For many years they have been fastidiously creating some of the world’s finest yachts. One small drawback is that for many clients Baltic Yachts has always been rather a long way away geographically. Not any more...

There are big advantages to building yachts on the west coast of Finland. For the last 50 years it has been a centre of excellence where a talented workforce of shipwrights, joiners, composite builders and many other specialists produce some of the finest sailing yachts in the world, accumulating a vast pool of knowledge, experience and skills. There’s just one snag with the location – it’s a very long way, especially by sea, from the places where most owners choose to sail and keep their yachts. The solution for Baltic Yachts was to set up a service and refit hub in the epicentre of the Mediterranean yachting scene.

‘We started down here with warranty projects,’ says Matthew Lester, Baltic Yachts’ head of aftersales service who leads their steadily growing operation in Palma, Mallorca which is based in and around the STP shipyard in the heart of the city’s old harbour. ‘We were always coming here and we opened a workshop so we didn’t have to work out of our suitcases all of the time. And we were increasingly being asked to work on other boats. In 2014 we decided to staff the company here and we’ve never looked back.’

‘Every year there has been growth and we’ve taken on more and more service and refit work,’ he says. ‘It’s now 80 per cent of our business in Palma, with 20 per cent on the warranty side. We still work closely with Finland and have guys flying down, but we’ve cut that back a lot. We have a permanent workforce that covers carpentry, lamination, plumbing, mechanics, hydraulics, PLCs, electrics… all done by our people, managed by our project managers, with the same level of excellence that we have up north.’ The operation has expanded far beyond just servicing Baltic Yachts’ own fleet and now includes major refit work on many different brands and types of yachts.

Very few of the service team’s clients have their yachts based yearround in Palma but it’s their firstchoice location for refits and service work. ‘They migrate all over the world and wind up here in the pre-winter and post-Caribbean times, and also in the middle of summer,’ Lester explains. ‘The island is a draw and STP is situated very nicely. Crews really like to come here because we’re on the doorstep of the city centre and only five minutes from the airport.’ Baltic’s after-sales staff do still travel, of course, to wherever their services might be needed and some of their work each year is done in the Caribbean, but most of it is now concentrated in Palma.

One great benefit of having a permanent base in Mallorca has been the opportunity to build a very strong network of highly skilled and trusted, locally based subcontractors who have broadened the team’s client base as well as the range of services they offer. ‘Sometimes we’re asking them to help us but a lot of the time they’re asking us to help them,’ Lester says. ‘Without the relationships we have with our partners, we wouldn’t be able to operate here in the way that we do. For example last summer we pulled off a major refit of a 100ft Swan in just four months after it had been sitting idle for several years.’

Baltic Yachts’ Palma-based team has a proven ability to manage complex, large-scale projects. ‘A few years back we did a completely new interior for a Magnum 70 powerboat,’ Lester says. ‘It was manufactured up in Finland, sent down here and we did the full installation on site. We are constantly asking for small, medium and large things to be made in Finland and sent here for us to install. But we also make components here in our workshop almost every day. And it works both ways. When we have extra manpower here and they need help up there, we send our people to Finland.’

Above and below: Baltic Yachts’ service and refit operation is strategically located in and around the STP shipyard in the heart of Palma. The primary workshop is in the Global Building, the warehouse is in the North Dock building and the main office is just outside the port entrance, with further facilities on the outskirts of the city.

Adjustments to interior and exterior woodwork are a major part of the team’s work. ‘We converted a nav station into a bar recently,’ Lester says. ‘That was a good collaboration. Finland produced the cabinet and it was shipped down here, but because of the access size it was delivered in many pieces; we put it together on site and did the final fitting. Because we have such a good resource up north I don’t currently see us producing large cabinets here, but I do have carpenters with the skills do it.’

Composite expertise is of course one of Baltic Yachts’ great strengths, in Palma as well as in Pietersaari. ‘We have in-house structural knowledge that we can very quickly apply in the middle of a job if need be,’ Lester says. ‘Our composite guys are like fine carpenters, their work is a piece of art when it’s done, and it’s fully engineered with very close tolerances. They don’t necessarily need to have a full drawing, they just know what to do when they have something in front of them. Their work just sometimes gets overlooked because it gets painted over.’

