Diva is a brand of high quality Swedish boats that used to have some of the best handcraft interiors I ever saw. Unfortunately that went also with a conservative outlook in boat design, not too much but enough to make them not very interesting under all other points except interior design and quality.
That changed with the Diva 34SC that is a gorgeous looking design, modern in all aspects, including interior design. I just hope that the "old" interior quality will be maintained, now on a very modern and functional layout with a very contemporary look.
The boat numbers are also very interesting. The Diva 34 has a very moderate beam (3.48m) is light (4550kg) and has a lot of ballast on a high efficient torpedo keel (36% B/D) and it is built using expensive techniques used in race boats to allow it to be light and strong. The hull is infused in one only shoot that includes all boat and keel structure, like for instance the JPK.
All looks great except the water tankage that is reduced to 100L, too low for any cruising out of week end rides, or going from one marina to another. A pity since the interior looks adequate for more substancial cruising, Maybe they can offer it with another suplementar tank of the same size.
The Diva 34SC can be offered with two wheels or with a tiller. The two wheel set up does not make any sense since all the rigging and winch location was thought for a tiller set up.
Francis Joyon, one of the top multihull skippers is just waiting for the right conditions to set sail on one more attempt at the world sailing circumnavigation record that belongs to Banque Populaire and Loick Peyron (45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds). Banque Populaire was crewed by 14, IDEC, Joyon's boat has a crew of only 6!!! They tried last year (with the same crew) and failed for about two days. IDEC is the "old" Groupama 3 with some modifications. Groupama 3 was the holder of the record (with Cammas - 2010) before Peyron took it away (2012). I wish them good look :-).
Now that most boats have arrived lets have a look at the fastest among the smaller boat, the ones that arrived on the next group after the ones on the last post. Leading that group the next boat to enter was a 2009 First 45, followed by a 2009 Grand Soleil GS 43, a 1984 Swan 651 a 2015 XP 44, a 1996 Open 60, a 2011 First 40, a 2015 Grand Soleil GS 54, all ahead of the first Class 40 racer a 2010 Pogo 40s2. Here the focus goes for 3 boats, the two First (40 and 45) and the Grand Soleil 43. Specially the GS 43 and the First 45 are great performance cruisers, with a good cruising interior. Beautiful boats too.
Comet 38s
After the first Class 40, coming at almost the same time, two other racing boats, a 2011 Club Swan 42 and a 2002 Farr 400 followed closely by two smaller cruiser racers, a 2015 JPK 10.80 and a 2010 Comet 38s both ahead of the 2nd Class 40 (2007). Followed a 2008 Sly 53, a 2008 Dufour 44p, a 2008 M37, a 2010 JPK 10.10, a 2010 Elan 450. Just some boats after, coming not far, the first 2 crew boat, a 2013 Solaris One 42 that finished ahead of the 3rd Class 40 (fully crewed) and leaved behind a racing 2 crew Class 950 and a 2 crewed Farr 45.
Solaris 42
Among those the focus goes for several boats: The JPK 10.80 but even more for the smaller JPK 10.10, the Comet 38s, the M37 and the Solaris 42, but specially for the Comet and the Solaris that are less race oriented and have far better cruising interiors.
A word about the other boats on the 2 crew class: First come the Solaris 42, then the a Class 950 followed by a Farr 45 and a Comet 41s. It is worth to mention that even the Comet come before the last full crewed 40class racer and also interesting to see the comparatively good performance of the Class 950 (compared with the Class 40). A class 950 is a boat similar to a Class40 but with only 9.5m and its performance is inferior of a class40 but it is the ideal boat for a solo or two crew medium amateur experienced crew, that can explore easily the full potential of the boat and I think it is one of the reasons it has done so well on the 2 crew class.
The Comet 41s is not, by the position of its winches, adapted to 2 crewed racing, the Solaris 42 has the main sail winch at easy reach of the helmsman while on the Comet one has to leave to wheel to go there. Not a problem sailing with two, but on a 2 crew racing for several days many times there is only one on the cockpit and the boat cannot be sailed as near the limits as with two.
