Kirsten Sticking With Three-Cat Stable—For Now

A longtime performance-boat owner with an impeccable eye for sexy catamarans, Burton Kirsten thought he wanted to sell Jet, his 46-foot, Stephen Miles Design-painted Outerlimits Offshore Powerbats cat with twin dual-calibration Mercury Racing 1350/1100 sterndrive engines. He wanted to make room for Turbo, his canopied MTI 390XR cat with a pair of 500-hp Mercury Racing outboards, as well as the his then-upcoming Performance Powerboats P-280 cat, an open-cockpit rocket powered by a 450-hp Mercury Racing outboard.

Red-hot and powered by a Mercury Racing 450R outboard engine, the first Performance Powerboats P-280 catamaran is going to a great home at the Lake of the Ozarks. Photo Kendall Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos

But while Jet has been on the market for bit. It’s a very specific boat for a very specific buyer, and that buyer has not yet emerged. So rather than force things, Kirsten is “bringing Jet home” to his place Michigan. He’ll keep the 39- and 28-foot outboard-powered cats at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri, where he and his wife, Yvette, have a second home.

Former motorcycle racer and current longtime rider, Kirsten dubbed the boat Krotch Rocket.

With those three catamarans in his stable, Kirsten will have no trouble finding the right boat for the conditions. He’s already logged a lot of hours in Jet, which he took delivery of in 2019 and has plenty of seat time in Turbo, which he purchased in 2022. He has a lot less experience in the P-280 he dubbed Krotch Rocket, which was completed this summer, but that won’t last long.

“I ran it once and loved it,” he said, then chuckled. “It’s so weird running a boat with a single engine.”

P-280 catamaran No. 1 looks a lot sexier with its full interior installed.

When the 28-footer debuted during the Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run in May, its rear pair of bucket seats had yet to be installed. It looked great then but it looks even better with its complete interior installed.

With Jet and Turbo rounding out his stable, Kirsten doesn’t lack for fresh horses.

“But it’s going to be so fun, brother,” he added, then laughed again.

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