Baltic Yachts’ composite know-how extends beyond carbon fibre, into the realm of alternative materials. ‘Back in the day there was advantage in using Kevlar in our hulls, now we see an advantage in using flax in different parts of the boat because it helps to absorb ambient noise,’ Lester says. ‘There’s a lot of that knowledge trickling through the company.’

One of their recent composite innovations is a new range of deck hatches, built in carbon fibre with glass or teak, and soon to be joined by a flax fibre variant. ‘We developed them after years of frustration, of not being able to get a good enough hatch,’ Lester says. ‘I saw a lot of that myself on the service side. We’re working with our colleagues in Finland and putting together packages for boats down here that are looking at replacing their hatches. When you change hatches you inevitably need to change some things on the carpentry side and alter the teak deck so we’re offering an inclusive deal.’

Below: Baltic Yachts is now making its own high-spec hatches in carbon and glass or teak. Flax fibre versions will also soon be available

Future-proofing of older yachts is a significant part of the Palma team’s work. ‘The biggest trend right now is people buying secondhand boats and then wanting them to be reliable,’ Lester explains. ‘They want to be able to escape, to know that they can just go if they feel the need. We’re seeing that a lot.’

The innovation coming out of Baltic Yachts’ HQ in Finland stands the Palma team in good stead. ‘We know what’s coming out in new builds and that gives us an advantage,’ Lester says. ‘It means we can apply the engineering that has already been done on new builds to some of the older boats. A big shift to high voltage is happening in the industry and we’ve pushed one of our older boats from a conventional 24-volt system into a high-voltage system. The owner doesn’t really motor anywhere, he always sails the boat so he didn’t see the benefit in changing the propulsion. Where he sees the benefit is not running the diesel generators that often. So we upgraded the generators and switched out the entire battery system for a high-voltage battery bank. They can now run the generators for two hours and then operate on batteries for 12 hours.’

Another current trend is upgrading air conditioning systems, which have become much smaller and far more efficient in the last few years. ‘We see it as a great way to reclaim space inside engine rooms,’ Lester says. ‘The old units were the size of a pallet. The new ones are the size of a desktop computer and the weight is almost nothing. We have a project right now where we’ll be able to fit a sewage treatment plant as well as a new AC system in the same footprint of the old AC system, and in eco mode you can extend the quiet times on the vessel considerably.’

There is also a lot of interest in drive leg upgrades, from owners who see the obvious benefit in being able to regenerate electrical power via the propeller on ocean crossings. ‘Switching to 48V means you can sail across the Atlantic and not have to worry about how much diesel you are going to burn because you can regenerate the whole way,’ Lester explains. ‘After the recent installs on new builds that we’ve been doing in Finland, we are now looking at possibly offering a simple turn-key solution for 90ft to 110ft yachts. We haven’t put it together in a package just yet but we have all the knowledge to do that.’

Click here for more information on Baltic Yachts »

Nowhere is this more the case than in the constantly evolving world of superyacht racing but the Superyacht Cup in Palma maintains its position as Europe’s most successful and longest running superyacht event of all

Superyacht Cup Palma (SYC) has always prided itself on being nimble and responsive in adapting itself to the ever-changing nature of the superyacht world, anticipating the expectations of owners, captains and crews, and responding promptly to requests or suggestions. And so it is with the 2022 edition of Europe’s longest running superyacht regatta which late last year – soon after celebrating its 25th anniversary – agreed to move the event to run from June 29 to July 2, a change of just a week from the original June 22-25 dates.

The adjustment came after the J Class owners selected the highprofile Mallorcan festival of sail as one of the three core events planned for their 2022 racing season. After consultation with the Real Club Náutico de Palma (RCNP), SYC’s race management partner, and a number of other superyachts that had already expressed an interest in attending, the change was agreed to avoid any potential clashes with other grand prix sailing events.

SYC’s agility was suitably rewarded with a trio of the iconic J Class immediately confirming they would be out on the Bay of Palma, and competing on their own bespoke racecourse. Topaz, Ranger and the 2018 SYC champion Velsheda will take their place in a fleet which organisers are confident will attract 12 to 15 entries to the highlight of the Mediterranean superyacht season.

