Bavaria Yachtbau opens up a new niche and Amel believes that the best is the enemy of the excellent

Fresh palette of news from Dusseldorf looks much more modest. The main event, as I promised yesterday, is the presentation of the new Bavaria B/One by the Bavarian yachtbuilders. Well not a yacht, but only its project, because according to Jens Ludmann the first «live» boat will be ready only inApril.

Nevertheless the event was quite a crowd of journalists, experts and simply onlookers. Why? Because this boat is shown in a very unusual way. We all got used to that Bavaria is an inexpensive (one can say extremely inexpensive) family cruiser. But here we offer a new niche. And it is not the Bavarian variant of the Delera Variant, excuse the tautology!
We were shown a project of 23-foot trailer yacht, combining (as it is promised) advantages of light dinghy and keelboat
.

In their speeches, the company executives referred to her as «dingy-yachts».

What are the features of the new boat? They are as follows:

• It's a One design class - a signature monotype designed at Bruce Farr's design bureau
• Promises extremely easy handling both on the water and on the trailer
• Versatility: the boat is designed for a crew of three, on weekends it can sleep four people in the cabin, in the sailing school, the coach can take on board up to seven trainees
• High power equipment: with an empty displacement of 1020kg the boat can carry up to^65m2 of sails (mainsail + gennaker)

«Together with it all sorts of goodies are promised» like the price of less than 23 thousand euros (excluding VAT). It goes without saying that a Class Association is being created - and not anywhere, but at the German Match-Center. So we didn't even hear any questions at the press-conference devoted to the project presentation about what the boat's main function will be in practice. Everything is clear as it is...

The presentation of the project B/One is probably the most interesting of the sailing events of the day in Düsseldorf.

And at the end of the day please see photos of the new Amel 55. The yacht replaces the well known Amel 54 that was produced with some changes for about 25 years. The 55 is the product of a very long evolution (which is a bit strange in today's world) and is a legitimate candidate to be called «Perfect Yacht» (of course, in her niche of long range cruisers with exclusively family crew). Over the years, the design and equipment of the boat have been perfected down to the smallest detail, and there is nothing to complain about (except for a modest sized cockpit and a rather narrow passage to the aft cabin). Everything else, however, is above reproach!
The most striking feature is the sealed (!) MoD capsule. Even if the boat gets busted (by the way, the doors of forward and aft cabins, despite their graceful appearance, are closed «like the sea»- that is, waterproof), the engine and the generator will not be flooded and will work, providing the boat progress, and pumps and radio - energy. If to add to it the best sound isolation in the class (I checked it personally on the 54th - when turning on the generator, the noise meter didn't change readings even for one unit) and excellent finish (against this background «standard» 55-footers look like balalaika on the grand piano background), it becomes clear why these yachts are so demanded and popular, despite their not inconsiderable price and modest production volumes.

It is said that Henri Amel, founder of the company, asked his employees (to whom he bequeathed his entire enterprise) not to lower the quality level of his yachts.

» I have a lot to tell about «Amelka (I've been out at sea twice on the previous '54 model', and I've been to the shipyard myself), but it's all in good time. In the mean time look at the pictures of the new boat, by golly she deserves it. It's nice that there are still things in the world that, while improving, remain unchanged and recognizable. «In today's hectic days, when the concept» facelift is already the norm for yacht builders, it's almost exceptional.
However, I am happy that I will not live long enough to see yacht models changing with the same rapidity as today's videocard generations. Despite all the advances in gerontology...