LUFFE 40.20: NARROW, FAST, BEAUTIFUL AND CLASSIC

This is a yacht for lovers, not for the ones that are rational about interior space, cruising amenities or even overall top speed, for a 40ft cruiser-racer. No, this boat is about sailing fast, but in a particular sailing spirit, a traditional one, where the boats are supposed to heel and glide over the water, slicing the waves, going fast with small sails.

As you can imagine I am a sailboat lover and 16 years ago I fell in love with the first version of this yacht, the Luffe 40.04, then a new model, and went to the shipyard, in Kolding, Denmark to see how the boats were built, to have a talk with the owner and builder, Oluf Jørgensen and to see how it sailed.

The part of the talk did not go so well because Oluf did not speak English, and we had to communicate with the help of a shipyard worker, that was not fluent in English, but the shipyard told me a lot about the way the boats were made, and about Oluf passion for yachts and for building them. I was quite impressed.

Then he took us to the nearby marina where he had the first 40.04, his personal yacht, that as I have found later was fully equipped for racing. It was a windy and cold morning blowing over 20 knots, gusting 30 but the waters of the Kolding Fjord were protected, and we (me and my wife) were used to sail in strong winds. 

We had changed 3 years ago from a traditional 80-year-old heavy wooden sailboat to a brand new Bavaria 36 equipped with all sorts of extras to make it a better sailboat (lead keel, bigger mast, top cruising offshore sails). We had already made many thousands of miles, enough to know that, contrary to what we had thought, the Bavaria was not the perfect sailboat, neither the boat we would keep for the retirement days.

The Bavaria 36 was a 2003 model bought in 2002, in Palma de Maiorca, and sailed home by us to Portugal. Equipped as it was it had many qualities: it was very light, sailed very well in light to medium winds, was fast downwind, but with strong wind and waves, against the wind, it was a deception: it had not the power or stability to sail close to the wind, and I had to open the angle a lot to generate the power to sail, resulting in a very poor VMG. 

Because I was faster than friends that had similar boats (faster upwind than an Oceanis 393) I soon understood that it was not about the Bavaria but about the type of design, beamy boats with a low B/D, and my trip to Denmark, to test the Luffe 40.04, had to do with finding out how it would be to sail a boat that was the opposite from the Bavaria, narrow and with much more ballast, one that I was sure would have not the problem Bavaria had, sailing upwind, in strong conditions.

The 36ft Bavaria had 3.60m beam, the 39,4ft Luffe had 3.40m, the Bavaria displaced 4700 kg, while the Luffe displaced 6000kg. The Bavaria had a 28.5% B/D on a non bulbed lead keel (option), with 1.95m draft and the Luffe a 40%B/D on a lead keel with a kind of torpedo, meaning a keel with a low CG with more draft (2.08) and much more ballast.

When Oluf took the Luffe out of the Marina and started to pull the main out I was really surprised: it was a racing 3D carbon sail with no reefs! I had no idea how he was going to sail the boat with that big sail with no reefs in a strong wind. 

I would have certainly not tried, but Oluf is a great sailor, an accomplished racer, and only with the main up he managed to sail the Luffe, depowering the sail when it was needed, and that means almost all the time. 

Well, we could not only see how the boat sailed but we also learned one or two things about sailing on the limit, like if the Luffe was a dinghy. 

Luffe 40.04

Even if not with the right sails, we could see that the boat went fast on all points of sail, but it was really the ability to close on the wind, even without the proper sail set-up, that really surprised us. Probably something like 10º or 15º closer than with the Bavaria, very fast and with the kind of power that would keep it going even against waves.

I loved the boat and the way it sailed but my wife, that knew already something about boats (we had already tried several different types of sailboats), excluded it right away from the list of possible replacements for the Bavaria: 

The Luffe, out of light winds is a boat that sails always with a considerable heel, and on that particularly windy day, it heeled a lot, even more, to depower the sails, with Oluf having fun, and never losing control.

The narrow hull gives a lot less form stability than a beamy one but to the bigger stability corresponds a bigger drag and the need for bigger sails. Because the Luffe had a much bigger B/D on a deeper and more efficient keel, the power/drag was much bigger than the one on our Bavaria, and the motion upwind more comfortable, due to finer entries and less beam but to get power the Luffe needs to heel, to maximize the ballast effect.

For a cruising 40ft sailboat the Luffe 40.20 offers a minimalist interior, one that probably would not be bigger than the one of the current 36ft Bavaria (C38) that has 3.98m beam! a 24.3% B/D! on a cast iron keel with a torpedo and 2.05m draft. 