And in a further indication that Superyacht Cup Palma 2022 will be firing on all cylinders, organisers have announced that the world-class St Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort is returning as a sponsor and SYC’s preferred hotel partner, with the five-star venue again providing its luxurious flair to the regatta. Also returning is SYC’s longstanding destination partner, New Zealand.

‘Over the past quarter of a century Superyacht Cup Palma has sought to be adaptable to the changing needs of the superyacht community,’ says SYC event director Kate Branagh, ‘and that is something we aim to keep on doing into the future.

‘The J Class has a long and distinguished association with Superyacht Cup Palma, so after extensive consultation with our partners – including the RCNP – and several other superyachts who had expressed an early interest in the 2022 event, we were happy to make the change.

‘The Superyacht Cup Palma tops the list of events for many to compete in and the sailing conditions on Palma Bay are second to none,’ Branagh adds.

Taking their place in the growing list of potential entries are two SYC first-timers with the streamlined and elegant 38m Oyster 1225 Archelon and the similarly striking 43m Vittersbuilt La Belle highlighting the broad appeal of an event that is equally alluring to newcomers as it is to regular participants.

Meanwhile among the prospective entries looking set to make a welcome return to SYC in 2022 are the 27m Pedrick-designed and Concordia-built sloop Savannah, which last took part in 2011, the classic Langan Design Associates’ 40m ketch Huckleberry eyeing a return following her SYC debut in 2019, and the 34m Gilles Vatondesigned Baiurdo VI which took a podium place in Class B at last year’s event.

Also expressing an interest in a repeat performance are the lightweight Malcolm McKeon-designed and Green Marine-built Missy and the equally competitive 108ft Baltic Yachts-built Win Win, which will no doubt be out to repeat her title winning performances in both 2019 and 2016.

‘Racing at Superyacht Cup Palma has always ticked all the boxes for Win Win – the competition is fierce but fair and friendly and Palma is such a fantastic world class venue, there is nothing not to like,’ says captain Will Glenn.

Of likely interest to the competitive owner, captain and crew on Win Win is the possible inclusion of a dedicated Performance Class at the event – again a direct response to a growing demand from the owners and crews of the increasing number of ultra-modern yachts and a further indication of SYC’s versatility.

Providing at least four entries sign up, the Performance Class will bring the competitive element and thrill of a mass racing start under RRS on its own bespoke course, further adding to the regatta’s already broad appeal.

SYC regular Peter Holmberg says, ‘I’ve raced in Palma for many years on all types of boats and I know it works because the owners love coming back and sailing here.

‘You now have a growing number of owners who have gone for faster, lighter, performance racer-cruisers, so for SYC to have their own highperformance class is a smart move and should produce some great racing,’ adds the experienced Virgin Islands sailor.

The Performance Class will join the long-standing Superyacht Class and the more recent Corinthian Class option, which quickly proved a popular addition when it was first introduced at SYC back in 2017. The non-spinnaker/restricted headsail Corinthian option allows owners and captains to race with fewer crew and take a more relaxed, family and friends approach to the event.

Above: a growing number of superyacht owners are now sailing faster, lighter racer-cruisers and the Superyacht Cup Palma has responded by adding a dedicated Performance Class to the regatta.
Below: the Superyacht Cup Palma has now been going for 25 years and it’s stronger than ever, with a trio of J Class racers set to headline this season’s regatta, sailing alongside at least a dozen other spectacular yachts

The trio of classes on offer now means that Superyacht Cup Palma offers something for everyone – quite an evolution for an event that began life back in 1996 as an end of Mediterranean sailing season sail loft get-together for crews waiting to go trans-Atlantic.

It soon added a racing component to go alongside the social side and in 2007, with the America’s Cup being held in Valencia, SYC joined forces with the New Zealand Millennium Cup to hold what was, at that point, the biggest superyacht regatta ever with 54 yachts gathered in Palma.

Now firmly established as the Mediterranean’s premier superyacht regatta, Superyacht Cup Palma has developed the shoreside activities to match the appeal of the peerless sailing conditions. In 2022 the race village, located at the prestigious Real Club Náutico de Palma in the heart of historic Palma, with the city’s striking cathedral as a backdrop, will again host the briefings, provide the venue for networking and informal meetings with sponsors or suppliers during the day, before becoming the host for evening happy hours, dock parties, live music and the celebratory prizegiving that concludes the regatta.

