| Reviews | |
|---|---|
 | The Icon, A Fresh Take On The Two Person Dinghy THIS MONTH’S test boat is the Cirrus Icon which aims to rewrite the script for popular dinghies in the UK. There is no spinnaker and the simplicity and sufficiency of the two sail rig is followed... Read Review |
 | …And Now For Something Completely Different Paraphrasing the famous Monty Python team, our headline worked nicely as an intro to their programme, and it is just s well deserved for this month’s test subject, the X1 Riverboat, says Alan... Read Review |
 | New Dehler 29; Down In Price, Up In Performance THE VROLIJK designed Dehler 29 is not a new boat, but it has been given a completely new lease of life by the Hanse Group. They identified the core values of the 29 as a fundamentally good cruiser... Read Review |
 | New Hanse 385, Racing Ahead In Sales EVEN THOUGH it has only just been launched into the current late autumn line up of European boat shows, the Hanse 385 is racing ahead in terms of sales, proving to be yet another model which is... Read Review |
 | J-111, The Purposeful Looking Performer IT HAS been something of a phenomenal start for the J-111, European Yacht of the Year. Worldwide numbers are fast approaching 90 boats with one design fleets building in the USA and... Read Review |
 | Three Level Cockpit, The Heart Of Jeanneau’s Far Cruising Yachts 53 FOR SOME years Jeanneau’s Sun Odyssey 54DS has remained a stand out personal favourite as the near perfect, good looking, spacious, luxurious, big, go-anywhere cruising boat offering good value.... Read Review |
 | Arcona’s New 410, An Investment To Bank On THE SUCCESS story that is Arcona seems to continue unchecked. Careful to keep their ambitions realistic they deliver a refined, beautifully finished product to a discerning market year in year... Read Review |
 | Timeless Beauty Of The Mystery 30… ‘ONE INSTINCTIVELY knows when something is right’…ran the memorable strap line for a sherry brand when I was growing up. Decades later the brand awareness lives on even if I was never moved to... Read Review |
 | 355, A Successful Development Of A Hanse Best Seller THE HANSE 355 is a development of the successful, best selling Hanse 350 and already this new model, which was launched at Southampton Boat Show last year, is a top seller in the UK, writes YL... Read Review |
 | Five Star Performance THE NEW Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 was already swelling the order books nicely, even before the accolade of European Yacht of the Year in the family cruiser division was awarded at Boot, the... Read Review |
 | Race, Rally And Regatta, All In A J97 NOW WITH full representation in Scotland and the north of England following the appointment of Peter Cameron at Kip as Key Yachting’s representative in the northern waters, J-Boats are expecting... Read Review |
 | Smallest Sister Sails To Brand Expectations FOR THE baby of the family it is always either a tougher life or a spoiled existence. So as the smallest in the range of the Swedish built Arcona yachts, does the 340 match up to the high... Read Review |
 | A Performer In The Pink FOR THEIR new First 30, Beneteau wanted a ‘wow’ factor. They did not want to be producing a standard production cruiser-racer, simply the next size down in the series. Rather they wanted something... Read Review |
 | Prototype Dehler RS Hints At Racing Superlatives DEHLER appear to be going places. Now on a firm financial footing thanks to the investment and management by the Hanse Group along with Hanse Yachts, Varianta and Moody, the company who have been... Read Review |
 | Solid Cruising Performance, Solid Swedish Style WITHOUT doubt Arcona provides one of the quiet success stories in Europe and especially in the UK. Where some other brands have struggled and died, cut margins to survive or just suffered from... Read Review |
 | Sprightly Salona Shows Her Steely Strength SALONA have been steadily enhancing their reputation, sailing to considerable successes on the European race tracks with their 37 which was ‘Boat of the Year’ in 2007 and won many regattas... Read Review |
 | Crabbers’ Mystery Revealed At Largs CORNISH Crabbers are one of the few outstanding recession beating success stories of the last couple of years. Their recent history is nothing short of remarkable and centres around simple... Read Review |
 | Cruising In Green Comfort WE WERE intrigued by our own news piece on the Hybrid Greenline 33 motor yacht (page 31, August). How could this new power saving concept be that frugal on diesel fuel usage? Could it be as... Read Review |
 | Modern Apartment On The Move JEANNEAU’S NC11 was launched in the spring this year and as you might guess, NC stands for New Concept. In fact it is more a collection of new and recent concepts all synthesised into one exciting... Read Review |
