PAULO'S YACHT, MY BOAT, IS FOR SALE (Alma I, a 2007 Comet 41s)

No, unfortunately it is not because I am going to buy a new one, but because, for personal and family reasons, I cannot spend anymore 5 months of a year living and cruising in a sailboat, and I don't see the point in having a boat for cruising for just some days in a year.

I am 71 years old and, as most with this age, have some health problems, but my wife is 74 and has more problems than me. But mostly my mother-in-law is well over 90, and even if she is in remarkable good shape, and still lives alone (with the occasional support of a student that lives in her house) needs now more attention than we can provide, being 5000km away for 5 months.

So, sadly, this will be our last season on Alma.

I can deliver the boat still this year, beginning of September, probably in any med port or marina provided the sale is concluded with time to sail the boat there, arriving before the end of September. I will go to Crotone on May 2nd, and I will be there for at least 15 days, preparing the boat for the this season, then I will cross to Greece and I will sail to the Aegean, and I will cruise there, unless a sale arrangement is made before we sail away, and in that case we can rearrange our cruising program. 

Two recent launches in the Crotone shipyard, where I have
kept the boat for winter on the last 3 or 4 years.

The new owner can come along on the delivery trip to be familiarized with Alma. The yacht is registered in Monfalcone Italy, and can be sold through any agency in Italy. If the new owner is from the European Union the Italian registry can be maintained. The boat is in the process of being surveyed by RINA (mandatory in Italy every 5 years) and will have a new safety certificate valid for 5 years (as well as a new sprayhood).

I would like any sailor genuinely interested in buying Alma to test sail the boat first, staying with us some days aboard, if needed, while cruising during this season, to decide if this is the boat he is looking for. Of course, this after a previous inspection and if after that inspection the buying intent is maintained, and the price is defined, pending the sale on the testing results.

The Comet 41 S has very fine entries and that
 and a moderated beam allows for a smaller drag
 and a very good performance in lighter winds.

About the boat, if you have read the previous articles on the blog you will know that Alma is a performance cruiser belonging to the 2nd group, a high performance sailboat, and I can tell you that among this type of boat it is one of the few that have a very good, confortable and nice cruising interior, and for the size, the one with the bigger storage space, inside and outside.

The Comet 41s is a true cruiser-racer that can be prepared for racing or for cruising. When I bought it, 14 years ago,  it was prepared, and was used almost exclusively for racing, and I had a lot of work, and spent a lot of money to turn it into a very fast performance cruiser.

It has a 12.46m HL, a 3.92m beam and a 2.25m draft. With 8000kg of displacement it displaces enough fot having a very considerable overall stability, and with 2500kg  ballast, in lead, in a bulbed L keel (31,3% B/D) has enough ballast, deep enough, to have a good safety stability. It has a deep single rudder connected with a huge steering wheel that allows to have a fantastic rudder sensibility and control, having a great resistance to broaching, allowing time to correct the sails in case of a strong gust. 

The big wheel also allows several very confortable sitting whelming positions.

It has a huge sail area that allows a great performance in light winds and that can be easily adjusted to different winds and different sailing mods, from sportive to easy motion. The boat sails very well only with the frontal sail, even if its area is reduced to the one of a jib or less. In that configuration it can go upwind better than main market boats with two sails. With the main and the genoa 135% it had originally a sail area of 108m2 and a SA/D of 27.5% that I find a bit two much for cruising. The new sails are slightly smaller and the present SA/D should be around 24/25. Remember that this is a relatively narrow boat and that it needs less sail area than a beamier boat to go at the same speed.

While cruising it is not difficult to go fast with this boat. Between 8 and 9kt it is an easy speed to reach with medium winds, with weaker winds it is an easy boat to sail between 7 and 8 knots. Downwind with stronger winds it is not difficult to reach double digit speeds, but on a loaded cruising boat of this size you don't want to sail  much faster than 10/11 kt, even if I have sailed at 14.5kt, with 40kts and just a small bit of genoa out, but it was not because I was choosing to, but because on this boat it is hard to bring the speed down with stronger winds. That is an advantage because the boat needs very few sail to sail in strong winds and that makes the sails more manageable. In light conditions, prepared for racing under geenaker or spy it makes easily 14k and with a good racing crew it can make 18 or 20kt. In the prototype first sea test they reached 18kt.