Palma’s extraordinary range of restaurants and accommodation, all an easy walk from the race village and dock, need little introduction, while the St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort is a short ride away.

Beyond that of course Palma remains home to the world’s leading superyachts services and suppliers – including Astilleros de Mallorca, Evolution Sails, Gottifredi Maffioli, Marinepool, North Sails, Pantaenius Yacht Insurance, Rondal, RSB Rigging, Southern Spars and Vitters Shipyard, all of whom remain on the roster of SYC supporters as silver partners, while Baltic Yachts and DYT Yacht Transport add their weight as friends of the Superyacht Cup.

That said, at the heart of SYC’s success is the sailing and the camaraderie ashore after an intense day out on the water. Says SYC regular and multiple America’s Cup winner Murray Jones, ‘great conditions, great racing, fun ashore, and an excellent opportunity to network against the backdrop of Palma. The Superyacht Cup Palma is a regular in my calendar.’

It’s an appreciation fully echoed by another legendary sailor and a familiar face at SYC, Mike Sanderson. ‘Mallorca is a very special place to sail, and you just know that Palma Bay is going to turn it on with beautiful conditions.

‘I have raced a lot of different yachts in a lot of different places, and superyachts and Palma just go together. I love this event, it’s the full package – good sailing and good fun – it’s always a pleasure to race here and that is a big part of the enduring appeal of Superyacht Cup Palma.’

Having successfully negotiated the trials and tribulations of the last couple of years, Superyacht Cup Palma is looking ahead to a great event. ‘We were able to celebrate our 25th anniversary last year in some style, and we are looking to build on that longevity going forward,’ says Kate Branagh. ‘2022 is looking set to be a great way to start our second quarter-century.’

Superyacht Cup Palma will now open with superyacht registration and the captain’s briefing on Wednesday 29 June 2022, followed by three days of racing concluding on Saturday 2 July.

Click here for more information on Superyacht Cup Palma »

North Sails Performance clothing delivers ‘3DL technology for humans’ (and some of the world’s fastest humans at that)

‘Our first year has been an outstanding one for us,’ says North Sails Performance director, Nigel Musto. ‘We’ve been delighted that several of the world’s top sailors, on board some of the most exciting boats – like the Gitana Team – have chosen to wear our kit. In particular the performance of 4DL, our “4-layer durable laminate” reinforcement, was way beyond even our own expectations and the feedback has been superb.’

In the competitive world of offshore clothing it would be easy to dismiss such enthusiasm as being the talk of the trade. But Nigel Musto’s hands-on approach and considerable racing and clothing experience is well known. When he talks of a breakthrough it’s worth taking note. But to understand why the new approach is so effective it’s important to understand a few background matters.

‘When we started the North Sails Performance project in 2018 we set out to solve several issues that the marine clothing industry has never been able to resolve. One was the problem of leaking knees and seats. Historically, when creating a robust garment that’s resistant to being torn or damaged by the anti-slip surface on decks, and other snagging points around the boat, it’s been common to put a Cordura patch over the top of the Gore-Tex fabric and then sew that patch into the side seams, but there are several problems with that.’

‘The Cordura patch is heavy and it holds a lot of water when it’s wet, which makes it even heavier. It also creates a pocket between the patch and the Gore-Tex fabric and when that pocket fills with water it never dries out. Then, when you warm the water in that pocket you get reverse breathability which is why your knees and seat always feel damp.’

‘Another problem is that when you sew the Cordura into the side seams you create a very thick seam. The result is that when you waterproof tape this seam there’s a significant risk of failure because you’re asking a lot of the pressure rollers on the PTFE tape machine when they are a forced to go over this very thick seam. If the membrane in the tape cracks, you’ll have a leakage.’

‘With all this in mind we believed that the only sensible solution was to use a completely non-absorbent fabric as the patch and to apply it in a way that eliminates the pocket and the thick side seams.

‘The logical route was to try and laminate something to the outside because with a laminated patch, you don’t need to go to the side seams. A laminated patch also means that there are no pockets and using a material that is totally non-absorbent means there is no weight gain when the garment gets wet. With all this in mind we went on the search for the ideal fabric and a solution as to how to laminate it to the outside.’