Just a final note, a curious one: many that follow this thread followed the previous thread with the same name at Sailnet and probably know a Alex, once a preponderant poster there, the owner of Giullieta, a beautiful and fast 40ft one off, made and designed in Portugal. For the second consecutive year Alex and Giulietta crew have made this race. This year they finished just a little bit ahead the Comet 41s (with a 2 crew) and several hours after the Solaris 42 that arrived first among the 2 crew class. That means that Giulietta is a slow boat or that Alex and his crew are not good sailors? No way, it means that this race has many fast boats and many first class crews and that is why I like to look at it for reference in what regards boat performance on Med conditions.
Teasing Machine finished the race moments ago. As I had commented before even if having made a fantastic race it is only 10th on the IRC classification, due to the weak wind that all the boats with this rating found on the last leg. The A13 is the first of the production cruiser racers, a pity the boat is not made anymore. We posted here about it when it was just a project. What a beauty ;-).
To give an idea of the boat performance I will tell you what boats had come in after (at a considerable distance): A Racing carbon Mylius 49, a CNB 92, a Carbon Mylius 76FD, a racing Carbon Ker 40, a Swan 45 and a very fast and well sailed XP44, XP-ACT (that's the boat name) and in fact it made a class act on this race. The Swan 45 is also a great cruiser racer and a production boat but given its price I would prefer to take the focus on the XP 44 that has a really a good cruising interior (there is right now one circumnavigating on the ARC World). Both boats arrived at almost the same time.
And this was not the only XP44 that made a good performance, since immediately after Jivaro, a J133, comes another XP44, Xpresso. The X133 even if more dated is also a great cruiser racer with a very good cruiser interior. Next comes another Jboat and then another one. First a cruiser racer, a J122, Artie, and then a smaller racing J111, all of them making a great race. The focus here goes to the J122 that had a good cruising interior and that in its new version (J122e) looks gorgeous and has an even better cruising interior. I really like it as a cruising boat.
Closing this group comes a Grand Soleil GS 50, a great performance cruiser, a bit less race oriented than the others but that, as we can see, can sail fast providing a lot of comfort.
To really gave you an idea of how fast these boats were think about this: They all were way faster than the first racing Class 40 (that has not arrived yet) and there is 4 racing. As a Class 40 is way faster than a Pogo 12.50 that may put some scratching their heads. And that explains also why that RM 12.60 is so slow on this race (that and a bad crew I believe): Most Med conditions are not favorable to this type of hulls that shine on an Atlantic crossing, on the trade winds, or in a circumnavigation but against the wind and on choppy seas with weak winds they are not at ease.
I like Azuree, not only one boat but its entire line. That's one of the brands that I cannot understand why they don't sell more boats. Maybe because they are Turkish? We had already talked about the 41 when it was on the design stage:
It looked already great as a design and it seems that the real thing is as good as the design. The boat has barely touched the water and it is already boat of the year for the British magazine Sailing Today, that says about the Azuree 41:
"She has a stylish, modern Italian interior with bags of light, and crisp exterior lines by the celebrated
Rob Humphreys. She has more ballast than her predecessors, but a lighter hull with carbon
fibre reinforcing. In other words, the Azuree 41 is a delightful family cruiser with a real turn of
pace when you want to turn it on."
The Azuree was also tested by Yachting world, by Toby Hodges, that finish the test calling it a "Turkish delight". I had a good laugh at that, Turkish delight are famous Turkish sweet cookies:-)
So what can I say more that I had not said already on the previous post? That the price, like on all Azurees, is great comparing with the quality that is offered? That the boat offers a stability and sail power that puts it on another league than main market mass production builders, that offer products at about the same price?
I hope to confirm the quality of the finish at the Dusseldorf boat show, but if it is as good as the one on the 46, then it will be certainly one of my favorite 40fters.
Maserati, the Italian 70ft trimaran was the first to arrive beating the American 70ft Phaedo3 that leaded all the race. A stupid mistake regarding navigation took the victory away fro, Phaedo3. They took the small Island of Linosa for Lampedusa and instead of passing out of Lampedusa passed out of Linosa. When they found out the mistake they turned away and made the correct route, but too late, Maserati had overtook them and maintained the lead till the finish line.
Later I found out that Maserati had done all race handicapped and not on the configuration that we can see on the video above due to an accident that broke one of the foiling rudders. They have to change and race the boat with the non flying configuration, with the old foils and rudders, due to the impossibility of having a new flying rudder in time.