 | K1- The Boat To Bridge The Great Sailing Divide THIS MONTH, the YL test boat is the K1 keelboat; a small lightweight singlehander of 15ft length and weighing just 125kg, a similar weight to many dinghy classes. So it seems like the... Read Review |
 | Versatile RS100 Suits Body Weights And Skill Levels SINGLE-HANDING is becoming more and more popular, so manufacturers are producing a wider choice of variants on the single-hander theme and you can have any flavour you like, from little junior... Read Review |
 | HORIZON HEADER LAUNCHED last year amidst the glamour of Cannes Boat Show and one of the unrivalled stars of December’s Paris Show, the Beneteau 58 is the biggest Oceanis and one which takes the line to a new... Read Review |
 | D-One, Done Deal? LET’S look this month at the D-One, the new fast hiking single-hander from Devoti, says Alan Henderson. While most single-hander dinghies like Lasers and Solos have just one sail, the... Read Review |
 | Pace With Space SOMETIMES in this business, the ducks line up. Everything falls into place and the world seems crystal clear. With the Hanse 470 that does rather seem to be the case, writes YL racing editor Andi... Read Review |
 | Bahia Beats The Bumps And Bruises HERE IS a formula; a boat which provides excellent value for money on initial purchase price, which sails well and which resists bumps and bruises, needing minimal maintenance. That formula is the... Read Review |
 | 405 Sails Above Its Size ‘IT IS NOT the European Yacht of the Year 2010 for nothing’. This was, in fact, a throwaway quip from Miles Stratton at the end of a short, but inspiring Clyde sail on Dufour’s 405 Grand’ Large in... Read Review |
 | First And Foremost Andi Robertson takes Beneteau’s new First 35 on a standard setting La Rochelle test sail HAVING come first and second in the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, interest is building rapidly in... Read Review |
 | Swift By Name, Comfortable By Nature WITH NO expertise at all in the field of trawler yachts, it was with an open mind that we went to see Beneteau’s new baby, the Swift Trawler 34 on her arrival in Largs, courtesy of northern... Read Review |
 | Elan 380 Gets The YL Nod Over Big Sister IT’S BEEN on the cards for a long time. One of those great looking boats which has been performing well since its launch in 2006, but one which we have just not had the opportunity, nor the time... Read Review |
 | A31 Djinn Offers A Real Racing Tonic FOR THE A31, a case of right boat at the right time is just part of the story. As well as hitting the international market with a well priced smaller race boat, the A31 has been outstandingly... Read Review |
 | Laser Goes Stratospheric! THE LASER Stratos Keel has really stood the test of time and remains a consistent, steady seller for Laser. It may not have the glamour or performance of the bigger SB3 sportboat or the... Read Review |
 | Clyde Odyssey! YL racing editor Andi Robertson takes to the Clyde with Jeanneau’s new Sun Odyssey 33i a simple family cruiser racer which ticks all the boxes at this popular length. THE SIMPLE pleasures... Read Review |
 | More Of The Same, But More IRC Friendly Andi Robertson sails the new Farr designed Beneteau First 40 which promises much as a regatta winning cruiser-racer. THE FIRST of the new Farr designed First 40’s will already be afloat in... Read Review |
 | Elite Fleet Racer ACHIEVING its own class start at the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series on Loch Fyne with 11 boats, the RS Elite entry has more than doubled since last year. There are high hopes that the class size... Read Review |
 | Oceanis – The Alternative Investment! Andi Robertson heads for Marseille, where the flagship Beneteau Oceanis 54 delivers in all departments and earns a place in the racing editor’s affections. ONE MAN’s dream is another... Read Review |
 | Perfect Package Extended Andi Robertson sails the Beneteau Oceanis 34 Marseille and declares it the perfect family cruiser that ticks all the boxes. LAST year the Beneteau Oceanis 31 was one of my boats of the... Read Review |
 | Boldly Beautiful Moody’s new 45 Deck Saloon is a radical design with accommodation which puts some larger yachts to shame, and Andi Robertson likes it, a lot! THERE’S ‘wow’ factor and ‘wow, what is that?’... Read Review |
 | Solo Act Races like the Vendee Globe are fuelling our passions for short handed or solo sailing. If you’ve caught the bug Jeanneau’s new SunFast 3200 could be the ideal medicine, reckons racing editor Andi... Read Review |
 | The Price Is Right Andi Robertson comes on down to Kip for a Clyde sail on Hanse’s new 430 which promises to be big on performance, but easy on price…. ‘HANSE yachts sell themselves’. That is a throwaway... Read Review |
 | Beneteau’s Baby Is Top Of The Class Andi Robertson finds that Beneteau’s Oceanis 31, the baby of the range, is so sailable that you won’t want to stop…. IT MAY be the starter model in Beneteau’s Oceanis range, but the new 31... Read Review |