Nigel is tight-lipped about the material itself, but when it came to the lamination, the expertise is close to home and not available to the opposition. ‘As many will appreciate from the North Technology Group’s pioneering work with 3DL and laminated sails, we have a considerable number of experts in this field which was very useful in both finding the right material and then having the knowledge to create the perfect laminate.’

Two years of rigorous testing then followed resulting in some impressive feedback including a serious thumbs up from Imoca 60 sailor Kévin Escoffier.

‘I tested the same North Sails smock and trousers over 40,000 miles of hard sailing including the Transat Jacque Vabre, Le Defi Azimut, Vendée Atlantique – and the kit is absolutely reliable,’ he says. ‘What is just amazing about the North Sails Performance kit is how light it stays even in very wet conditions. The 4DL patches just don’t take in any, any water at all. It’s great and so comfortable.’

And Escoffier is not alone in singing the praises of the new kit. Being lightweight yet extremely robust, 4DL is proving to be popular with offshore sailors and by the end of the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre in which teams went from cold, dark and wet to the heat of the tropics in one race, Maxi Edmund de Rothschild’s (Gitana 17) skipper Charles Caudrelier didn’t hold back in his praise: ‘For the Transat Jacques Vabre whenever we did manoeuvres the North Sails gear is just magic,’ he said shortly after taking the Ultime class win in the race.

The North Sails Performance team is understandably delighted: ‘It’s clear that whether they’re racing or training, extreme offshore teams like Escoffier aboard his Imoca or the Gitana Team spend their life on the edge in some pretty serious conditions yet in the last 12 months there were no reported issues, not a single one,’ Nigel Musto says.

Above: the Gitana Team chose to wear North Sails Performance during their dominant 2021 race season onboard their foiling Ultime Maxi Edmund de Rothschild.
Below: North Sails Performance isn’t just about offshore racing. They have a full range of inshore kit and deckwear for male and female sailors.

It’s hardly surprising therefore that North Sails Performance are so bullish and confident about their new product. 4DL has proved already to be robust, effective and by the accounts of those who have been riding the weather rail for hours on end, dry.

‘The funny thing is that because the sport has never had this type of product we’ve ended up accepting what has become the norm. The fact is that people don’t really appreciate what dry is until they’ve experienced being properly dry. They’re so used to being damp that dry is a bit of a new feeling. And this is what we’re bringing to the party. You really won’t get a damp backside,’ Nigel explains.

As the testing went on there were other advantages that started to appear. ‘While we hadn’t set out with an intent to make a garment that was significantly lighter than anything else on the market, that’s what we ended up with. This lamination fabric is so much lighter than Cordura we’ve saved 30 per cent in weight on dry trousers when compared with our opposition’s equivalent. And that’s when they’re dry. Because everyone else uses Cordura patches, which hold a lot of water, my guess is that we’ll be at least 50 per cent lighter in very wet conditions.’

Tapping into the French offshore scene proved to be invaluable for the North Sails Performance team. While many of the world’s major events were postponed or cancelled, parts of the shorthanded offshore scene were able to continue, most notably the Imoca 60 class and the Vendée Globe.

‘There are very few sailors that have clocked up the kind of miles that the French sailors have over the last two years and that’s been great because one of the main things we need in testing is hours on the water because that’s usually what causes failures,’ Nigel Musto says.

In some ways the North Sails Performance team wasn’t surprised. Secret testing in Australia during training for the 2019 Sydney Hobart Race as well as in the race itself had suggested that 4DL was already delivering more than they had expected. The following year had seen many offshore miles completed in the Imoca scene, culminating in the Vendée Globe.

Once their secret was out of the bag, teams took 4DL into the 2021 season and delivered North Sails Performance with plenty of validations and feedback as the wide range of conditions provided the perfect environment to put theory into practice once again. From the punchy, wild upwind start of the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race to the intensity of the Copa del Rey and Les Voiles de St Tropez it was difficult to imagine a wider range of conditions.

Above: 4DL reinforcement patches are laminated in place with North Sails’ proprietary technology, eliminating bulky, leaking seams created by traditional reinforcement methods

North Sails president Ken Read is in no doubt as to just how big a step the new clothing represents and doesn’t hold back.