The difference between the way this Bavaria will sail, compared to the Luffe, will be bigger than the one with my older Bavaria, and the difference in speed, in most situations, also. I find this Bavaria a mystery and it is hard to understand how the 2003 Bavaria 36 displaced 4700kg and the C38 (also a 36ft) displaces 9070kg. 

                                                     Below Bavaria C38

The Luffe 40.20 is in fact the same hull I sailed 16 years ago but with some nice alterations like a new and more modern cabin design, 5 cm more freeboard to increase the interior height, an even better-looking interior, a bowsprit with an integrated anchor stand, two steering wheels (continues to have a tiller as an option) and a swimming platform.

The 40.20 looks gorgeous even if I find that a more modern bow would make it look better and improve the performance slightly, by increasing the LWL. And about performance, I bet that by now what many would really like to know is what the overall sail performance of the Luffe really is, if compared with other well-known fast yachts.

Well, in light wind it has really a very good and sweet performance, one that amazed the test sailors from the European biggest sail magazine, and they test a huge amount of sailboats each year. They have also found that the rudder sensibility was great, even in those conditions, when the feeling is many times lacking. If you read german you can download the full test on the link, if not you can at least watch the video. https://www.yacht.de/yachten_jollen/bootstests/im-test-luffe-4020-facelift-eines-ausnahmebootes-127744

But the best information, as usual, is from racing and a Luffe 40.04 has made the last Middle Sea Race, the boat on the photo, Prettynama2, with full track decks and with the crew not even bothering seating on the rail while going close upwind. 

That shows on the results, being the Luffe overall only 25th in 34 that finished the race, but even if we know that the boat was not sailed as well as others, the comparative results in real-time can give some good information, especially because we can access the times in different phases of the race, with different wind and points of sail.

If we consider the full race, which had many different points of sail and wind conditions, the  Luffe in real time made it in 5 days, 16 hours, and 38 minutes, slower by 4 hours and a half than a very well sailed J109 (8th overall), one hour and a half and two hours faster than the other two J109, also better sailed (13th and 14th overall).

It was about one and a half-hour faster than a Sunfast  3200 and a JPK 10.10, also better sailed (11th and 12th overall). It was slower than a J122E by 18 hours and slower than a JPK 10.80 by 12 hours, but these two boats were extremely well sailed, and that's why they were 4th and 5th overall, while the Luffe was only 25th overall. 

There was also a Pogo 36 racing, with a duo crew. They finished the race but retired after finishing, probably because the results were bad. On a race without strong winds, the Pogo 36 was always slower than the Luffe on all points of sail, and on all intermediate points, losing more, upwind, and curiously downwind with weak to medium-weak winds.

If we look at the first part of the race, which was raced with very weak winds, mostly upwind, we can see from the real times at the end of the Messina Strait, that, even if in the overall provisional classification the Luffe was only 23th, in real-time it was faster than the JPK 10.80, faster than all J109 and only 16 minutes slower than the J122E, with 1 day, 3hours and 29 minutes of racing time.

From the Messina Strait till rounding Stromboli Island, it was almost always close to the wind with stronger winds and even if the Luffe was not making a great race (19th overall) in real-time was now one hour and a half slower than the J122E (14th), but half an hour faster than the better sailed JPK 10.80 (9th) and considerably faster than all other supra mentioned boats.

To understand how good Luffe is in light wind and upwind performance if compared with the lighter but much beamier Pogo style sailboats, even racing ones, we can see that in Stromboli the top racing Class 40 "Made in Midi", professionally skippered by Kito de Pavant, with a full crew,  had only 4 hours and a half advantage (in 38 hours of racing) and the Luffe was 2 hours and a half faster than Vaquita, the other racing Class 40 and 4 hours faster than the Pogo 36.

It is good to remember that the Class 40 is a full racing boat, very light, almost without interior, huge draft, water ballasts, the Pogo 36 is much lighter than the Luffe with a very spartan interior, and that the Luffe 40.04 had teak on the deck, over the cabin and cockpit and had a very high-quality cruising interior.   

It was on the last part of the race, beam reaching and downwind, that the Luffe lost more for the J122E and the JPK 10.80, maybe more than it was expected due to probably a tired crew, because they were also losing more in compensated time. But this gives a pretty good idea of the Luffe performance, outstanding in light wind, very good upwind, and fast, but less good than beamier fast yachts, beam reaching and downwind (out of light winds).

Overall a J122E or an XP38 are faster than a Luffe 40.20, except in light wind; downwind with medium-high winds and strong winds the Pogo 36 will be much faster, but not faster in what regards to overall performance, depending on wind strength. In what regards to sailing performance maximization it is pretty much the opposite of the Pogo, having a stellar performance where the Pogo is weaker, and vice-versa.