Some years ago in Nea Paramos. You can see quite well the shape
of the transom. the transom is designed to minimize drag and to let
 the boat heel upwind without increasing in a significant way drag.
That is one of the reasons why upwind performance is so good.

I remember one night, along the Italian coast with about 18/20 kt wind, sailing at night and wanting to bring the speed down from 8kt to 4.5/5 knots to arrive at the anchorage of Cape Palinuro with daylight and not being able to do it. I took all the main down, put just a little bit of genoa and even so I could not have the boat  doing less than 6 kts.

This is a great boat for having if you like to have fun sailing, have fun catching other boats and still having a comfortable boat to live aboard, with lots of storage and water tankage (400L). 

Specially upwind, in any wind conditions, and in lighter winds this boat is amazing and you won't believe the size of sailing boats (main market cruising boats) this boat is able to oversail, sailed practically solo: I have lost count of boats between 50 and 60ft that I overtook. In lighter winds you can have another kind of fun, that is overtaking, while sailing, cruising sailboats that are motoring. Maybe you are not like me, but I have a lot of fun doing both things.

Upwind the performance is so good that when you have stronger conditions and waves, if you go tacking against the wind you will find out that you will end up doing the same speed of a main market boat that goes directly against the wind and waves, motoring.

The Comer 41s was designed in 2006 by Vallicelli the one that designed Azzurra,
the first Italian entry in the America's cup, that made it to the semi-finals.

That's a boat for the ones that really enjoy sailing and not a boat fot absolute beginners, but because the boat has 3 reefs and sails well only with a frontal sail, if you are careful, even if you are used to a much less powerful boat, you can learn a lot about sailing and how to sail properly solo a powerful boat with easiness. When I bought this boat, 14 years ago, I was used to a 36ft main market boat and I was already an experienced sailor (20.000 nautical miles), but I have become a much better sailor with this boat that I have learned to sail and exploit over the years.

The Comet 41s had a MKII in 2013. On the two photos above you can see my
boat side by side with the new model, that had the same interior but a two wheel
steering system instead of a single big wheel, and an integrated bowsprit, that
 looks nicer but made marina places more expensive. The hull was the same but
 the LOA passed from 12.46 to 12.74 because the bow sprint is not retractable.
 The photo was taken in 2014 in the Comar shipyard (Comar was the brand that
 made Comet) and at the time, in casual talk, one of the workers said to me my
 boat was a better boat, and that they had cut corners to lower the price. Looking
 at the new boat I could see that the mast and boom were of lower quality, that
 the genoa track was not as big and that the hatch that gave access to the interior
 was a wooden one, and not a strong plexiglass one, and that the running
 rigging was simplified and less efficient.

And for the ones that like sailing, there is an added pleasure in having a boat that will help you to become a better sailor. There is much pleasure in learning. The ones that like sports cars and sports motorbikes know what I am talking about. In a light sports car, without having any risk, the car will inform you about all driven mistakes in what regards car balance, while curving, and you can feel it and therefore improve your driving skills.

The same with this boat. If the rudder is not light, you are doing something wrong, but the boat remains controllable even if the wheel becomes heavier, or even really heavy. When you are doing everything right the wheel is really light and very informative. Going upwind close to the wind and waves, you can pick your way, avoiding waves and slamming choosing your way with an amazing precision, and without effort.

