General Impressions: Wow, what a boat. Fast, fast, fast.
She is almost new and in pristine condition, having been out on only 10 charters before we got her.

See: http://www.cyoacharters.com/orana44_2011/orana44_2011spec.asp

Equipment features:

Upgraded main engines - 50 HP vs. the stock 30HP units.
Flat-headed Mainsail - power!
6.8kw generator
5 high-efficiency air-conditioners (including AC in forward singles and in the heads!)
Touch-screen chartplotter and radar
12-foot dingy on davits with 15HP outboard


Notable:

Large 92 gallon fuel tank. We bought 74 gallons of fuel, but believe we started about 15-20 gallons low (that's CYOA's best guess number after kicking things around) so lets say we used about 55 gallons of fuel in 10 days. We put 122 hours on the generator and 22 hours on the engines. So between the generator and engines we consumed about 0.4 gallons/hour. What this all means is that you can easily charter for 10 days and never have to put fuel in the boat.

Speed under motor: In a dead calm Moonshadow will do about 6 knots at 2000 rpm. Motor noise is low.

Speed under sail: Wow. This boat is fast. The main is huge. I got a taste of this on the first day when we raised the main and unfurled the jib in Pillsbury Sound. We took a big tack out towards Jost, and then tacked back into Francis Bay, loping along at about 7-7.5 knots. Once in Frances Bay we got a little gust coming off of St. John and the speed ran right up to 8.5 knots. I couldn't wait to see more. Running from North Sound, VG to Anegada we really got to see her fly. In 18-20 knots of wind we cranked along at 8-8.5 knots easily, and in wind-gusts into the low 20's the speed went over 9 knots and I swear one time I looked at my hand-held GPS and saw 10 knots. We were flying! Any more would have had me reefing the main. All sail controls are rigged to the starboard helm station. The winches are arranged in a triangle pattern, two close and one far. The far one is hard to use if you are less than 5 feet 4 inches tall. The upside is that once the sails are raised it's dead easy for one (tall/strong) person to sail the boat.

Motorsail: A couple of times we motorsailed downwind with just the jib out in and easily maintained 7-7.5 knots dead down wind with the engines turning 2000 rpm, even hitting 8-8.5 knots on a beam reach (motor & jib).

Layout: Salon - will seat 8 with a cooler aft of the table, but it really more comfortable for 6. We fell into a routine of feeding the two grand-kids first, and then the six adults had plenty of room around the table.

Layout: Cockpit - The two chaise lounges behind the helm station were almost always in use. Very nice. Plenty of room for 6 adults around the cockpit table, and sitting on a cooler let us crowd 8 around it.

Trampoline - However, the most favorite place for hanging out was the huge trampoline forward, between the hulls. The air flow through the tramp is heavenly, and spray from the occasional wave cools you down. Probably half the crew spent most of their time up on the tramp while we were underway. There's a nice seat on each bow that is suitable for lounging while sailing in calm waters.

The Dance Floor - the top of the main salon extends over the cockpit in one huge 18X20 foot expanse of gleaming white fiberglass. It seems like you could put a 3-piece band and 15 dancers up there. There are so many great places on this boat to chill-out, it's truly amazing.

Staterooms/heads - The aft doubles are very nice, particularly the starboard aft double with the bed running athwart ships. The forward doubles are slightly smaller but still fine for two. Each double cabin has it's own air-conditioned head, which we all loved. You can get a shower and not be dripping sweat right after toweling off. The ladies loved it.

Cheers: Too many individual things to mention. Simply a beautiful, well-equipped boat. Very comfortable for 6 adults and 2 kids. Thanks to CYOA for putting an electric winch on the dingy davits. This really helps raise the heavy end of the dingy and we found later it allowed us to rig a retaining line under the inboard dingy hull, up over the starboard davit and then to the winch. A tap or two on the winch control let us snug the boat down so that it didn't swing around in rougher seas.

Jeers: It takes 3 average people, or two strong people to raise the main. To get started, one nimble person has to climb a few feet up the mast holding on with one hand, pulling the main up with another hand, and clipping it in with a third hand. A prehensile tail would really help with this operation. Fortunately, this can be done in advance, while on the mooring, anchor, or at the dock. Once clipped into the halyard the 60+ foot tall sail must be threaded trough the maze of rigging holding up the stack-pack. It's very heavy and takes many turns on the winch to get it up and tight. Easing the main-sheet half-way through the operation is a must, else it binds up and will not go fully up. Fortunately we had several strong crew members aboard that helped us deal adequately with the main. Once up this prodigious sail provides incredible power, but on several occasions we deferred it's use, and motorsailed under jib-alone. The winch layout is hard for a short person to use.

Water tank gauge doesn't work right. Never goes above 3/4 full. On the bright side, at least it worked somewhat. And to be completely honest, I repeat the words "liar, liar, pants of fire" anytime I look at a fuel or water-gauge on any boat. None are to be trusted.

Generator will run all 5 AC units but no more. If we ran the blender, microwave, or toaster we'd have to drop power to one of the AC units. This is only a small pain, and of course the up-side is that the generator is 'right-sized' for the average load which makes it more fuel efficient.

Summary - we'd charter Moonshadow again in a heartbeat. Very nice boat.

Here's a couple of photos of Moonshadow