More boats have arrived, as expected the American Rambler a beautiful 88ft JK designed racer (2014) had no trouble in arriving first among the monohuls, beating the 50Muli trimaran (that is one from the previous generation -2005) followed closely by Trifork, the fastest of the VOR 70, another JK design (2008). Trifork was once named Groupama, a VOR winner and the fastest of all VOR racers ever made.
Aegir
Just now three more boats are rounding Malta, very near the finish line: Wild Joe, the well known Australian racer (cheers to the Australians to come racing in the Med), a 2002 RP design closely followed by Aegir, a very interesting and fast 82ft cruiser racer (2010, designed by Rogers).
The third one is Mascalzone Latino a surprisingly fast Coockson 50 (cheers to them). The Cockson is basically a shortened TP52 with higher freeboard to have an interior that allows it to ocean race, featuring a canting keel. The concept was thought out by Coockson and developed by Farr (2004).
Here a Cookson 50 on the 2007 race, Cippa Lippa 8. This one is also racing this edition and doing a good race. It is approaching Malta, not far from the Infiniti 46, having ahead a beautiful Baltic 78 (2009 by Judel/Vrolijk)
Next, after the Cookson 50 comes Caro, a favorite boat of mine, Caro beat the ARC record some years back leaving way behind a Gunboat 62 catamaran. It is a 65ft cruiser racer designed in 2014 by Botin partners. Caro leaved behind Green Dragon a VOR 70 racer designed in 2008 by RP (entered after Caro). What a performance for Caro!!!.
Caro
Next entered another incredibly fast boat, a racer too but only with 46feet!!!!! Maverick, a Infiniti 46R, a brand new boat and I cannot tell you how I am satisfied with that.
That definitively proves the competence of Hugh Welbourn as a top racing designer as well as the validity of his DSS design (see the post about that on the Index). The concept had been used on other boats including Wild Oates XI but this is the most outstanding result on a boat designed by him ....what a race for theInfinity 46, on the tails of a VOR 70!!!
Next boats to arrive are a TP 52 that is beating a VOR 60 (the first among them) that comes just behind. Than a considerable space without boats (from Lampedousa to Malta) and turning around Lampedousa comes the first production boat, a A13, unfortunately the last boat made by Archambault before going bankrupt. The A13 is followed by many bigger boats, many of them production boats but also by the fastest among the smaller boats with special relevance to Artie, a J122 that risks to win again this race (in compensated). http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com/tracker/#pt
and for the wind: https://www.windytv.com/?36.091,13.939,9
Don't forget, I have been making the coverage of the race (and boat/crew performance) on the comments of the previous post and probably some missed that. Instead of making several posts about a race I am going to utilize this system that allows replies and direct comments to what I post. If you are following please comment.
Those are images from the 2014, a spectacular edition with strong winds, not such look this year but lots of boats racing, many of them performance cruisers and a good race to see what they really worth in med conditions.
For me an additional point of interest is that a sister boat of mine (Prospectica, a Comet 41s) is racing on the double handed division, one of the more interesting regarding performance, since short handed sailing has more to do with cruising than full crewed racing. So far so good, they are in 3th place in real time (2 handed division) and they only have ahead a Solaris 42 and a J109. They are slightly ahead of a First 44.7 and all are beating several race boats among them a Class 950 and a Farr45. Last on the class and on all fleet, a RM 1260.
Another test, this one with beautiful images, that concludes that the Maxi 1200 is a great boat and very good value for the money...and yet the boat is not a sales success. I find that ironic since this boat is all that many sailboat forum posters are demanding: less beamier, fast, well built, with a superior quality interior at a very nice price...and they seem not be buying it!!! LOL.
The reason this boat is not a success is because what most cruisers look for in a first place on a sailboat is the biggest interior they can afford for a price and that is not what they got with the maxi 1200.
Having talked, over the last years, with many cruisers that do 1000's of miles on each season and live several months on a sailboat (and those are a minority among cruisers) I reached the conclusion that most use the boat as a mean of transport and as a house, being sailing ability in itself and sailing pleasure a very small part of what they search on a a sailingboat. That explains the little success of the Maxi 1200.