On this test you have a good report about the boat: https://www.yachtsandyachting.co.uk/equipment/boat-tests/comet-41s-review/

Here you have a 2013 test of the Comet 41s MKII, with the same hull and same interior (the boat on the video cover is not a MKII, it is a MKI, a sistership of my boat). Take into account that the sail tester is a huge guy, well over 1,90m ( 6.2ft ). I am 1,87m (6.1 ft ) and don't touch the ceiling anywhere:

 

"The hull and deck are made from Airex sandwich, combining unidirectional and biaxial fibres and epoxy – vinylester resin. The Airex is glued to the skins using vacuum bagging and the reinforcements are layered directly on to the hull. Deck is first sticked to the hull and subsequently laminated. The combination of in-laminated frames, bulkheads and spar ceilings gives the hull additional solidity."https://old.naucat.com/katalog/en/sailing-boats/cruiser-racer/comet-41-s-comar-yachts/

There are 6 winches and two rollers (ahead of the cabin winches ) that allow
the other winch to be used if one of the winches over the cabin is occupied.
The two aft work with German sheeting (you can use any of them to let go the
 main or to pull it in).You have 3 confortable sitting positions, aft the wheel,
 with the wheel between your legs (and the feet on the steering column) or to the
other side of the wheel and on this position you will be able to work with the
 aft winches (mainsail) and and with the traveller from the main, while seated.

My boat has 6 Harken winches, big Harken mainsheet traveller, two big Harken genoa travellers, one of the winches is electric (to put the main sail up easily), has an hydraulic backstay, removable bowsprit, main with German sheet system, cars with balls on the mainsail, 3 reefs in the main, two automatic (one line) and one with two lines, battened tryradial main and 40% tryradial genoa. It has also a geenaker, a storm sail and a reserve jib (repaired).

I have made many boat small modifications, and one of the main has to do with electric energy production and storage. Regarding that the last ones were made last year, changing all electrical system to work with li-ion batteries an expensive mod that included not only the batteries, but the enlargement of the casings to carry one more battery and the modification of all charging system to make it safe for this type of batteries. 

 

The solar panels are bonded to marine plywood for rigidity and are tied
directly to the steel frame. The frame of the original bimini was rigidified
 with transversal tubes and forward and aft ,with steel tubes that go directly
 to the transom, and the forward ones to the deck. A system of  lines prevents
 lateral movements. The round shades are the solar lamps that are secured in
two points by some lines. They are foldable and can be stored flat and that
is highly convenient to prevent them from turning upside down.

That involved not only changing settings but a top master volt controller for the battery charge and alternator charge, that disconnects the alternator charge when the batteries are full. Now the boat has 400ah on the main bank and 60ah for the engine, but in fact it corresponds to much more, if compared with normal acid or AGM batteries. The batteries are not only charged by the alternator but mainly by two Solbian 2x100W panels that deliver a measured 2x5A charge each. The standard 80A alternator was changed by one with 120A. The panels were reinforced with a maritime plywood base and mounted on the bimini structure, that is not foldable anymore and was vastly reinforced to be able to resist very strong winds. The reinforcement tubes that come to the deck proved to be also a very good addition for boat security, and easier movement in difficult conditions.

As you can see on the photo below there is space for two more panels
that we thought of mounting, but we gave up the idea after seeing 
that with those batteries the energy produced was enough for our needs.

Another alteration, that was made on the Comet (Comar) maintenance shipyard, regards safety: on the deck and cockpit were mounted permanent and almost invisible dyneema lines to attach a harness line.  All the lights, interior an exterior were changed to led (with the exception of three small reading lights).

The swimming ladder was modified in a way that can be stored without occupying much space. The original heavy passarella was substituted by a light foldable one. Both things are stored in the aft locker, under the cockpit, a big compartment, as well as many other items. That allows for a completely clean deck for using the gennaker.

But if you want to use one of the fridges as a freezer you can easily
more than double the actual solar power, from 200 to 500 w

The relatively heavy and strong acrylic glasses  that close the boat interior, that previously occupied a lot of space in one of the under-the-seat cockpit lookers and that were hard to store and to deploy (because the lookers are full of cruising stuff), are now smartly stored between the main traveller and the wheel pedestal with the aid of a removable table that is stored also there, and that has the right dimension to hold inside the two acrylic pieces. All is maintained in place by two lines and three pieces of foam, even in heavy weather they don't move. It took a lot of searching to find the table with the right dimensions to do that. Curiously I could not find them in Italy, but only in Portugal.

