Today is a little story about a yacht for the world. It's not just about round-the-worlders, it's about real people. I mean, if you are going to go through the channels, in warm passages, basically the choice of a yacht becomes less critical. That's how you walk on a variety of boats: wooden boats, plastic boats, glamour boats, sports boats... Even on the dinghies! But if you are going to walk around the capes as an adult, you should think about the choice of a yacht more carefully. And here's a very good one, from my point of view, French Allures. The shipyard does not spoil the buyer with the width of the product line, it produces boats only in three sizes: 51 feet, 45 and (a novelty from last year) 39.9. At the last exhibition, the shipyard brought a forty-footer, but then, according to the law of meanness, my battery died on my camera, so I did not shoot or write about it. Now the thirty-ninth baby was presented. But boats, or rather her concept is very nice.
Why do you like «Allurcs ?»Let me tell you...
First of all, «Allure» is a dural boat. With all the attendant pros and cons. The main advantage is, of course, the strength of the hull. All is lost already looked at? Then what are the other questions?
Of the downsides, obviously, it's a possible electrocorrosion. What's the plus-minus for getting married? I don't know yet, but aluminum yachts float for a long time! But it seems to me that the strength of the hull is a very convincing advantage in long-distance sailing. Let's take a look inside first.
At first glance - a usual «forge» with quite traditional insides. A salon, like a salon, with a folding table:
The bow cabin, it's not a big deal:
On the port side, there's a sofa and a navigating table:
To the right is the dining area:
To my taste, the white lockers on the sides somehow do not fit with the rigor of the upcoming sailing, but maybe the designer had his own reason. The galley is L-shaped and not small for such a small boat:
Well, it is clear - if you understand that you will hang out at sea for a long time, you will have to think about the daily bread. And two very small freezers to help you (one can work like a regular refrigerator):
I can't show you in the photo, but the stove is suspended on a complicated bracket, which allows you to keep the horizon with any rolls, both onboard and keel:
Curious number of times - instead of one aft cabin, which is quite usual, the shipyard offers something like a workshop. There was specially left free space on display, but a little bit of imagination, and it is clear that everything can be stored here! Anything that might come in handy when you find yourself, for example, in the Patagonian skerries, where the nearest housing is 800 miles away. And not the open ocean, where it is generally safer, but straits, gulfs, islands, glaciers and absolutely deserted rocky shore.
A representative of the shipyard says that such a compartment is «sharpened» for a particular buyer. Somebody even puts a workbench here.
Curiously, two is the body. I don't know if it was possible to betray the total thickness of the board (it's the porthole in the area of the navigator)?
To make you understand: it is a duraluminous outer shell with a power kit and a thick layer of insulation. This is a piece of board. The resulting sandwich will make you feel quite comfortable in high latitudes:
And the curious number three is the lift keel. It's a folding keel, to be exact. Full draught - 2.75 (remember, it's at 12 meters of hull length!), minimum - a little over a meter. And pay attention to how the screw is covered (I forgot how this thing is properly called):
Well, of course, we must add that the standard fuel tank is 400 litres. And there's plenty of room to move around. On the outside, the pictures were not very clear, so I took them from the booklet. The deck is made of fibreglass. The shipyard believes that the rigidity of the hull is such that the power function of the deck is not required. Some of the running wiring is hidden, but it is a part so that you can change the ropes without much effort.
The aft arch is the standard solution. This is for attaching solar panels, wind turbines, antennas and whatever else you can think of. Like boats. And a life raft in a transom locker. That's a very sensible solution!
Tender sailing equipment is also a standard solution. So, the boat is not for regattas, though it walks quite well in the «Poles» - up to 16 knots.
In short, it's definitely a round-the-world boat. That's what the designers intended it to be. Will you say that the boat is too small for a balloon? But 95% of yachtsmen who decide to sail around the world are married couples. They're not young. When children have grown up, when the career no longer cares, and go every day to the office is no longer required, then most often and give mooring for their main voyage. Isn't this boat small for two people? Even in Patagonia...
And in conclusion, I'll bring you a video from Yachting Monthly magazine. In the November 2012 issue, the magazine named the big sister of the thirty-ninth - 45 «Allure» - the ideal bluewater cruiser for the open sea.
I guess I'll agree with you about perfection. «Allure»has probably only one flaw. They cost about a third more than their plastic competitors. Well, maybe they're worth it, though.
Andrei Sharkov,
president of the Russian Cruiser Club. The author's blog on Livejournal
Also read Andrey Sharkov's impressions of Oceanis 38 and Moody 54DS.