That and for the ones that like sailing, the absence of a traveler, that ironically a professional racer that tested the Maxi 1200 says it is a good compromise. The boat features a central two way electric winch just below the boom, allowing for high tension on the leash and the reverse function on the electric allows to spill wind quickly. Being the winch very close to the helm it makes easy a bigger ‘dump’ if needed. In fact, sailing solo, more easier than on most cruiser racers, where the traveler is on the other side of the steering wheel and you have to move around to let it go.
and I was expecting a great boat but the truth is that it looks much better than on the drawings and that is quite rare.
I said that the boat on the previous post, the X6 was probably the perfect performance voyage boat and probably it is for the ones that want a big boat with luxurious accommodations or sail with two couples but this one seems the perfect voyage boat for me, I mean for the ones that are just a couple or a couple with kids, like to keep it simple and fast and dispense luxurious accommodations.
It is also sufficiently small not to make maintenance very expensive and even if it is thought with voyage in mind, it is more adjusted to coastal cruising, with a draft of only 2.25m (or a lifting keel 2.9/1.5m)) and a two rudder set up, that is always very convenient in what regards med mooring (a single deep one is problematic going backwards).
Compared with the Pogo 50 it offers not only a better cruising interior but also a more sheltered cockpit and a better view forward from the interior. Compared with the X6 the JPK 45 not only offers a better protection to bad weather as also a rigid large spraywood besides the better view forward from the inside of the boat.
They have changed the specifications in what regards weight that is now 9.5T and the ballast, that is huge, with 4.1T. A B/D ratio of 43%!!!! That, on a torpedo keel on a 45ft with a beam of 4.5m will make for a very, very stiff boat and a very powerful one, with a great AVS and safety stability.
The boat was designed by Valer (the NA that designs all JPK sailboats) but the characteristics were defined by Jean Pierre Kelbert (JPK) that has thought it as his perfect long range cruising boat and knowing that JPK was (and is) a successful ocean racer and a long range cruiser, with a huge bluewater sailing experience, it is not to to find strange that such a great boat was the result.
Contrary to the X4 the X6 seems just about right to me as the almost perfect bluewater yacht for the sailors that like to cruise fast in a sporty but comfortable way, assuming they have the money for it ....and that is a lot of money but no more than boats with a similar quality.
The X4 seemed to me not really having many advantages regarding the Xp line, not having a substancial diference in space or comfort but that does not apply to the X6.
Big interior looking modern with lots of light and outside views, comfortable and practical with two long holding bars (that are absent in so many big boats), a huge galley with support for standing no matter the boat heeling, a huge tankage, with all the weight centered on the middle of the boat and a big garage.
The X6 features a very strong keel and shrouds steel support structure that contributes to makes it a very strong boat and allows it to have a relatively light weight.
The more conservative will say that the steering station is not protected and that is true but you cannot have it the two ways: maximum pleasure steering and a full protected wheel station. Clearly they opted here for sail pleasure.
Anyway when the weather is not nice the boat would be sailed on autopilot and regarding that there are cover options that will cover all the cockpit living area, from where the boat would be steered on those occasions.
The more sportive versions will be handicapped by draft regarding small ports and small marinas but the shallow draft with 2.6m will be small enough to grant access to almost everywhere and I am sure the performance will only just be handicapped upwind, where a 3.4m will make a difference. But I bet that even with the shallower keel the performance will be good upwind.
Comanche was built to break records and slowly it has been beating them, first the 24 hour record for a monohull (618.01 nm, averaging 25.75) then, some months ago, the record of the North Atlantic from West to East with an average speed of 21.44k. They have beaten the old 2003 record hold by Mari Cha IV (that was a big sailboat but not a race boat) for more than 24 hours. The new record stands in 5 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes 25 seconds, not particularly impressing if we compare it with the absolute sail record that has already 7 years and belong to the Trimaran Banque Populaire (Pascal Bidegorry), with an average speed of 32.94K, in 3d 15h 25m 48s. Sure big maxi racing trimarans are faster but a diference of more than 2 days seems too much to me and I am quite sure that one of the new ones can make better.
The 25 boats nominated for the 2017 European yacht of the year, are divided in 5 categories: Family Cruiser, Performance Cruiser, Luxury Cruiser, Multihull and Special Yacht.