The fixation of the dinghy over the deck is made using the fixing points of the permanent lines for attaching the line for the harness and the lines themselves in a way that makes the fixation incredibly solid. Worst weather I got was a F10 with waves crashing over the boat.The dinghy was there and remained there without any problem.

 We have been bettering  the way we fix the dinghy to the boat, at sea and at
anchor, where you can also get strong winds. Today we fix it in a more effective
way, not allowing it to move neither laterally neither forward or backwards. 
Below the bigger cockpit cover that is good with winds up to 20kt.

While at anchor you can maintain the dingy in position but bringing it slightly up with the spinnaker halyard giving plenty light to the forward cabin.

When the dinghy is in place a line goes from the mast over the dinghy to the bow, allowing for safe passage to the front with a central line to hold or to connect the harness line.

The boat had two big shades that were attached by a zipper to the lazy bag. Soon we found out that in any other conditions except light winds they were not usable, increasing much the wind drag the boat suffered at anchor, flapping around.

We substituted that shade by many shades, for different wind conditions and even to be used while sailing, supplementing the fixed bimini over the wheel. One of the reasons to reinforce and  fix the bimini structure was to be able to use it as a fixing point for cockpit shades.

I am not at the boat and I don't know exactly how many shades we have, maybe 6, that go from a big one that shades all cockpit, and that can be used with medium winds, to smaller ones that can be used with stronger winds, supplemented with side ones if necessary. 

The cockpit space and length is big enough for having six comfortably seated 
with plenty of space or to sleep outside on passage, or just because someones 
 feels like  doing it, because the interior is hot.

Also two other dedicated shades, one for the big  front cabin hatch (can be mounted with or without the dinghy there) and another one for the three saloon hatches. They can be mounted low and can be used with a lot of wind. There is also a cover for the dinghy, to prevent it from being damaged by the sun.

You may find all this odd, but if you like to sail you like wind and the wind makes the summer climate in the med much more cooler, but if you expose yourself to the sun, trusting the freshness of the wind for cooling, you will suffer bad sun burns and risk, sooner or later, cancer skin. That's why we give so much importance to shades, and how they perform under different conditions.

We often use the shades at night for keeping the humidity out and we have several foldable solar lights, that are stored over the bimini for recharging ( 6 more new ones this year) that allow for a very good lightening of the cockpit space, for dinning outside, or to receive friends. 

We have also very comfortable and practically new cockpit cushions (6, with back rest) that we use only on these occasions. We have other (inexpensive) cushions to use while sailing.

That lights can also be used to supplement the top of the mast anchor light in very busy anchorages to make the boat more visible.

Sometimes a smaller cockpit cover (above) is all you need to have a shade.
Very good in very windy days, that are common in the Aegean and where the
cockpit remains very agreeable, ,due to the sprayhood protection.

40 years of cruising with mostly staying in anchorages have given us a lot of knowledge about what was important for cruising, and on our boat there is a lot of equipment that reflects that knowledge, some are small things like 20m long ropes with big rubber shock absorbers that in very strong winds, while at anchor, we incorporate in a special system that has the finality to make it impossible, in really bad weather, violent shocks to reach the anchor (a violent shock is what may pull the anchor out). 

Or a special simple gadget to allow an easy recovery of our anchor when it gets stuck in another chain (it can happen when you are med moored to a quay), or two different ways to measure quickly the depth of the water behind the boat when you go backwards to a quay, to avoid to hit the bottom with the rudder. Simple things that can turn out to be very important.

Four years ago all the upholstery was changed and one of the back cabins was transformed permanently in a big storage compartment (can be reversed) and the boat has now two cabins and two heads. All the cabins, including the one transformed to storage, have a wardrobe and a lower storage compartment and the saloon has cabinets on both sides, having the galley, that is a big one, a good combined storage and a sea water tap for a first washing of the dishes. The boat has two refrigerators and one of them can work as a freezer.

