A SAILJET 40 GOING FAST ON THE ARC!!!!!!!!!

Yes, a sailjet is the boat above and now you understand my surprise that probably will be yours too. And they say that they would continue cruising on the Pacific! Have a look at the ARC: http://yb.tl/arc2014plus#

The Sailejet is a kind of radical MacGregor, a very expensive one built with top materials and top quality.

The boat is very interesting, very light, with 4.5/5.0T of displacement, with carbon masts and rudder. It is a ballasted centerboarder  (only 500kg) and all the other ballast (if any ) is on the boat interior. It cannot be much since this is not a carbon boat but an epoxy one, it has a good cruising interior and the light weight gives no room for any significant ballast. They say that "the water and fuel tanks as well the batteries play an active role in stabilizing the yacht minimizing the need for passive dead weight", but in that it is not different than a well designed sailboat. The boat is narrow (3.49m) and does not have a big hull form stability. I would like to have a look at the stability curve but it cannot be a good one in what regards reserve stability or AVS, a rather poor one I would say, not one that would recommend the use of the boat on offshore conditions.

It motors fast and it sails very well downwind and given the type of boat, surprisingly well upwind. The ones that tested the boat were positively surprised with the sail performance, specially downwind and that would explain the amazing performance on the ARC : they are ahead of several cats (Broadblue 42, Helia 44), going at the same pace of a Fountain Pajot 40 (Cat), an Allures 45, an OVNI 395, an Halberg Rassy 43, well ahead of a Swan 47. Great sailing performance, but I am afraid that is not all that matters for crossing Oceans.

 I am not particularly fearful but I have to say I would not cross the Atlantic on that boat and it seems to me a crazy idea to do so, much more crazy going crossing on the Pacific with it, not to mention coming back. If they succeed they would not prove that the boat has offshore potential, but only that they had luck and did not encounter the conditions that could endanger that boat...and they are not that hard to find on an Ocean.

GRAND SOLEIL 46LC MOVIE

I have already talked about the new Grand Soleil 46 LC, that stands for long cruising, the first of a new line of boats. They will maintain the previous line, the GS, a more sportive one where they have a 46.
 http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/04/grand-soleil-46-lc.html

The GS line offers fast performance cruisers with great cruising interiors and certainly the 47 is a long range cruising boat but I understand Grand Soleil: They are on the business of selling boats and they have not sold many on the last years and they know that main market cruisers sell more than more expensive performance cruisers and that wives are normally determinant in what regards choosing a boat and wives look at boat interiors and care for little else. So this boat is about that, a bigger nicer interior and that means a beamier boat with a higher freeboard and probably a less expensive boat. For what I can see on the new movie the interior seems great and certainly will seduce a lot of wives ;-) being also a great interior for extensive living aboard with all comfort... and the new Grand Soleil will sail better than a Bavaria or a Beneteau, so, it can be the right choice regarding the family point of view.

But will sail worse than a Grand Soleil GS 47 and the 47 has already a great cruising interior even if slightly smaller than the one from the LC 46 that looks a bit nicer too. But if the interior of 46 seems nicer, on the outside it is the opposite, the 46 bigger freeboard makes it uglier . I would certainly try to convince my wive regarding having a 47 over the 46...but then there is the "small " question regarding price. Does anybody knows the price of the new LC46?

DEHLER 46 FIRST TEST

By Yacht.de and as usual they have made a nice movie:
http://www.yacht.de/yacht_tv/test_technik/dehlers-neues-topmodell-im-test/a93889.html

The boats looks fast...but all that black on the interior seems to take a lot of light away and the interior seems too dark. Another point that leaves me with some doubts regards the bow buoyancy, certainly adequate for a racer but one that will make this one a wet cruiser. Look at the movie at minute 2.24: There are almost no waves but the boat seems to dig quite easily the bow in the waves and the water goes over the deck even on settled conditions. Of course I can be wrong ;-)

Some time ago I have compared the Dehler 46 with the Azuree 46:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/dehler-46-azuree-46.html
Maybe after having looked at the Dehler it's interesting to look at the Azuree 46 again:

Compared with the Azuree 46 the Dehler looks a lot more....traditional? I don't know if the therm is the most appropriate, maybe more classic? Certainly the interior looks to have quality but the one from the Azuree looks a lot brighter. I have already been inside an Azuree 46 and I liked a lot the interior. I will reserve my opinion about the Dehler till I have the opportunity of seeing it at Dusseldorf.

360º PANORAMIC INTERIOR SAILBOAT VIEWS

Short of a visit to a boat there is no better way for having an idea of a boat's interior than a 360º panoramic view. Some boats have them on their sites, others don't. I will post here the links to some sites that have plenty of them. May come useful and besides some really have great interiors, like for instance the Fountain Pajot Helia 44 and it is a pleasure to look at them :-)

On the site of visual boat you have the 360º views of:

Corsair; Oceanis 38; Optio 9; J122; Dufour 310GL; Dehler 38; RM 890; Astus 24; Tricat 25 evolution. 

Here: http://www.visualboat.fr/nautic-2013/

Amel 55 (2013); BlackPepper Code 1; Flyng Phantom; Huzar H28; Revolution 22; Lipari 41 evloution; CNB 60; Weta 4.4; 

Here: http://www.visualboat.fr/nautic-2013/page/2/

Bavaria Vision 46; Alphena one; Sun Odyssey 469; Tiwal; Hanse 345; Hanse 575; Dufour 500GL; Lagoon 39; Sense 46; Oceanis 55; FP Helia 44; 

Here: http://www.visualboat.fr/nautic-2012/

Sanya 57; Victoria 67; Amel 64; Triaskell; Elan 210; Arwen Marine; Bavaria Cruiser 36; Amel 54;

Tofinou 12.