The boats were nominated by the staff from 11 major yachting magazines across Europe and they have already tested the boats at Cannes in mid-September and at the La Rochelle, some days ago. The first movie is from Cannes were apparently the wind was too light and the one below from La Rochelle were the conditions seem better.
Lot's of very interesting boats this year and among then this one, a Marc Lombard design that I hope it will sail as well as it looks:
And probably it will, because the hull design is an evolution of the MC34 Patton and that one is a blast to sail. The winners will be announced in January at the Dusseldorf boat show.
First Thomas then Tunes called my attention to the video above that was posted just some days ago. It is from a Danish sail magazine (BådNyt) and even if they call it a test, it is just a boat presentation but for the first time we can see the Pogo 36 interior. Tunes asked for some comments and here they are:
The interior seems better than the one from the Pogo 10.50. More light coming from those almost frontal "windows" and the lateral storage space is also bigger, being now the full size of the saloon, but in what regards space and light effect it is a long way for what the first drawings. Look at the picture on the right.
Even if better it leaved me a bit disappointed, not only because the interior feeling is not the one given by the photos, but also because the frontal windows are not so frontal and their practicability in what regards looking forward is not that good. Look at the movie, min 5.55, when the skipper looks outside to see if there is no obstacles ahead and see the position he has to reach for doing that and you will understand what I mean.
Don't take me wrong, I am sure the Pogo 36 is a great boat, better than the 10.50 with whom it shares many similarities but I think that in what regards the cabin and the new design, it could have been better, not only in what regards practicability but also outside looks.
Regarding outside looks they made it worst because they did not followed the designer drawings in what regards paint scheme and made all deck and cabin the same color and that is a basic design mistake that make the boat look fatter than it really is. Just look at the original paint scheme with differentiated colors on the deck and cabin and what happens when you use white everywhere.
The boat is being tested by Voile magazine on its annual big testing section (with the readers) to chose the magazine boat of the year, so soon we will have more information.
The X4 promised to be one of the most exciting boats of 2016 and I have no doubt it is a great cruiser, with an emphasis on sailing and safety due to the structural strongness and big stability, but after seeing photos of the boat interior, it looked a bit deceiving to me.
I am not sure if the interior is that different from the one of the XP line, in comfort and interior space. Besides that, if on the outside the look is modern, inside the lateral "windows" look and feel dated.
The interior is modern but it looks just "normal" and a bit small, nothing special and it should be special on a boat of that price. Don't take me wrong, I like the boat but I wonder if the price diference is justified regarding a boat like the Maxi 1200.
As expected the boat sails well, the cockpit layout is great and on the test, Toby Hodges, the sail tester from Yachting world, puts all the emphasis on the sail performance and feel, but also don't look much excited regarding the interior.
Certainly I will visit the boat at the Dusseldorf boat show and will reserve a final opinion regarding that interior but it seems to me that Grand Soleil is making a better job with its LC line (cruising line), with boats that sail well and are clearly differentiated (in interior space and interior feeling) from the ones from its performance line.
The INDEX was a good idea that I never had time or patient to finish and till some days ago refereed to only a small part of the blog. Now it is complete and you can just go there, find what you are interested in and you will have a direct link to the subject.
You can access the Index on the lateral right bar under PAGES: you can select HOME (the blog) or INDEX.
Also a good new: for the first time the blog went over a 1000 hits a day and for several days. The record is now 1292 hits on a day. Thanks for your interest :-)
A year ago when I posted the first designs of this boat I could not be more enthusiastic about. It seemed to me that Swan had recovered the leadership in design that was its trademark some decades ago. Now that the boat is on the water it does look as good as in the drawings I am not not the only one being enthusiastic about it: Just look at the eyes of Toby Hodges (the boat tester from Yachting world) when he is talking about the boat, or sailing it. http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2015/10/swan-is-back-swan-50-club.html
This Swan is cruiser racer, more pointed to racing than cruising but even so the interior is almost as well designed as the hull, a very modern and zen one that will suit cruising in style for a small crew.
Two movies, one from the yachting world test sail other from Swan with interesting designs about the boat building (carbon). What a boat!!! One that will but the a smile on the face of anybody sailing it for the first time...and that is not what sailing is about? Pleasure?
