PDQ Yachts has started building Hull #100 in its successful line of 34-foot power catamarans. At the same time, construction has started on the innovative new PDQ 41. The PDQ 34 was introduced as a 32-footer in early 2001 but soon grew two feet. For several years now, the PDQ 34 has been the best-selling cruising power cat in North America. http://www.pdqyachts.com/power/pdq34.htm The owners of Hull 100 are Steve and Hedy Fagan. Steve is a retired Captain with the U.S. Navy Reserves and a practicing radiologist at the naval hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. After its launch in July, the Fagans plan to spend the summer cruising in New England, keeping the boat, named Volare, in either Rhode Island or Connecticut. PDQs are built in Whitby, on the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario east of Toronto. When the Erie Canal is closed for the winter, boats cannot be delivered to U.S. customers. Instead, they are delivered en masse each May. This week, new owners are taking delivery of 15 sparkling PDQs at Port Whitby Marina, site of the annual PDQ U, a, information-packed two-day orientation for customers. About 60 people are learning all about the systems aboard their new boats as well as receiving boat-handling instruction. http://www.pdqflotillas.com/pdqu.html On Wednesday, the new owners will depart Whitby in three flotillas, one headed to Annapolis, Maryland, the other to Lake Champlain via Montreal, and the third through the Trent-Severn Waterway to Georgian Bay and beyond. PDQ personnel will accompany each group to lend support as needed. All in all, new owners report, PDQ U and the flotilla concept is the perfect way to get to know their new boats and learn to operate them on their own. Next summer, the PDQ flotilla program will expand to Europe when a group of PDQs transit the Atlantic on a transport ship to cruise the Baltic Sea. The Fagans aboard Volare will be part of the group While the 100th PDQ 34 was started in PDQ's main 45,000-square-foot plant, the hull for the first PDQ 41 was being laid up in a 10,000-square-foot facility nearby where the majority of FRP work is done. One of the most striking features of the new 41 is the master stateroom located on the bridge deck level even with the saloon and inside helm station. There is a solarium window facing aft above the walk-around queen bed. The owner's dressing area and head comprise the entire starboard hull. http://www.pdqyachts.com/power/pdq41.htm PDQ expects to splash the first 41 in time for its debut at one of the major boat shows in the fall. --Georgs -- Georgs Kolesnikovs Power Catamaran World http://www.powercatamaranworld.com