 | Elegance And Esprit Sail Well In Harmony HARMONY Yachts is a company with strong ideas, but whether it can carry on its successes into a difficult market place where there is no shortage of models to choose from and very little to choose... Read Review |
 | Beneteau’s Briand Battler Beneteau’s new First 45 delivers in every department; a regatta winning cruiser racer with family comforts. Andi Robertson takes the helm for a Monaco test sail… AS A showcase for... Read Review |
 | Elan 450 Tops League Of IRC-Friendly Cruiser Racers Racing Editor Andi Robertson lets the new Elan 450 have its head off Porto Roz, Slovenia FOR ME it’s an irony that the weather for our Elan 450 test was something less than average. Having... Read Review |
 | Foiling Ready To Take Off? Are Foilers just for the Gods of sailing? Alan Henderson went to Datchet Water where Datchet Watersports Centre has just become the first place in Britain to offer lessons in sailing on foils to... Read Review |
 | Rising Star Racing editor Andi Robertson sails Archambault’s A40RC, an off the shelf refined regatta performer. In the right hands, it’s a potent weapon… ARCHAMBAULT Yachts’ Joubert Nivelt designed... Read Review |
 | Océanis Revisited Beneteau took a good look at the basics when designing the new Oceanis 37. The result is a sociable, solid performing cruising yacht, says Andi Robertson SOMETIMES it is necessary to... Read Review |
 | Jeanneau’s 42 – Optimum Deck Saloon Cruiser AS A concept, the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey Deck Saloon range needs little introduction. From the 54DS still a personal favourite – right down through the range to the 39 footer, it is a series which... Read Review |
 | Return Of The Trailer Sailer? It has always been an niche market that cyclically rises and falls in popularity. Arguably trailer sailing hit its heyday with the Drascombes when literally ‘running ashore for a picnic’ had an... Read Review |
 | Delphia: Ideal Racer Trainer IT IS NEVER going to be easy to break into the UK sportboat market that is presently dominated by the Laser SB3 and which sees the J80 strong and the likes of the Hunter 707, the 1720 and the... Read Review |
 | Elan 340 – Star Of The Show? A BORN cynic when it comes to those annual boat ‘Oscars’, I was more than a little interested to find out if the Elan 340 matched her 2007 nomination at European Boat of the Year, writes YL racing... Read Review |
 | Jeanneau Va Voom Jeanneau’s Sun Odyssey 42i Performance will eat up the miles quickly, says YL racing editor Andi Robertson. FACED with stock production cruising boats, time and again we have drawn the... Read Review |
 | Cracked And Close Reaching – Sweet Spot On The Oceanis 46 DO WE always strive for bigger? Is it always better? When we tested Beneteau’s new Oceanis 46 up alongside the big sister 50, it was hard not to draw the conclusion that, given the... Read Review |
 | Vive La Motor Yacht Difference! HYERES, France and Jeanneau’s annual international press test week gave us the chance to catch up with three of Jeanneau’s key craft in their five boat range of Prestige sports cruisers, writes... Read Review |
 | Merry By Name, Merry By Design…. IT’S HYERES and the annual Jeanneau media press test which provided a good opportunity to become acquainted with their Merry Fisher range of power craft. While they are almost certainly an... Read Review |
 | Premium Performance And The Price Is Right WE MAKE no bones about revisiting the Beneteau Oceanis 50, which we briefly sailed in light wind last year in Valencia. With the first new 50 arriving in Scotland recently, when we visited... Read Review |
 | A Grand Surprise… Racing editor Andi Robertson runs the rule over the latest OD all rounder to reach the UK. Rhu Marina was the venue… SO WE have bought the big boats 15 years ago and lost a pile in resale... Read Review |
 | ENHANSED PERFORMANCE IN CLYDE ZEPHYRS OF THE emerging production cruiser brands it is arguably Hanse who are making waves. With a growing reputation for no nonsense, no frills value for money production boats their philosophies are... Read Review |
 | GRAND BANKS EVOLVES ITS HERITAGE EVERYONE who sails will not only have heard of a Grand Banks, they could probably pick out its unique lines from a line up of all other motor yachts. Yet the ultimate design in luxury trawler... Read Review |
 | BAVARIAN BARGAIN HUNT Andi Robertson tests the new Bavaria 33 and 37. They may not offer breathtaking sailing, but do give exceptional value… NO DOUBT to the chagrin of other European volume yacht... Read Review |
 | ANYONE FOR T? Beneteau’s new First 34.7 opts for a T shaped keel. Andi Robertson finds it to be a cruiser with racing in its blood, which may spark a new One Design class. FOLLOWING in the successful... Read Review |
 | PRAGMATIC PERFORMER Andi Robertson finds the Beneteau Oceanis immensely desirable, with a pragmatic streak THE OCEANIS 50 sits somewhere near the head of that growing genre of go-anywhere blue water cruisers... Read Review |