7.5k speed with 5k trw? WOW!!!
3D_BP_IXpor voile-magazine Yes, the new maxi Banque Populaire is beautiful, with 104 for 75 ft, weighting only 14T with 890m2 of sail area, a huge foiling machine designed to fly over the oceans at over 30k. But that is not what is incredible. Incredible is what is going to be the first assignment of that huge trimaran: A solo non-stop circumnavigation!!!! Even knowing the talent of Armel le Cleash that is just incredible and never attempted on a trimaran of this size, even more a flying one. The boat is already being built.
Armel come from the Open 60's, 2th on the last Vendee Globe. we will be the favorite for this year's Vendee:
And after that he is going to concentrate on this circumnavigation multihull. What a sailor, mono and multihull alike!!! Look at him smashing a record on the "old" Banque Populaire and imagine what it would be doing that for several months non stop!
He may well be the first sailor to manage to hold the two bigger records, the ones of a solo circumnavigation on a monohull and on a multihull. I bet he will have a big competitor regarding that huge achievement: François Gabart, the winner of the last Vendee.
What is happening with structures and the Pogo 36? The drawings were released two years ago, the boat took an eternity to be built, is on the water for some time but the photos are very rare and no test sails yet? Don't seem normal to me, neither a good sales strategy. It didn't happen that way with other models. Anybody knows what's going on?
As it had seemed to me on the drawings, the hull design is beautiful but I find the boat too voluminous, specially on the forward sections and I don't find those frontal windows well designed. The ones on the JPK are much nicer.
Some no data regarding the stability has been published and the Pogo 36 will have a 126ºAVS with a keel down and 100º with a keel up. Those are good values for this type of boat, specially the one with a keel up. I would say that with weaker winds (or with reefed sails) one would not have a problem sailing the boat in swallow waters. No photos of the interior yet.
The ones that know Allures, particularly the Allures 45, should be thinking that I am becoming too old and don't know of what I am talking about, after all the Allures are aluminium good centerboards, fast among that type of boats, but not particularly fast boats since they have the ballast not on the keel but inside the boat and on a stub very shallow keel and that means the need of a big ballast, since the ballast weight cannot be brought down.
Forget about that, well, they still offer the new boat with those characteristics but I am talking about something truly new on Allures, a version with a swing keel, the type of keel used by Pogo, with all ballast on the keel. The diference between the two versions are 2T and because the Allures is a well built Aluminium boat, even the centerboarder was not particularly heavy, with 12,6T (the new HR 44 weights 13.3T) and that means the new swing keeller is really a light boat for a 45fter with 12T, just about half a ton lighter than a First 45.
That is possible because that swing keel, that has most of the ballast near the bottom, goes really deep, at 2.9m, when down, but the boat has only a draft of around 1.5m with the keel up. Sure, I would like it to have a bit more ballast to make it a more powerful boat (probably more half a ton would be enough) and maybe it is possible at request since being an aluminium boat it is not hard to make the needed reinforcements, but as it is it is already a very interesting boat and certainly a fast one.
Regarding the previous model, the 45, the beam was maintained but the hull is now 0.8 meters longer, featuring a more powerful stern (with the max beam brought back) and the LWL considerably longer due to a plump bow.
The interior is not very different from the one of the 45 (that was a nice one), with a raised chart table that allows a very good view around and some view forward, that is increased by the normal pitch movement of a sailboat in waves. Features a cutter rig, a good tankage, a sail locker and 3 interior layouts, being only one really adapted to long range cruising, with two cabins, a technical space and lots of storage.
I liked a lot the "old" 45 (that had a very good price), but it was not really my type of boat. This one is and it just looks great, kind of near perfection....now, if it could come with some ballast and some more sail area, it would just be perfect ;-)
That changed with the Diva 34SC that is a gorgeous looking design, modern in all aspects, including interior design. I just hope that the "old" interior quality will be maintained, now on a very modern and functional layout with a very contemporary look.
All looks great except the water tankage that is reduced to 100L, too low for any cruising out of week end rides, or going from one marina to another. A pity since the interior looks adequate for more substancial cruising, Maybe they can offer it with another suplementar tank of the same size.