Here: http://www.visualboat.fr/voilier/

On the YachtingMonthly magazine site:

Catalina 455; Nordship 430DS; Bavaria 46 vision; Allures 45; Amel 55; Elan 444; Dehler 35SQ, Hanse 345; Malo 37; Sundbeam 36.1.

Here: 

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/archive/new-boats-from-the-2012-psp-southampton-boat-show/

Bavaria 40; Bavaria 45; First 30; Sense 50; Contest 50CS; Delher 45; Delphia 40.3; Delphia 47; Dufour 373; Elan 350; Hanse 455; Sun Odyssey 409; Lagoon 450; Salona 41; Sirius 31DS; Swedestar 370; XC 38.

Here:

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/virtual-tours/new-boats-at-southampton-2010/

OLD RACERS, NEW RACERS - VIDEO

Classic beauty: Looking at the 8 meters class we understand why the British call "she" to a sailingboat. Lovely ladies these ones and Sphinx made the news sailing over 2000nm to the next race (Finland to France) instead of doing it on the truck as the rest of the fleet:

And the new racers that look more a "he" than a "she, with their huge power and massive muscular shapes, on a very good edition of Destopnews including the Inport VOR race on Cape Town and the victories on the Route du Rhum on the 50multi class and IMOCA class (open60).

As a Bonus, the last edition of SVN: nice boats, you can read online: http://svn.uberflip.com/i/388903/30

GREAT JPK 1080 VIDEO!!!

Just some days after that post about the JPK 1080 interior Yacht.de posted a video with them test sailing the boat. The video is great but Michael Good, the test sailor, has to improve his solo sailing skills LOL. The video:

http://www.yacht.de/yacht_tv/test_technik/racer-fuer-lange-schlaege-jpk-1080/a94009.html
I Really like the boat, from the way it sails to the interior.

POINTER 25 VERSUS WINNER 8 VERSUS MAXUS 26

Pointer 25

Small interesting boats seem to come recently from Holland and Poland. The ones from Poland are mostly centerboarders with limited final stability, the ones from Holland are mostly keeled boats with a much bigger B/D ratio and modern bulbed keels. Let's have a look at the two more recent offers from Holland, one of them, the Pointer 25 (nominated for this year's European boat contest), the other the Winner 8 and one from Poland, the Maxus 26, also a new boat.

Winner 8

Looking at the boats they don't seem that different on the outside but there are significant differences among them. Let's start by looking at the dimensions of the three boats, in m, kg, m2,. First the dimensions of the Pointer, then the ones of the Winner (two versions) and for last the dimensions of the Maxus:

Maxus 26

Length: 7.70; 8.00; 7.62. Beam: 2.50; 2.65; 2.62. Weight: 1500, 2400 or 2300, 2350kg.

Draft: 1.20; 1.00 or 1.50; 0.35/1.43 B/D ratio: 47%; 42% or 39% , 26%; SA upwind: 37, 40 or 45, 35. Engine: SD 9hp, SD 9hp, outboard not included. STD price incl 21% VAT: 59500€, 74500€, 42603€.

Maxus 26

The prices indicate  that in fact the boats are very different:

 Regarding the interior, the Winner has a not very different interior from the Maxus 26 even if the quality of the Winner would be probably superior. Anyway a very nice interior in what the Maxus is concerned. The Pointer has a very basic naked interior although it has also what is needed to cruise, including a true marine wc, even if an open one. A spartan interior that can be suited for some but much less comfortable than the other two.

Winner 8

In what regards sailing it is the opposite, it's the Winner that is close to the Pointer in sail performance, being the one from the Maxus much lower, specially upwind. The Maxus relies on form stability to sail and the 26% of B/D ratio is much lower than on the two other boats and that relative ratio, even if already low, is much lower than what it looks, since it corresponds to a ballast on the bottom of the boat while the other two have most of the ballast weight on a bulb at the end of the keel. That's the main reason why the Maxus is so inexpensive: the hull can be less reinforced as well as the boat structure, that, and the outboard engine.

Pointer 25

Considering the Pointer and the Winner, the first one has a narrower hull and relies more on ballast while the Winner has a lot more form stability and also a considerable B/D ratio. A very stiff boat specially on the version with the bigger draft. Probably the Pointer will be as fun to sail due to the narrower hull, big ballast ratio, small weight and big sail area. A lot of fun for the price ;-)

Pointer 25

So what is the best sailboat? As usually that depends of what we want. If I wanted a boat for all family to sail ( small kids) on a lake, or sheltered waters, to live sometime aboard, to learn how to sail and to move around exploring the shores, the Maxus 26 makes sense. If it was me when I was younger, with kids and all, I would take the Pointer: not expensive, a great sailing performance, fun to sail, more seaworthy...I would trade all that by the extra comfort of the Maxus and I would even consider that difference in price fair.

Maxus 22

 Regarding the Winner, I love the boat, specially the performance version that will cost way more than the basic listed price...but if I was a young man looking for my first boat I would look at something bigger for the the same price. The Standard Bavaria 9.9 Easy costs less 14000 euros than the Basic Winner 8.

Winner 8

The price restricts a lot the ones that will be interested on the Winner 8: A very rich kid looking for his first boat or a middle aged guy that wants a fast boat for having fun on semi sheltered waters and wants to sleep sometimes on the boat. If we take price in consideration the Pointer seems very attractive and with a bigger market. The Maxus too, regarding the ones for whom the interior is the most important feature of a sailboat, and they are many, has a great price for what it offers.

You will know what is the one that best fits your life style...and your budget ;-)