 

On the storage cabin, below a wooden floor, is the main pantry. We like good bottled water for drinking and there is space there for 60 liters of bottled water, 10 bottles of wine and a lot of groceries. Over it (maintaining  free a space to open that storage) we have two scooters, the already mentioned outside cushions, the sunshades, a fishing rod, medical supplies, books and a lot more things. When we change the place where we winter the boat the big bag with the outside yacht cover goes there as well.

The movie above is recent, this photo has already some years. The television 
was changed as well as the upholstery. When I left the boat in October, I was
not thinking in selling it. Posterior events led to that decision, The boat is in
 Italy and I am in Portugal and that's the reason I have to use the photos I
 already have.

The boat has been always stored for winter protected with a strong cover, that has come with the boat when I bought it, but that has been repaired and modified to offer less resistance to strong winds, and to not accumulate water in puddles.

Besides the mentioned storage spaces there are more spaces, under the chart table, under the chart seat, under the cabin beds (including the one that was transformed in a storage space) and under the seats on the saloon. This is a performance cruiser that has more storage spaces than almost all main market cruisers of the same size. My wife is very sensible to that and when I was searching for a new boat (that turned to be this one), several others were dismissed by her for not having enough storage space. She had a veto power about that and about a comfortable interior, I had a a veto power in what regards boat sailing performance and it was hard to find out a boat that satisfied us both.

Outside you have an excellent storage, a really amazing one for a performance cruiser, starting with a good chain locker that contains 75 meters of special 8mm chain (Maggi Aqua 7, same strength as a regular 10 mm chain), plus 25 meters of dyneema rope. I don't like to have weight at the bow and that's why I substituted the original 50m 10mm chain for 75m of a special high resistance expensive 8mm chain. The total weight is about the same.

Then you have a separate sail locker that has a storm sail, a Geenaker and still has space for 4 or 5 fenders and space for bags of garbage (for when you stay several days without going ashore). 

The boat was always maintained out of the water for winter storage.
The strong cover, that come with the boat when I bought it was
modified to offer to the wind less resistance.

The bulkhead between that compartment and the rest of the boat was fiberglassed and painted with epoxy to make it waterproof because in heavy weather with lots of water running over the bow, it is impossible to prevent the ingress of a small quantity of water to that compartiment. A water pump was installed to take that water out.

Under the cockpit seats there are two big lockers and a huge locker aft, under the cockpit, with all steering chains and mechanisms (hydraulic auto pilot) inside a separate wooden box, that is easily opened for inspection. The boat has 8 fenders, lots of ropes, an aluminium fortress second anchor with chain and dynema cable (main anchor is a Spade), electric cable, extension for electric cable, hose and extension for the hose, containers for 50 liters of spare fuel, different quay electricity adaptors and much more equipment that I will not have the trouble to mention, and all, except an extra big fender (that we store at the stern near the outboard), are kept in outside storage lockers. 

I have tried several anchors and I am fully satisfied with the Spade. 

I have used it on the last 23 years and when I bought this boat the first thing I did was selling the original Delta anchor to install an expensive brand new Spade. The Spade or the Rocna are among the best anchors and they work well, or very well, in almost all bottoms except soft mud, where these type of anchors do not excel.

Alma at anchor

For that you have the Fortress that has a special setting for soft mud and that works really well in those types of bottoms.

It works also very well as secondary anchor with other bottoms, with a huge holding power in sand or hard mud, when the main anchor is not able to do the job. I have never needed to use it for that, because even with more than 40kt winds the Spade never needed any help. 

There is a thing in which the Spade is better than any other: it has almost 50% of the weight over the tip of the anchor, due to having lead inside.

That means that in difficult bottoms, like very hard sand or some types of grass, you don't set the anchor, but just leave it there and it will bury itself in, due to small movements over the tip. If you try to set the anchor the normal way it will not hold, but if you try the other way and pull the boat backwards one hour after you launched the anchor you will discover that the anchor is set and holds well.

