SOLARIS 40, ON THE WATER

I confess to being a bit surprised by how good the boat looks on the water. It is a beamy boat with a considerable freeboard and the way it was disguised is truly amazing. I guess it has to do with the size of the portholes that are huge and also with that big chine.

Solaris 40 makes a lot of sense as a performance cruiser, maximizing interior space without making the boat ugly, maximizing downwind and beam reaching performance as well as the ability to sail fast with an auto-pilot with a limited heel, providing a more comfortable ride.

Of, course these maximizations make it also less suitable as a cruiser-racer, especially if upwind and weak wind sailing is involved. You cannot have everything, but for the majority that will buy this boat, this is by far the best compromise. 

Sure, the boat can sail upwind, it will have a better performance than mass-production cruisers (due to a bigger B/D and more RM), but going upwind with waves and medium winds will not be its strongest point, and you will have to open up for not slamming, due to the wide bow sections and will be slowed down by a big wave drag.

The increased drag is not only due to those wide bow sections but also due to the max beam, which at 4.10m is big for a fast performance cruiser, with a good overall sailing ability. But many that will sail this boat rarely will sail in difficult conditions, neither with big waves and much more will sail downwind than upwind. Anyway, the Solaris 40 has as an option a very powerful 60hp engine that will be used by many to sail upwind when the conditions are not perfect.

No wonder that in the first test on a Swiss lake, where there are no waves, the yacht performed brilliantly, impressing strongly the sail testers of Yacht.de magazine, that found it very good, in what concerns sailing performance, interior quality and storage.

Regarding performance Michalis, from FastSailing, where they have already a Solaris 40 doing charter, confirms the Yacht.de impression, saying that the clients have been impressed with the performance, that I would say, regards mostly to beam reaching with medium winds, where 9 knots seem not too difficult to reach.

Due to Covid limitations, I have not yet seen this Solaris, but I am quite sure we can trust the opinion of Yacht.de about interior quality and, it would be strange to be otherwise, because the other Solaris, even the 37 (out of production now) have a very good quality interior and finish. You can read the full Yacht.de test here: https://www.yacht.de/heft/test-solaris-40-teaser

You can also learn more about this yacht's design, dimensions, hull shape and how it compares with other fast sailboats looking here:

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2020/10/solaris-40-much-awaited-yacht.html

Talking about quality, it is not only in the interior that you can find it, the hull and deck are built using vacuum infusion, a sandwich composite with airex foam core, using vinylester resin, main and aft bulkheads in composite resined to the hull and deck, a structure laminated to the hull and a keel in cast iron, with a lead torpedo, to maximize the lowering of the CG.

I find the interior layout very well designed and the style looks very nice and comfortable. For a 40ft boat, it is one of the best cruising interiors I have seen, in everything, from the side and storage of galley to the size of the heads, one of them offering a bath cabin (on the two cabin version).

If someone will only cruise occasionally and does not use a gennaker or a code 0, the three-cabin version may have enough outside storage space for that type of use, but for more extensive cruising and for storing a gennaker and a code 0, not to mention storm sails and other cruising equipment, the two cabin version it is much more suited because any way you will be using one of the aft cabins for storage, without the added benefit of a separated bath cabin.

Maybe the only thing that does not make much sense is the standard draft of 2.40m, which is a lot for a 40ft boat that is not a cruiser-racer. They offer also a 2.00m optional draft, that will bring the boat displacement well over 10T. I would say that it would make much more sense for a standard draft 2.20m with a 2.50 and a 1.90/2.00  draft options.

Talking about market competition, this is a very clever design and competition is hard to find, because we cannot find any fast boat of this size with such a nicer interior.

I would say that in what regards sailing characteristics the closer will be the Grand Soleil 42LC (319 000€), which has a not very different displacement and a not very different hull, but it has not the sportive Solaris looks and will be slightly slower, especially in what regards downwind and beam reaching.

In the X-yacht range, we will have the X 4-0  (307900€) that is in fact a smaller boat (38ft) with a much smaller interior and the X4-3 (358500 €), that is bigger (42ft), faster upwind, faster with light wind and as fast or faster downwind and beam reaching, with a comparable interior (plus a sail locker), but considerably more expensive.

You will have also the new Arcona 415 (but with the old hull), a boat too classical for many, faster upwind, with weak wind, and probably slower beam reaching and downwind, but with a smaller interior and probably more expensive. You can also consider boats like the Salona 41, or the Elan E5, lighter, more sportive, but with a smaller interior, with a less quality finish, and I would say, also an overall inferior built quality, at a lower price.

Bottom point, the Solaris 40 has not really a direct competition at this point and, even if I don't like the direction the performance cruiser design is going, I have to say that commercially it makes sense, because it is this type of boat most sailors want, even the ones that look for performance boats, and in what regards designing a boat that will remain fast in many conditions, with the best and bigger cruising interior of any 40ft performance cruiser, at a price lower than 300 000 euros (without VAT), this yacht has no competition in what regards price for quality, interior space and performance.