‘Whenever North Sails sets out to build something, it’s a given that we plan on it being best in show. And the North Sails gear that Nigel Musto and his team have designed and built, for all marine applications, is quite simply better,’ he says. ‘He utilised a number of us who have a bit of time on the water to present what we thought were important features. Combine all of that with the new 4DL technology and voilà... the best foul weather gear, made of the best fabric, that the world has ever seen.’

But while the 4DL project gets a big tick, the North Sails Performance team is working on another area that has been neglected and overlooked for many years, women’s offshore kit. Which takes us full circle because, if you think this is marketing speak, when Nigel explains what the North Sails team has been working on you start to wonder why it is only now that solutions are appearing and those answers are on their way. In the meantime, he remains in no doubt about the significance of the move to 4DL reinforcement.

‘When breathable foul weather gear came onto the scene, many people thought that it was a luxury item, great if you could bear the additional cost. Within a few years, no one was considering anything else. We believe 4DL has the potential to do the same.’

Click here for more information on North Sails »

Claes Eliasson, lead designer Maurizio Cossutti and the Bavaria Yachts team all agreed that now is the time for something a bit different…

Have you ever sailed a cruising yacht and wondered how much faster it might be with a good set of racing sails – and with some of the heavy cruising equipment removed? Claes Eliasson, a Norwegian dealer for Bavaria Yachts and a keen club racing sailor, is leading a team with a mission to find out.

Cruisers are of course designed to have a high load-carrying capacity and the best ones sail fairly well even when heavily laden with optional extras like bathing platforms, bow thrusters and cockpit tables. But what if the typical options budget was instead devoted to boosting the boat’s performance? How much difference would that actually make?

You need the right boat to start off with. Some cruisers have far more scope for performance optimisation than others, and Eliasson knew that he had a good candidate for the project he had in mind when the naval architect Maurizio Cossutti showed him the plans for the Bavaria C42. That boat went on to win the European Yacht Of The Year Award, on the strength of its sailing performance, but Eliasson ended up using its smaller sister, the C38 – Cossutti's most recent design for Bavaria – as his test boat.

The C38 and C42 share five key design features that define their sailing characteristics. ‘It’s the sailplan, the high volume V-bow, the chine, the tight buttock lines, the keel shape,’ says Cossutti’s design partner Alessandro Ganz. ‘A combination of factors deliver the good performance and handling.’

‘This hull and the boat as a whole have potential for good results in club racing,’ Eliasson says. ‘Together with North Sails and Cossutti, we are interested in finding out whether it is worth offering sport versions of the Bavaria C38 and C42. So we ordered a standard boat from the yard without a bathing platform, cockpit table or bow thruster, which saved quite a lot of weight. We made some minor modifications locally. The sails are custom made and Cossutti has been helping us with design and development.’

It would be easy (although expensive) to demonstrate impressive performance gains by ripping out the interior of a standard production boat, adding a deeper keel, fitting water ballast and replacing the regular rig with high aspect, high modulus carbon to create the seagoing equivalent of a World Rally Championship racer. But that would go against the ethos of Eliasson’s project, which aims to show the full performance potential of a normal Bavaria C38 with the sort of optimisation that an average owner could realistically achieve, in partnership with a local sailmaker, while preserving the true essence of the boat as a well-equipped and fully functional family cruiser.

The project kicked off in January 2021. The boat was delivered in May and the team began tuning and applying a modest series of upgrades. ‘We were all curious to see how well the C38 could perform against a strong club racing fleet,’ Cossutti says. ‘It is not so strong in light winds because it wasn’t designed for racing. So we are working with the sail designers to maximise the sail area. The mast, boom and bowsprit are standard, exactly the same as any other C38. We’ve been working on the mainsail roach, optimising jibs and especially working on gennakers. The target is not to buy 20 sails but to maintain a good money-to-performance ratio.’

Eliasson’s project team also includes Christen With of North Sails Norway, consulting on rating and strategy; his colleague Pål Berntsen, advising on sails and equipment; and freelance expert Pascal Kuhn, a former Bavaria product manager who worked closely with Cossutti and Ganz on bringing the second generation of C-Line yachts to market.

