MSR: SMALLER PRODUCTION BOATS WITH A GREAT PERFORMANCE

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.