ARCONA 380

That's a favorite boat, one that I would not mind to have (when I got older and the Comet 41s proves to be too much for me to handle eh! eh!), a beautiful fast boat with classic lines and a design criteria not far from the Comet with a big ballast ratio and a moderated beam. The boat was tested recently by Yachting Monthly and Chris Benson, normally very contained in his praises says wonders about the Arcona 380:

"If the 380 were a car, she would be an Aston Martin: a beautifully-engineered, luxurious and refined sports tourer, purring with power and control. ... For anyone who actively and genuinely enjoys the business of sailing, this boat is the benchmark. Drape an arm over the lifelines, check your position on the binnacle plotter, and luxuriate in a peerless helming experience, unrivalled among production boats. I defy anyone to sail this boat and not smile as she leans gently on a gust and surges forward. It's pure sailing pleasure.

She positively flies upwind. Her structural stiffness and ballast distribution allow her to carry full canvas when others will be reefing. Off the wind she glided across the water regally, accelerating with each extra knot, once again with the helmsman in total control. ...

...She's not a boat for beginners. For a start, she's got plenty of power - easily controlled if you know what you're doing but she might scare newbies. With a cockpit traveller, the falls of the mainsheet could catch the unwary during a gybe, too. Plus, if you're new to sailing, you should sail something else for a few years just so you can appreciate how good the 380 is.

If you're a dinghy-sailing couple looking for a classy, sporty cruiser then she could be right up your alley, likewise a couple with a more sedate cruising yacht looking to get a bit more excitement out of their time afloat as well as expanding their cruising range thanks to her effortless speed..."

more here:

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/reviews/boats/1/129184/arcona-380-yachting-monthly-review

If Arnaud is reading this he is probably thinking that this is the right boat for him and Vonnie and he would be absolutely right but this is an expensive one and very dificult to find on the used market where they have always high resale values, but then we only live once ;-)

Here the Swedish test on Hamnen (well I don't understand a thing of what they are sayng but I can read their expressions and I am quite sure they are saying nice things about the boat ;-)

SALONA 33

There is no secret that I have a soft spot for Salonas, I narrowly missed buying a 38ft (money problems) but the truth is that they are one of the brands that offer more for the money, if you just want something that sails better than a Bavaria or an Oceanis.

It is nice to see that I am not the only one thinking that way: On Yacht de. they tested the little 33ft and they said " Joyful adaptable Salona 33....with the 33ers can do everything from leisurely boat ride to tuned racer".

The boat test movie deserves a look and as usual you can download the full test for 2 euros.
Movie:
http://tv.yacht.de/video/Anpassungsfreudig%253A-Salona-33/d0c7e74cf31b09e15d00b9c866f8d51a

ALMA'S LOG: SIMI

Our French friends, on the First 30, invited us to meet their brother who is going to build a house on Simi and as we also wanted to visit this little Island, that was famous since ancient times by the quality and speed of their boats, it just suited us well and we kept sailing together, well not quite because the little First,even if fast, it is not a match for our boat and normally we arrived about 2 hours earlier. Simi is at only 25K from Rhodes but even so we had to wait a couple of days on anchor for the Meltemi to lower its power because nobody wants to go against the wind on a F6/7 facing the choppy 2/3m short period waves that are the rule on these parts. They can really stop you down and make a journey miserable.

The Island was quite an agreeable surprise with a very particular and nice traditional architecture that has some resemblance with the Croatian and none with the one of the Cyclades. The capital is just beautiful (and a great natural port) but again mass tourism is well developed and besides the many yachts looking for a place on the old port, at the end of the day you have truly a Turkish invasion, this time a pacific one and anyway only the boats are Turks (Traditional Gulets) since inside there are people of all parts and very few Turks. It is quite a view to see all those traditional boats, flying proudly their Turkish banners, entering port almost at the same time.

 

Simi has also a troubled history and has changed so many times of hands as Rhodes but here they have managed to maintain their culture and live quite well, no matter the occupying powers. 

The deal was simple: they were famous since ancient times for the quality and design of their boats (warships) and everybody knew that so, basically what they had to do was keep producing their famous boats to the new power in charge and that would allow them a degree of liberty unheard on the other occupied Islands. That has allowed them to diversify since due to that the fishermen of Symi were also allowed to dive for sponges that became a major source of income and one of the places with the biggest production on the med.

Talking about boats, Homero says that Symi boats were used on the invasion of Troy and the legend says that the most famous boat of ancient times, Argos, was a Symi boat. 

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Am-Ar/Argonauts.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonauts

 It is not only the capital that is interesting, there are a lot of nice small bays, unfortunately with quite a number of boats on anchor, but even so I was always able to find a place. A special reference to the natural port of Panormitis that is almost exclusively occupied by a Monastery that sits there for more than 500 years.

The Monks sell bread and cookies on a shop. I could not taste the bread but the cookies are just delicious.

http://www.symi.gr/en/panormitis.htm

Eric - POGO, A "POINTED SHOE BOX"?