The Comet 41s has a big water tankage, for this type of boat, with two 200L water tanks in the aft part of the boat and a 150L inox diesel tank on the side, in the middle of the boat, the opposite side of the galley. The batteries are at the middle of the boat, under the separate seat of the table, and over it there is a storage space that we use for groceries and for dishes, that when the boat is sailing with heel have a tendency to rush out when we open one of the galley cabinets.

I don't have any photos of Alma sailing viewed from the outside so I have
 to resource to sisterships for you to have an idea. 

The keel has never hit the ground, only the very rare touch in sand or mud (a couple of times) at very low speed. The keel has already been tightened two times and I am thinking into tightening it again this year. There has never been any water intrusion inside the boat and all seacocks have been replaced (the last ones two years ago), with the exception of the ones on the back of the boat: one pair is out of water and the other pair regards the wheel well. They look good, with no corrosion but in some years will have to be changed for precaution. 

The main difference for those sisterships is that my boat does not have 
 teak  and that is probably an advantage unless you want to pay and
 install a new one because in boats 15 years old and over, that sail under
 the hot med sun, they would have to be replaced by now. Besides on the
 med you cannot walk barefoot over teak in the summer. Some of them
have also racing sails. My boat has good cruising sails, that are more
 durable and more resistant to flapping, and an aluminium wheel instead
of a carbon wheel that you see in some boats.

The standing rigging was substituted some years ago (2016) from rod to cable, because cable is more forgiven, lasts a lot more and does not have to be dismounted for inspection every 4 years. The rigging was fully inspected by a rigger in 2023 and found in good condition, with a good tuning (tuned by me). Some years ago I modified the forestay including a piece that allows it to be tuned, and the boat has an hydraulic backstay.

The saildrive main seal was changed in 2021, the engine had a big revision (taken out of the boat) in 2015 and 2021 and will have a revision this year, with valve tuning and cleaning and revision of the heat exchanger. The engine water pumps were substituted in 2021. 

The Comet 41s can be used as a performance cruiser or a racer. Mine, the
way it is equipped  will do very well as a performance cruiser and well
in club racing. Equipped more for racing and less for cruising can do well in
 racing at high level. 

The engine does not have any abnormal oil consumption (less than half a liter for season), it is not much used, because I sail most of the time and the engine has always been serviced with full synthetic oil, that increases overall protection but also increases a bit oil consumption. I use the engine way below the suggested cruising rotation that is about 2.900 rpm in an engine that supposedly makes 3400 rpm (it makes less due to the bigger alternator), I use it almost always at about 2000rpm (betweem 1500 and 2.200 rpm) cruising at about 5 to 5.5kt when the maximum boat speed with full engine is over 7kt.

On the top and on the two photos above you have Prospettica that has done well in racing, not only with a crew but also solo. Look at the link:
https://nonsolonautica.it/01/10/2019/diporto-nautico/sport/vela-roma-giraglia-2019-al-fotofinish-prospettica-brucia-sir-biss/

The engine is a Lombardini 40hp, it has a good reliability (it is widely used in tractors) and the pieces are not expensive. The saildrive is also Lombardini and had a big revision in 2022. It is in good condition and I only change the water seals every 2 years, without any water ingress.

The gennaker

The sails are made from a good material for cruising sails, assuring a good relation between performance and durability (DCX - polyester with an internal grid). The main is 2 years old, the genoa 3 years old. The geenaker came with the boat and I rarely use it. It is in good condition, never repaired and it has a snuffer, for easier handle.

The electronics are still original models, but the depth sounder and the controller of the autopilot were changed by new instruments from the same model, in 2014, after a big storm that brought so many waves over the boat, for so long, that they stopped functioning. The wind instrument is not working and I will not replace it because I don't need it. But if someone uses a lot the autopilot in difficult sea conditions, the wind steering can be advantageous.

Sailing with over 25 knots of wind with a main on the 2nd reef and the 
genoa a bit furled.

