Chas had a day last week at the final London Boat Show to be held in Earl's Court
and would like to take this opportunity to offer the kind of badly written opinions
which the magazines dare not print. This was only my second ever visit to the
boat show and with just one day to see as much as possible my coverage was limited
especially since I needed to reserve some time and energy for nerdy activites
such as inspecting cushion materials and fiddly bits. Obviously all of the numerous
stink boats which make up a distressingly high percentage of the marine market
could be ignored completely if not actually vapourised but even then there were
more yachts and trade stands than could be examined in much detail. Therefore
I concentrated on the smaller sizes around 35 feet and under since I'm never likely
to be a fat enough cat to afford anything bigger than that. As far as yachts go
the performance end of the ranges were poorly represented and the the emphasis
was on tubby white cruisers. However I'll start with the designs I liked before
going on to giving a slagging to those I didn't.
I thought that one of the most interesting small boats was the new Beneteau First
27.7. I imagined this would be little more than a sportsboat - a kind of updated
First Class 8 but I was quite wrong. This 28 footer comes with a deck mounted
bowsprit for the assymmetric and a single spreader fractional rig. The cockpit
is shallow but very roomy with loads of space for crew work and a great driving
position - just like a big racer in fact. The most remarkable feature however
is the interior which is astonishingly civilised for the size with more headroom
than expected, 4-6 berths including an aft double cabin, an aft enclosed heads,
wee galley, a small but useable chart table and a Yanmar IGM with saildrive tucked
away beneath the companionway.
The rig trend throughout the show seemed to be for 7/8 or 11/12 fractional rigs
with huge spreaders and a wide shroud base with chainplates out on the sheerline
and this is seen on the First 27.7. The main is huge but I would think that small
headsails, self tacking or not will lose upwind performance in light airs. Certainly
with bigger genoas the sheeting angle will be very wide. The little Beneteau has
a hugely deep keel made of some non metallic polymer material about which I felt
slightly uneasy with a big lead bullet on the end. The keel retracts into a casing
which fills the centre of the saloon but which will make trailing very easy. Overall
I thought this would make a great club racer with potential for staying aboard
during a race series or for a bit of coastal cruising. If it sails anything like
as well as its looks suggest it will make yachts like the Impala 28 and Mustang
30 completely obsolete and it will be interesting to read about the first tests
when it is launched in UK waters. I wonder what the IRC rating will be like. Starting
price is around £36k
A few doors down from Beneteau was a racer called the Max Fun 35. This is a Dutch
ultra lighweight (about 3.5 tons) racer with a carbon mast. A kind of 35 foot
1720 with bowsprit it certainly looks the business with a sky high rig and an
unobstructed racing deck. It even has a fairly useable interior but no doubt keeping
weight out will be a priority when racing. The sales people claimed that it will
plane at 20kn in flat water and that must be a phenomenal blast. I would be a
bit concerned about the durability of your 118kp investment though. Tapping the
hull skin suggests eggshell thickness with just foam behind. Not a boat to crash.
One example arrived for the last of the Hamble winter series so look out for reports
next season.
Nearby was the J boat stand. I didn't notice anything particularly new there.
They had a big J105 I think and also a J-80 which I didn't think they still made.
I would have liked a look at a J-90.
I had a sniff at the X332 and had a poke around inside. Anyone who has admired
Tundra on the water will know how well these things sail. Inside they are fitted
to a high standard though naturally the interior space does not compare with bloated
cruisers of similar length. Pretty expensive though. Our friends on the Elan stand
were doing well with lots of interest and some sales (including that of the 31
'Aye' to the northeast of England - a new 31 is slated as Kip boat for the 2003
Scottish). Personally I think the Elans hit their intended spot perfectly - conventional
cruisers with excellent performance and all you need for cruiser racing. They
are good looking (has Humphreys ever designed an ugly boat) well enough built
to last and seemingly very well priced. Apparently Humphreys has been comissioned
to design an Elan 37 which is to be much more of a dedicated racer than the others.
The undistinguished white plastic cruiser was best exemplified on the Opal Marine
stack em high sell em cheap Bavaria stand. You could buy a ready to go Bavaria
32 for around 48k ukp. Wheel steering, stumpy keels but a presentable looking
interior. Lacking any sense of an adrenalin rush I had no time to check details
of the finish but what their value will be in a few year's time remains to be
seen.
On the nearby Jeanneau stand I had a quick look at the Sun Odyssey 32. The cockpit
looked reasonable but I thought the heads compartment sticking out on the port
side made the interior look cramped and lopsided. Again that wide shroud base
and to my surprise the salesman said this is carried through to the Sunfast performance
version. I'd be surprised if many people try to race it and anyway it looks like
bit like a van. I overheard one visitor to the Sunfast 36 being puzzled by the
two part 4:1/16:1 mainsheet! What's the point of that? Overkill surely? You'd
be amazed at the number of visitors to yachts who go on board without even a look
around the deck and go straight below. Mast? Yes I'm sure one is supplied.
Jock Blair of the Bosun's Locker was showing a cruiser called the Europa RO330
of which we will doubtless read a Scottish test in due course. It's a Spanish
design made by Ronautica and looks not terribly exciting. I thought the hull lines
suggested surfing was not much in the designer's mind. Apart from having wheel
steering as standard there seemed nothing seriously wrong with it but in a relatively
crowded market I didn't think it had anything very much to commend it either,
even the price. Allegedly a racing version with a deep keel, tiller and an unspecified
increase on the mast height is available but I can't imagine many takers for that
and I had the impression that the agents weren't too optimistic either. They'll
probably have one winning the Scottish Series.
I kept away from Oyster and all that stuff so the most luxurious craft I viewed
were on the Maxi stand. I'm not a fan of the 1050 which is what replaces the Maxi
1000 but the fit out on the 1100 was stunning and I can now see where Scanne is
coming from.
Now what's this doing in the Hunter bit of the pool? Surely never a Hunter? Well
yes it is in fact and for once it has not been designed by David Thomas.
It's the prototype Hunter Mystery 35 drawn by no less than Stephen Jones and I
presume it is supposed to be a 'sensible' cruiser aimed at bearded readers of
Practical Boat Owner who have taken early retirement. Trad features are there
in abundance right down to bronze winches. The photo doesn't really show the reverse
transom but despite that it has a fin keel. The beam is pretty moderate for the
length and it has an old fashioned cockpit with high coamings. Being a Hunter
the rig is from Z Spars and is fractional with the chainplates out on the sheerline
and a self tacking jib. Halogen lighting apart the interior is as conventional
as could be imagined. This boat has not yet sailed so we'll have to wait to see
how it performs. With Hunter's track record it should attract interest in the
cruising press.
That's as much as I can be bothered writing. My IMX 40 has been ordered and should
be ready for the Scottish. Actually that's not true. I bought a sink for Troy
and a pair of dinghy boots for myself.
