Friday, April 11, 2014

XC 35, A MODERN POCKET BLUEWATER CRUISER?

I am a big fan of X yacht. They have great boats on three different lines, one with racers that is in my opinion the less interesting and deserved to be reviewed with faster and more aggressive boats; a line of performance cruisers, the Xp line with fast boats with a great cruising potential that, if ordered with top specifications, can do well at top level in handicap racing; and a line of boats pointed more to bluewater cruising, heavier boats that maintain a good performance and that have a classic look, the Xc line.

The last boat to come out from X yachts was a 35ft to complete the XC line. I saw the boat in Dusseldorf and I was a bit puzzled. It is a nice boat but why have they chose to make a 35ft for the XC line? Given the narrowish hull the boat has not much interior space and given  the modern tendency to bigger cruising boats, it is a small one, even in what regards coastal cruising, so why proposing one on their bluewater line?

Who, with that kind of money,  will go bluewater on a 35ft boat? Certainly very few since a small boat is not only a boat with less load ability, less storage space, slower but also less comfortable in a sea way.

With the price that boat costs it is possible to buy a good  main market mass production 40ft equipped for offshore work. I confess that I don't understand very well to what market this boat points, but it is a very nice one for coastal cruising even if for me it is already too small. 

I could live with the Xc38, the 35 is just too small for have a decent storage for long range comfortable cruising, at least in what concerns a comfortable and less sportive type of cruising.

The boat is designed as usually by Niels Jeppesen, it has a classical looking hull, an "old" designed keel that needs more ballast for the same RM (probably the conservative clientele of this type of boats prefer it that way), a big spade ruder, a moderate beam ( 3.52m) and it is relatively heavy (6450kg). Just for comparison  a Dehler 38 weights 6600kg and a Salona 38, 6500kg.  

A the XC35b is a 35fter that costs the same as those boats, has less stability, is slower, probably has not a better sea motion, has less interior space, less load ability and storage space...but has a nicer interior finish, even if in what regards style that is disputable and I think that the Dehler 38 is the one with the better interior design.
But if you just love it as it is, has enough space and storage and you  have the money for it, go ahead, have one, it is a cute little boat, one that will remain classic, since it looks already a bit old looking :-) and certainly a very good sailboat. 
On this very nice movie by Yacht.de we can see the boat in detail (we can see briefly, at the beginning of the movie the other XC from the line). You can order the full test, if interested in the boat.


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