The Luffe is a pretty fast little boat but it is not only about sailing fast, but about going fast with style and in a minimal way. Being so narrow gives you the sensation of sailing a very nimble smaller yacht, with smaller sails, and a smaller but incredibly beautiful and well-finished interior.

The interior, the galley, the head and the cabins would be the size you would expect on a 36ft boat and smaller than the one of the very beamy 36ft boats, like the Bavaria C38 or a Pogo 36.

The kind of sailor that will choose a Luffe 40.02 will be a very particular one, kind of a romantic guy that doesn't need much space to live, but will not dispense the coziness and quality of the Luffe interior as well as the particular way the boat sails, fast, either while racing or cruising.

The sailors that would buy a Pogo 36 or a Luffe 40.02 have in common the love for fast sailing, but a different type of fast sailing, and the ones that will buy a Pogo would never buy a Luffe, and vice-versa. Having in common being fast the two yachts are opposed in many sailing performance aspects and in the interior concept, as a cruising boat.

Both sailors will not need much to be happy while cruising, but the guy that likes the Pogo enjoys having much more space, doesn't mind a spartan interior, the guy with the Luffe, doesn't mind having a much smaller interior, but would not miss a luxurious and cozy interior, the kind of guy that prefers small and perfect, than bigger, even if functional. 

Ideally, a boat for a couple, or a couple with kids, being the aft cabin surprisingly big for a boat of this size, while still having a sufficient outside storage space, even for extended cruising. The water tankage is low, with only 160L but it should be possible to add a 100L supplementary tank.

Bavaria C38

The 30hp engine will be able to drive the sleek boat at decent speeds with a low diesel consumption and that, and the huge sailing potential with light winds, explains the small diesel tankage: 90L. This is a boat for sailors and the ones that use this boat as a sailing boat use the engine as an auxiliary one.

Having a Luffe 40.20 has another advantage: the hull is 17 years old and it looks almost as well now as it looked 17 years ago and the boat performance, 17 years later, continues to be a great one. How many boats will look that good 17 years after their launch? And presumably, it will look as good 17 years from now, simply because that type of hull, maximized for light wind and upwind sailing has reached a plateau, many years ago.

The only comparable boat is the Faurby 400, a very similar boat, curiously also built in Denmark and not very far from the Luffe shipyard. The building quality is high and very similar, both boats using a steel grid as structure, having sandwich hulls and decks, vinylester for the Faurby, vinylester or epoxy for the Luffe, divinycel as core for both and instead of bonding agents they use lamination for fixing the structure and bulkheads to the hull and deck.

The finish is amazing in both boats being the Faurby more traditional on the interior design and cabin design. The Luffe is just a bit more performance-oriented and with a better regatta track record, but in what regards cruising I would say that they are pointed to the same type of sailor, the boat dimensions are very similar.

If not for using it mostly as a racing boat, the choice between them will be a question of personal taste since what they offer in sail performance, cruising amenities and prices is not very different. The new 40.02 looks just a bit less classic than the Faurby 400.

Faurby 400

For the quality, the prices seem correct, taking into account that these boats are very well built, have an incredible finish, have 6 winches, a lot of equipment and the prices, contrary to most other yachts, refer to boats on the water and ready to sail away with sails, basic electronics in the case of the Faurby.

The Luffe costs standard 243 624 € and the Faurby 277 143 €, the Faurby seems to come with slightly more equipment standard but both boats have a big list of options that will be needed to make them look like the ones on the photos. Both prices are at the shipyard without taxes. Beauty, perfection and quality do not come cheap, that's for sure.

Faurby 400

Anyway, the equipment offered on the sail away version is different on both boats and only a comparison with similar equipment will provide a more accurate price difference, but I would say it would not be over the price that one should buy one or another.

These boats offer Hallberg Rassy quality, if not superior (in fact in what regards hull building they have a superior quality) and because they are much narrower and with a much smaller interior they offer a better performance/interior quality/ price ratio and will be an interesting choice for individualists that have very particular tastes, as different from the herd as these cruisers are different from all others.

Faurby 400

The survival of both brands through decades shows that sailors with a passion for narrow beautiful performance yachts, mixing a luxury finish with a particular type of superior sail performance, never mind the small interior, continue to exist, and justify the existence of both shipyards. 

And I am very happy that is the case, it would be a shame that such beautiful boats like Luffe or Faurby ceased to exist. The boat market would be poorer without these two family brands, still owned by the same sail enthusiasts that had created them.

Their sailboats remind us of the true meaning of the word yacht, by opposition to sailboat cruiser, remembering us that a yacht was once always connected with a luxury finish, perfection, and beauty.