Just Launched: Three Around 30
Much as a megayacht may impress, there’s nothing to get the pulse racing like a zippy little sloop that speaks of adventure from masthead to keel—and these three new designs from a trio of builders better known for their cruising boats look to have adventure to burn.
First up is the Sun Fast 3300, the latest and perhaps most daring of Jeanneau’s celebrated performance Sun Fast line. Designed by Daniel Andrieu and Guillaume Verdier, the boat looks to be all business, with its hint of reverse sheet, twin rudders, long fixed sprit, sleekly sculpted cabintrunk, crazy-cool tumblehome bow, high-aspect square-top main and resin-infused lightweight hull. Better still, the 33-footer’s deck layout has been configured so that it will work equally well when racing offshore or around the buoys and with a full crew, doublehanded or even solo—just the thing for any sailors out there with dreams of TP52 or IMOCA 60-style racing on a more limited budget.
Dehler 30
Similarly, and in an equally bold move, Germany’s Dehler recently unveiled the Dehler 30, an all-out race boat that truly pegs the fun factor at “11.” Conceived of as a “progressive racer-cruiser” that will serve as an “uncompromising doublehanded offshore boat” offering “maximum performance,” the boat is jam-packed with the latest go-fast features, including a large fixed sprit, tumblehome bow, twin high-aspect rudders, T-keel, powerful square-top main and wide powerful sections aft for power-reaching under A-sail. The vacuum-infused hull includes a “Dehler carbon cage” to help handle keel and rig loads, and the single-spreader rig is all carbon. A “stealth drive” auxiliary arrangement gets the prop completely out of the way when sailing. It’ll be fun to see the boat in action when it arrives on this side of the Atlantic.
Finally, there’s the Finot-Conq-designed Beneteau Oceanis 30.1, which offers a fascinating mix of features and options, all with an eye toward accommodating as diverse a range of sailing styles as possible within its 30ft of LOA. Chines, a fixed sprit, twin rudders and helms, a plumb bow with a fine entry, for example, all speak to a desire to create a boat that will do well on every point of sail, whether coastal or offshore. Similarly, belowdecks the boat offers not one, but two full-sized cabins, saloon benches that will also double as sea berths and 6ft 6in of headroom. To keep things fun, the boat can be ordered with tiller steering. Swing keel versions for “sailing along canals and rivers,” as Beneteau puts it, are also available.
October 2019
