply the icing on the cake and little doubt we made a few new lifelong friends (who we'll hopefully see on the water).

I seriously can't speak highly enough about the brand and the effort they clearly poured into this event. It's a level of commitment to clients that one rarely sees these days—and certainly speaks volumes to what the brand has determined is important or where they place their values. While other boat brands seemed focused on cutting costs and making sales — Excess clearly spent months planning this event and delivered hands-on drills, real conversations, and an instant community.

We realized at some point that we started to feel like a member of the family (despite having started feeling like outsiders or like we didn't fit in), and also realized that we would be proud to recommend an Excess to any one of our readers/friends.

Those of you who have followed along here for a while know that we've always turned down sponsorships and partnerships specifically because of how important we find truth and honest opinions to be—so that's no small statement.