The boat’s performance is promising. Eliasson has logged 14.8kts downwind with a bit of wave assistance and while sailing solo he finished a 45-mile passage a whole hour ahead of a 46-footer with a strong crew and a full sail package. ‘‘We haven’t won any regattas yet,’ he says. ‘But we have been on the podium three times, racing against strong competition: JPKs, X-Yachts, Arconas, the best boats in Norway.’ It’s worth pointing out that most of those boats cost three times as much as the C38.

‘As with all boats it has taken some time to get to know its characteristics and find the right trim,’ says Christen With. ‘We have focused on mast trim and tested which shape is most favourable in different wind conditions. Gradually we have made the boat go better and better.’

The guiding principle for sail development is to create a package that any C38 owner who wants to race can easily buy, and that works well on the boat’s standard spars. The test boat’s initial sail wardrobe included a 47m^₂ mainsail, three jibs ranging from 29m^₂ to 40m^₂, a 58m^₂ code zero, 125m^₂ and 111m^₂ gennakers, and a 36m^₂ windseeker.

‘We are amazed that we can use the 35m^₂ medium jib up to 20kts,’ says With. ‘We have discovered that this boat loves to have great power in the headsail. At the same time you must be active in trimming the mainsail flatter and flatter as the wind increases. The boat then becomes a real pleasure to steer. This is a clear advantage in regattas. For cruising it means that the steering is easily mastered, even for an inexperienced sailor. And the autopilot will do a good job when you want to leave the helm.’

Sails aside, the first season’s upgrades included inhaulers for the headsail sheets, Seldén racing blocks, an adjustable Dyneema backstay, Dyneema running rigging and a reworked mainsheet setup that gives more mechanical advantage. The C38’s cockpit is huge compared to many cruising yachts, which tend to be designed for shorthanded crews, and all that elbow room comes in handy for racing. ‘I’ve had professional racing crews on my boat and they are very impressed, especially with the cockpit,’ Eliasson says. ‘With a full crew of six to eight people there is plenty of space for everyone to work the boat efficiently and comfortably.’

Fixed and removable mainsheet travellers were considered but rejected. A fixed traveller would compromise the boat’s dual-purpose role as a family cruiser as well as a club racer, and a removable one wouldn’t be long enough to make much of a difference to sail trim. Instead, the sheet is led to an easily removable block in the middle of the cockpit sole.

Above: the test boat has a normal rig but a lot of effort has been put into sail development, focusing on jibs, gennakers and mainsail roach profile.
Below: the team are being careful to preserve the boat’s essential character so Eliasson’s C38 still has its original keel and rudder. Major modifications are firmly off the agenda

‘It is important to understand that although we have put quite a lot of effort and money into sails and deck hardware, our aim is to see how far we can go without destroying the concept of the boat,’ Eliasson explains. ‘And it’s also important that the performance version of the C38 can very easily be changed back into the full cruising version.’

Isn’t he tempted, though, to remove some of the heavier items down below when competing against purpose-built racers? ‘Absolutely not,’ he says. ‘I’ve never removed anything from the interior. And we’ve been sailing this boat with all of the Category 3 safety equipment on board, which adds a lot of weight. We haven’t even moved the battery for the anchor windlass, which is in the bow. We’ve actually found that it pays to move weight forward in light conditions.’

Bavaria’s head of production, Udo Erbe, is following the project closely to ensure that the knowledge gained can be fed back into the manufacturing process. ‘Even a family cruiser should be a fast boat,’ he says. ‘And this project shows what’s possible in terms of optimisation.’

‘By providing Claes with support we’re also gathering data that will help us evolve our polar tables for a range of projects,’ Cossutti says. ‘And a lot of knowledge goes back to Udo at the yard. It has been interesting to stress the boat and compare it with other boats in a racing environment. This has given a clear indication that the boat really is as good as we thought it was at the beginning. That is important for the yard and for us too. One of the challenges of cruising yacht design is that you have to consider how the boat performs and handles in many different cases between empty and loaded with water, fuel, people, equipment and so on. The displacement can change dramatically. It helps us when we see how it performs in club racing.’

The project is ongoing and the optimisation continues. ‘This year we are adding a North Sails 3Di jib which will give us more power in light winds,’ Eliasson says. ‘it’s probably the first one that’s ever been fitted to this sort of boat and definitely the first with a Helix luff. We are also changing the boom for a lighter one.’ We await the new season’s results with interest.

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