MAGIC SUNGLASSES

Magic is perhaps a strong word LOL and they are not really nice but they were the best buy of the year in what regards yachting. I know that it seems odd but if you are more than 50 years old tel me  how many times you had to take away your sunglasses and get another spectacles to see better some  small detail in your plotter?

That's quite pissing specially for guys with a 100/100 vision and that now have to resource to a glasses with one or two dioptres to see fine details.

That's finished, I mean that stupid game of changing glasses and there is some magic in it. I bought them at a boat show in Croatia half believing that they would not really work in real conditions. They are normal polarized ones but with a small lent with dioptres on the right place and they really work effortlessly. I am so happy with them that I had to share it. They are really usefull, the gadget of the year!!!.

The brand is Australian:
http://barzoptics.com/polarised-sunglasses-with-bifocal-reader-lenses
Don't buy the bifocal ones, I mean the ones without the cuts on the middle of the glass. They are nicer but don't work as well as the other ones, not by a long shot.

MY SAILING SEASON, PHOTOS AND COMMENTS

On winter and Fall I post, on Spring and Summer I cruise and sail. For the ones that are new on the Blog and would like to have a look at my sailing log (with lots of photos) you can do it here: https://web.facebook.com/paulo.pernao

 I prefer it that way. This blog is about interesting sailboats, not about my cruising season. Fair winds and nice sailing to all ;-)

HALLBERG RASSY 340

Another post out of season and also about Hallberg Rassy? what can I say? The mistral is blowing the boat is dancing, I have nothing to do except to hear the wind howling and Hallberg Rassy surprisingly are changing fast their fleet of old-designed well built boats by contemporary designs, faster, more seaworthy and with a bigger overall stability. Interesting boats. Cheers to them! 

The Rassy 340 is going to substitute the 342, an already old design with almost 400 boats produced. The new boat will be a lot more powerful due to a much bigger overall stability not only because of an increase of beam (and mostly the beam brought back) but also by a more modern efficient keel with substantially more ballast (more 300kg) and a bit more draft.

The B/D ratio is 38% and that for this type of boat keel/draft is a lot. That would make for a very stiff yacht with a very good final stability. The new boat has about the same hull length (10.36 to 10.32) but has a substantially longer waterline (10.10 to 9.09). The LOA is considerably bigger since the new one comes with an integrated bowsprit (10.95m).

The Previous model, the 342

   The 340 is beamier (3.47 to 3.42) a small difference that looks much bigger due to the max beam pulled aft. The new one is slightly heavier (5980 to 5300kg) but it is more powerful and has more sail area (upwind), 65.5 to 61.6m2. 

The new one should not be faster on the light wind but when the wind picks up it would be a different boat: stiffer, more powerful and able to carry more sail without reefing. Also easier to sail downwind fast on autopilot due to the beam pulled aft and the two rudders.

By the way, this boat is the first HR ever with a two wheel setup, that certainly will contribute to a better steering position (seating on the side) and to a better and easier passage from the wheel station to the cockpit.

Like on the 44, a huge improvement over the precedent model, that was already a good and popular boat. The improvement regards not only the sailing potential but everything from more tankage and more interior volume to bigger storage area and I would say probably a nicer and less heavy interior, if we take into account the one of the new 44.

If this is what you are looking for, meaning a medium to lightweight 34ft sailboat that will be very easy to sail, that has a good (even if not sparkling) sailing performance, with a big stability (for the boat size), a good build and a cozy interior with a luxury finish with a hint of classical taste, this may be the right boat for you, providing you have the 250 000 euros that a decently equipped boat should cost (including VAT).

A very nice boat and a good looking one too, a great design from Frers, now the son. It seems that the new design of the HR has to do mostly with a change of generation, from the shipyard and from the design cabinet that for decades design HR, both are now run by the sons of the previous owner and designer.

A posterior test sail between the HR 342 and the new HR 340 confirmed my predictions on this post:

You can have more information about the Hallberg Rassy 340 on these posts:

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2017/10/halberg-rassy-340-on-water-and-tested.html

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2023/02/high-quality-32-to-35ft-cruisers.html

HALLBERG RASSY 44 BOAT TEST

A post out of season, while I am stuck at Limnos by the Mistral (gusting 40k), a complementary one to the one about the Hallberg-Rassy 44:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.gr/2016/03/halberg-rassy-44.html

I said on that post : "All this translates in a boat with considerably more overall stability, faster and safer with a better reserve stability and better AVS. HR should be congratulated and this model will be a great successor for one of the benchmarks of HR, the 43."

I was talking about boat design and what the design looked to me. No test had yet been made on the boat but that is not the case now, with several magazines testing it, among them Yachting World, with a two day test performed by a great sailor, Pip Hare, more used to racers than to luxury cruisers like Halberg Rassy and that makes her point of view specially interesting.

Well, she is a great sailor but not very talented in what regards communication skills (she does not talk much) and a thick accent makes a bit difficult to understand all that she says but the bottom point, besides the great cruising interior, is resumed in this phrase "effortless but not joyless".

The images on the movie also give a lot of information about how the boat sails, confirming what I had seen on the design: a contemporary one with more stability, stiff and faster than the previous model. A great boat no doubt with the only drawback of a lack of storage for long time cruising.