The boat has radar (that is fully functional) and two original Simrad plotters, one inside and and one outside. I don't use them because it is so expensive to have actualized charts on a plotter that I prefer to use an waterproof tablet where I have actualized charts not only from C-Maps, but also from Navionics, at a fraction of the price.

 The tablet can be fixed outside over the chart plotter and the screen is way bigger than the one on the chart plotter. If you buy the boat I will have a new tablet, from the same model, for you.

 The Comet 41s demands some experience to be sailed fast, but if you don't have much experience and act carefully you can adquire that experience. Here the boat is steered upwind by my godson that has no sailing experience, with exception of the three times he spent some days with us in the boat. He likes sailing and learns quickly.

 I have been sailing with this set-up for several years, and you can do the same, but the electronics are outdated and if I was buying this boat, I would contemplate a substitution that I had thought of doing several times. It is not the price of new electronics that it is high, it is the price of installation that I find abusive. I never have been with the boat for the winter in a place where I could have a good service at a fair price. Maybe where I have the boat now (in Crotone) that can be possible. There is a new electrician and electronics guy working in my boat to solve some problems, but I have still to see how good he is with electronics. He is good as a marine electrician, that I know already.

 In this video the boat sails downwind fast on autopilot while I am doing a video. At some point my wife was faking steering "for the photo". I joked with her and she took the autopilot off. It took some time for her to get the right grip on the boat. She was overcompensating.

The dinghy is good and brand new (last year- Arimar 2.40m soft line ), it has wheels to be pulled up on the beach to a place where it can be locked with a chain, the engine is almost new (2 years and maybe 2 or 3 hours of use), a Suzuki 4 stroke 6hp, and the two together work well, not really for speed, but for low consumption, power, and autonomy, and enough power to go through difficult conditions. 

 An older movie, bur the only one where I have the boat going fast really close to the wind. It also gives a good idea of the boat performance in light winds even if we are using a jib and not the 135% genoa, that the boat has now. With the genoa the performance in light winds is much better, and that's why we prefer it to the jib.

I decided to have a more powerful engine when in Siracusa I had trouble going back to the boat with 25kt wind and small waves. The older engine, that is the one among the ones with 2,5hp with more torque (bigger displacement), a Tohatsu 2,5hp, that normally only needed to go a bit above idling point to move the dinghy, had trouble going forward at almost full throttle, with so much effort that I was afraid the engine would break down.

I am very satisfied with the dinghy and engine. Now I can leave the boat on a good anchor spot and do some miles to a restaurant, or to go to a town shopping, without other concern than getting wet, if the wind picks up.

Alma has not a bowthruster but contrary to beamier hulls with all the beam pulled back and two rudders it, has an amazing maneuverability and it can turn practically on its axis, so if you go backwards to a marina place you will be able to go on a narrow channel and turn easily to a place.

About the price, I intend to sell the boat quickly and I would like to sell it to someone that would appreciate it as much as we do. The boat is in good sailing order, well maintained, better equipped for cruising than any other Comet 41s that you would find in the market, with almost new sails.

The engine has more hours than the average Comet 41s on the market (I do not know how many hours) even if I make very little hours each season (about 100/150 hours because I sail almost all the time) but it has been revised often and it is in good running order and the boat has lots of spare parts.

The Comet 41s was, when new, an expensive boat. You can see on the test summary from an Italian sail magazine (right side) that in 2006 this boat was much more expensive than the First 40, the Grand Soleil 40, the Dufour 40 or the Elan 40, and that had about the same price of a Wauquiez Centurion 40s (the prices mentioned are without VAT and without extras). They also show the huge increase in boat prices from 2006 to today, with prices almost doubling.

On the market the prices of an used Comet 41s vary between 113.000 and 124.000 euros. I will sell it for an intermediate price, 118.000 euros, with VAT paid. This particular boat, when it was bought new in 2007 cost 251673 euros (with a lower 20% VAT). Now a similar boat would cost more than 400.000 euros.

You can comment the post,as usual, but if you are interested in buying the boat please contact me by email (pernao.paulo@gmail.com). If you think this is a good deal, tell your friends.