According to one or another North American on the Sailnet "Interesting Sailboats" thread (now as dead as a dodo), these are no more than "pointed shoe boxes". I don't agree.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ivj235xmgjrt8k0/TriMen%20video%20augustus%202014%20NL.wmv?n=9253652

Hi Eric, what about your summer sailing? Looking at the video (nice one) it looks you are having fun ;-)

Who said that? Bob Perry? He said an Oceanis 38, also designed by Finot/Conq and with some similarities in what regards hull design, looked like a bloated tennis shoe :-)

The truth is that Sailnet is one of the most conservative boat forum around (to be nice) and the thread that I started with the same name as this Blog was really against the current but remember that you once were around that site  :-) Among hard conservatives and outdated boat designers you will find there also a substantial number of Americans interested in contemporary design, a minority but even so meaningful. By the way do you know that probably the majority of followers of this Blog are Americans? Probably a fair number of them followed the original interesting sailboat thread.

Regarding Pogos, this year I only saw one, a 12.50, in Kea, waiting as me and a Boreal 44, the bad weather and high winds to subside. The first one to leave was the Pogo, I leaved the next day (my wife really hates high winds and nasty waves) and the Boreal with a full crew staid there waiting for a better window so, I would say that the "pointed shoe box" is not only fast but is not afraid of bad weather LOL.

FROM CHICAGO, THE MAC RACE AND A BEAUTIFUL MOVIE

There are many sailing movies around but this one kind of touch the essence of Ocean racing and it is a beautiful one:

ALMA'S LOG - RHODES

The Old city of Rhodes is a great place, no doubt, but the lack of a place to anchor near the city, the almost impossibility to find a place at the local marina as well as the huge crowds of tourists take some shine from it. Let me tell that’s a strange place from the cruising view point: Several ports almost unused were you cannot stay and a huge marina that is still not finished after 10 years. The new marina is a local joke among the resident Greeks that say always that it is going to open next month :-)

There are lots of boats that anchor outside the walls, near the marina, but the holding is poor, the winds strong and I like to sleep well, knowing that the boat is not going to drag the anchor, so we chose a beach on the outskirts of the town, were some very nice and helpful fishermen live by.

We came to love the place, that has good shelter from the prevailing winds, places to leave the dinghy with the fishermen, nice and inexpensive restaurants near by.  It is  30m walking from the old town and a Taxi  there costs only 5 euros, even if they are hard to find around that beach.

Rhodes is great, deserves a long visit but after some time there are just too many tourists to my taste.

The city has been vastly destroyed by successive invasions but the majestic walls, mostly built by the knights of St John of Jerusalem, survived the passage of time as well as some old stone buildings and those are the highlights of the place.

The highlights unless you have come for the night time (wild) or for shopping touristic souvenirs on the streets. The streets, including the old stone houses have been submerged by tourist stores and restaurants that cover everything on a very Turkish (Arab) way:
 You cannot see the houses anymore but a succession of expositors with T shirts, glasses, souvenirs and all that jazz.

Further away from the center it is possible to find an urban landscape less degraded by mass tourism and some medieval/Turkish streets have survived, if not in the flesh on its essence (last photos).

You can fell that on Rhodes West mingles with the East and the Christians with Muslims. Not always has it been that way and Rhodes was one of the places were the clash between Christians and Muslims and their different cultures was stronger.

Just to give an idea of the turning point this city has been it suffices to know that the original settlers were driven out by Minoans (Crete) an later by Dorians (Greeks) then came the Persians. In the time of Alexander the Great it belonged to the Macedonians and then it was finally independent. That is the time where the Rhodes Colossus was built. Their independence only lasted a bit more than 100 years!!!

 The Romans came next, then Byzantium, then the Genovese and the Knights of St John (initially Hospitaller Knights). Their rule, in name of Christianity stood for more than 200 years. The Island became Muslim under the rule of Suleiman the magnificent (Turkish-Ottoman empire). That lasted 400 years.

After it was Italian for more than 30 years and only for the last 60 years it belongs to Greece again, after a time lapse of more than 2000 years!!!

So you can imagine what a melting pot Rhodes is :-) and that's one of the things that makes this a fascinating place.

THE JEANNEAU SUNFAST 3600 AND THE BRITISH

A lot has been said here about the SF3600 and its rival, the JPK 1080. The sailing performance is very similar, both can be sailed with crews in regatta but they were thought specially for solo or duo ocean racing and in the case of the JPK (that has a decent cruising interior) also for performance cruising with a solo sailor or a couple. They have already proved that they were fast, winning the first leg of the Transquadra (the JPK come first followed by the Sunfast but the diference was real minimal). They have also showed that they can compete in handicap crewed racing on equal terms with the best boats. Quite a package :-)...and now the British seem to be wakening for short crew racing, as we can see on this test by the British magazine Yachting world:

It is case to say: Better later then never  :-) and for what the tester say they seem really to be liking the idea. For having an impression of what is living and cruising aboard this other video gives a good idea: 

Quite spartan, but possible. I have to say that as a cruiser that likes to go fast I prefer clearly the JPK 1080, same performance but a cozy interior and a lot more comfort while cruising not to mention the possibility of customization that is only possible on a small shypiard owned by a great sailor, JPK himself. He is really passionate about what he does and understand the passions and desires of others even if different from his own. And these are really boats for passionate people, passionate by sailing and beautiful carènes (hulls), like the French say.