Voile magazine boat of the year selection is different from the other boat magazines selection and in my opinion in what regards interest is only beaten by the European boat of the year that is choseen by many testers from the main European sail magazines.
Voile magazine selection is made not only by the in house boat testers but also by invited personalities with relevance on the world of sailing and most of all by selected readers of the magazine in a total of 96 testers. The tests take place in two days with the 20 boats all in the water at the same time, it is made a first selection and then a restricted number passes to the second round before the elected is chosen.
This year that selected few where: Bavaria 46, Sun Odyssey 349, Corsair Cruze 970, RM 890, Mojito 8.88, Boreal 52 and the JPK 10.80.
The choice was very close between the Mojito and the SO 349. The Mojito won by a single vote. The third, more far away was the Boreal 52.
The choice in my opinion is a bit odd since the Mojito is a MKII or at least a new version of a previous (great) boat (still in production) the Malango 888. The hull is the same (a Pierre Rolland design) and only the cabin is different with an all around view. Anyway it seems that they were seduced by the sail performance and by the light and all around view in the interior. Even if the boat was a pre-series boat with some details of the interior to be worked out better, they were convinced. Regarding sail performance it is good to remember that among the boat tested it was the new JPK 10.80 and the RM 890. The comment by Voile magazine regarding the Mojito sail performance was : "very fast and agreeable with medium and stronger winds. That's a cruising boat that "déménage" ...! (that's not easy to translate "déménage" but that means that it goes very fast).
Besides being a fast and rewarding coastal cruiser the Mojito, like the Malango series has as the more exclusive characteristic the fact of having a dingy garage.
I know, that seems impossible on a boat with less then 30ft but the fact is that they have managed it and they solved one of the biggest problems with small cruisers that is precisely where to put the dingy. The only two possible solutions seem to have it deflated (what a drag) or having it on the water towing it (and then the boat is not fast anymore). Now you have a third: Have a Malango or a Mojito ;-)
A very interesting statement by the designer regarding the Mojito/Malango 888 hull:
"The upper chine is designed to increase form stability, therefore increasing the power close upwind and reaching. It also has the advantage of increasing the internal volume of the boat as well as reducing boat drift upwind. With these chined hull, wide and flat, the problem is the increase of the wetted surface when loading the boat, especially downwind (the boat is flat) and in general in the light conditions. The second chine is an interesting solution to limit this problem: it reduces the beam at the waterline when the boat is upright and the softer transitions creates less drag. In other words, the boat glides better and drags less water, while keeping the power when heeled."
Pierre Rolland, the designer is also known by his racing designs (he was a mini racer too, a good one that made 4th in the 2003 mini transat), some winning major races.
This is a video from voile magazine regarding sail selection and another one showing the Mojito speeding :
"The upper chine is designed to increase form stability, therefore increasing the power close upwind and reaching. It also has the advantage of increasing the internal volume of the boat as well as reducing boat drift upwind. With these chined hull, wide and flat, the problem is the increase of the wetted surface when loading the boat, especially downwind (the boat is flat) and in general in the light conditions. The second chine is an interesting solution to limit this problem: it reduces the beam at the waterline when the boat is upright and the softer transitions creates less drag. In other words, the boat glides better and drags less water, while keeping the power when heeled."
Pierre Rolland, the designer is also known by his racing designs (he was a mini racer too, a good one that made 4th in the 2003 mini transat), some winning major races.
This is a video from voile magazine regarding sail selection and another one showing the Mojito speeding :
Voilier de l'Année Voile Magazine 2015 by voile-magazine
Le Mojito 8.88, Voilier de l'année 2015 by voile-magazine
I bet that this boat is going to be such a success that they will extend the Mojito series to all the Malango hull and that soon we will have a Mojito 999 and a 1045. Meanwhile let's have a look at the Malango 999: they show on the video how that dingy garage works.
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