Friday, October 21, 2016

JPK 45 ANOTHER GREAT VERY FAST VOYAGE BOAT

 
We had already talked about this boat here: http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/09/jpk-45.htm

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.
http://www.jpk.fr/?titre=jpk-45---projet&mode=voilier_jpk&id=924
http://www.voilesetvoiliers.com/chantiers/coeur-de-chantier-jpk-jean-pierre-kelbert/

(Special thanks to Thomas that pointed the new video to me.)

9 comments:

  1. Very nice indeed! I wonder, am I reading the specs right, is the hull length 12,9m (~42ft)? My french skills are pretty much non existant :)

    //Thomas

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  2. No, I guess it is just your French LOL. 12.9m is the LWL, the hull lenght is 13.8m.
    http://www.jpk.fr/modules/kameleon/upload/2016-_fiche_JPK_45-Bdef.pdf

    best regards

    Paulo

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  3. Ah, I see! I thought 13.80 was LOA including bowsprit :)

    See also on Facebook Arouel JPK 45. Some nice pics and videos.

    Cheers!

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  4. Hello Paolo,

    First of all congrats for your blog. I follow it quite a lot.

    I am planning to buy a boat to sail around the world soon. I own a Najad 400 from 2001. I know that is a suitable boat to sail around the world but I am looking for a much faster boat. A light displacement boat. Speed is a priority to me.

    As you say in your profile, there are so many type of boats out there. It is a very difficult decision. Mucho more than I thought.

    I know that knowing where you want to go it is a good info to know which type of boat suits your needs. I would like to sail around the world excluding very high latitudes, even I would of course like to have a boat that can take me there if I would like to. That is my plan, but improvising is part of it to. But I know I can not get a boat for all purposes.

    Therefore I am looking for two kind of boats. Light displacement boats like X-Yachts or SOLARIS or also light displacement boats made in aluminium like Atlantic Yachts. Depending on my planned route I will decide to buy one or another. All of them around 45ft.

    I am anyway a little bit confused about what to do. I do believe all materials are good if well used by boatbuilders but of course for example an aluminum boat will be better for very high latitudes I guess.

    So, I though I could send you an email to have your opinion about it.

    Which light displacement boat would you choose to sail around the world?

    I know you will think about the budget but I would like to have your opinion without taking that into account. An opinion based basically in the concept and quality construction of the sailboat.

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  5. Hi Carlos,

    It is not dificult at all. Difficult is to have the money to buy them ;-)

    The Atlantic are hugely expensive and I don't think they are really fast.
    if money was no problem I would talk with Alubat (the ones that make the Cigale and the OVNI) for a joint reunion with Marc Lombard (the designer) for making one with a Swing keel.

    Lombard is a specialist in swing keels, Alubat has a huge experience in building aluminium boats and the Cigale is inexpensive for what it offers. I would have an aluminium strong fast boat, a boat adapted to solo sailing, a boat able to enter any port or to anchor very near the coast for added protection.

    I would also ask for a rigid sparaywood, or at least a mist one, with the bottom rigid (glass and aluminium) and the superior part foldable. I know you have talked about 14m and this one has 16, but since you consider the Atlantic 44, this one has only vantages since it is much faster, with a better wave passage due to a much bigger LWL...and it will not be more expensive, swing keel and all.

    The second choice would be the boat on this post. I know personally JPK, I know the way he builds his boats, the quality, the ability to adapt them to any personal tastes, his superior knowledge about what really is important on a fast short crew voyage boat and Valer the NA know how to design very fast and seaworthy boats.

    Of course I would chose the Swing keel version and the JPK 45 has even the advantage of having a view forward from the interior. As I am not really interested on a circumnavigation, as an allround boat able to do almost anything I would have the JPK 45 over the Cigale. The JPK 45 is probably faster and a more rewarding boat to sail, a better one upwind no doubt. In fact I would like to have one if I had the money.....but you have asked about a circumnavigation so, Cigale it is.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbYWHGUcKiQ

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  6. Do you think a SOLARIS or a X-Yacht can safely sail around the world? (Except high latitude probably)

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  7. Sure, why not? They are boats with a big stability, a good final stability, well built and strong, In fact there is a XP44 doing the ARC world as well as a First 44.7. Bur being able to do it safely does not mean that they are the more suitable boats to do it.

    An Aluminium boat offers an added protection against floating debris and both the Cigale and the JPK45 offer a hull design more adapted for solo sailing, specially downwind where a superior easiness at speed allows better control on autopilot (or solo) that translates in bigger speeds (without a crew).... and a circumnavigation is done mostly on the trade winds, downwind.

    if you want another boat equally designed with fast sailing on the trade winds you have the Pogo 50. If you are going to do that with a crew of 3 or 4 than the Solaris or the XP are less in disadvantage.

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  8. Hi Paulo, thanks for great blog. Could you compare the JPK45 and Elan GT 5 ? Which one is faster? Comfortable for blue water cruising? Singel handed or only two crew.

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    Replies
    1. They have no comparison. The GT5 (40.7ft) is closer to the JPK 39 (38.5ft) than from the JPK 45 (45.3ft) and if you look at displacement and ballasts the diferences are huge: the GT5 displaces 8650kg for a 2655kg ballast, the JPK39 displaces 5500kg and has a 1900kg ballast, the JP45 displaces 9500kg for a 4100kg ballast.

      The JPK 39 will be faster than the Elan GT5 and the JPK45 faster than the JPK 39.

      In what regards comfort, the more comfortable will be the bigger boat. Between the JPK39 and the Elan GT5, the JPK is a more sportive boat and a more lively one so in what regards comfort (motion), the GT5 will be more comfortable, but that does not mean that the JPK 39 is not optimized to be sailed solo or in duo.

      In fact it is, but also for a more sportive sailor.

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