Januar 2019 - Hightide

BOOT Düsseldorf / Economy Class with the VIKO S35

29. Januar 201931. Januar 2019Alex Beck

If you love clean hotels, services and no hassle; charter is the key. So do I. That´s also fine when you are not living at the seaside, in Barcelona, Boston oder Kiel. Above that it´s cheaper to do the charter. Yeah we are talking from quite normal charter between the Caribbean sea or the Mediterranean. We are not talking about a WALLY Charter, or getting the ENDEAVOUR for a week.

That´s cool, that´s fine and than you see the VIKO S35 at the BOOT in Düsseldorf, and the calculator on your iPhone ist counting by itself. What happened? You got pulse when you saw the lines of the „right size boat“ with a dumping price. All in all we´re talking about 100.000 EUR, ready for sailing. Suddenly you don´t think about the next charter trip. Your mind is checking the next possible mooring area.

The boat is stunning with it outstanding and progressive design. There are sexy edges and a modern light interior. The look of a performance cruiser. Compared with that price it is really a boat which you will have. The workmanship is much better than some of the more expensive competitors. That´s a deal for a 5 years project. Buy it, use it as often you can and sell it before it´s getting stressfull and expensive like all older boats.

The wharf itself is in the middle of poland. Maybe you know all the boats of them. They are much smaller, but they all have typical design lines. I look at them till years, cause of their design ideas. Unfortunately I had no interest till now, cause in my eyes the focus was too much on living aboard on small boats; keyword headroom an toilet on too less length.

Above that there are the doors to the front cabin. They are opening into the saloon. That´s a thing which just the prototype has. The serie will oben in the front cabin. Like the way it is like on a Dufour 350 GL. Which ist the quality competitor.

The only thing which I don´t like is the very high coaming. That´s not my style, but at the end it´s comfortabel, especially with kids. Have a look if you need a cheap alternative instead of charter. Tell me about your considerations. Write me on Alex@HighTide.cc

BOOT Düsseldorf / eMobility meets #GentleSailing

26. Januar 201926. Januar 2019Alex Beck

eMob is one of the hot topics at the boat fair in DüDo. No wonder that Nautors Swan adopt that topic sovereign with style at the premier of the SWAN 36. Maybe the right move to make eMob to a force on the water.

At the end it´s a TriOperation. BMW i supplies the batteries, Torqeedo builts the eMotor and both parts will find their place in the race yacht itself. The premier will take place in May, direct in racing.

The innovative electrified drive of the ClubSwan 36 race yacht is to be powered by the latest generation of lithium ion batteries by BMW i. The zero-emissions drive system in the new model will incorporate the specialist skills of BMW i, the electric boat drive manufacturer Torqeedo and the Finnish yacht maker Nautor’s Swan.

The ClubSwan 36 as a one-design carbon race yacht that combines all the advantages of dinghy and keelboat sailing. For this particular project, Torqeedo enhanced their Cruise 10.0 electric drive to incorporate BMW i battery technology.

The high-performance batteries that power the BMW i3 and i8, are already an established component of Torqeedo’s DEEP BLUE motor systems. The underwater propeller acts as a hydro generator while the yacht is sailing but disappears into the hull during regattas. That´s sounds strange to me. OK I get the Idea. You will always have strange feeling when the prop is out? It´s just performing in racing when the prop is in? Ok, at a normal sailing boat the prop is always out, which makes it slower; it´s the feeling, you know. If you can put it in, I will always sail without the propeller.

We will see. After May we will have the first results how it works. After that the Club Swan 36 will be at the Rolex Cup in St Tropez in June, and the Copa del Rey in Palma de Mallorca in July. Mallorca will also host the first one-design regatta with five boats of this type in October of this year.

Recap BOOT Düsseldorf / Inspiring Walkaround

24. Januar 201924. Januar 2019Alex Beck

3 days are much to less for a visit a the boat show in Düsseldorf. It´s OK when you don´t have appointments, than you run across the halls and get a catch everywhere. That was my experience years ago. Nowadays it´s quite difficult to look every booth of your choice in detail.

Nevertheless I will show you today my drive-by perspectives of the fair. At the end there is so much more to see. That year for example I haven´t been on any speech in one of the panels in the specific halls. That´s a must for next year.

The SARCH S6 is a one-of Daysailer which is eye catching. It has all the elements you are searching for. The Fat-Head, wavepiercer bow, modern cockpit and gennaker. All in all it looks quite economical and rought. At the end, maybe the boat the mass will have for the weekend. Whereas Sunseeker is not something for the mass but at least fascinating.

On Saturday we had the logo launch of the Deutscher Segel Verband (DSV). That was quite free of emotions but there was at least a yummy cake. Do you see the difference to the previous logo?

Wood is always a topic in boat design. There are so many kinds of wooden deck possibilities. That´s really amazing. What do you think about the round design of the new Dehler interior design? I like the outside of the yachts very much, but the inside is not so mine.

Yeah, that´s a plastic foiler for sailing schools, which is easy to foil and everything of the boat is very solid. Good idea. I like it. It´s also interesting for family-foiling at the weekend with kids. That´s the idea. The concrete opposite of foiling is the Dehler 25. The construction is around 30 years old and it was my dream when I was a child. In the 80ies it was also promoted as a family boat. Now the YACHT Magazine made a refit with high-tec materials and put it into the now. The result is amazing and the idea was outstanding for a conservatice print magazine.

BOOT Düsseldorf / The Foiling Dinghy

23. Januar 2019Alex Beck

Foiling and eMob on the water are two major topics at the fair that year. When we were cruising across Hall 15 I saw in the corner of my eye a fat-head North Sail on a dinghy and I had to stop. The lines were amazing. Like a LASER in 2019. Just a little bit smaller. The Design is outstanding. A Wavepiercer Bow, a fat T-Foil rudder and one foiler on each side. Both parts are made out of carbon fibre. The orange of the foils are made for me. I like those coloured gadgets. It´s called THE FOILING DINGHY, short TFD. That´s also the name in the North sail.

I met Catarina who invented that boat together with her love, the A-Cat Pro-Sailor Thilo Keller. They are very enthusiastic and I can understand it. The boat is stunning and with a price of around 12.000 EUR fine. Think about that technology. It´s a sexy foiler, state of the art in sailing. Much better than a Laser and cheaper than a MELGES 14. OK both are bigger, but at the end, all of them are small boats for singel-handed sailing. Perfect. If I will be critical, yeah, the finish of the hull and the deck is not perfect, but we will see how the first „TFDs“ will do their job.

I think it´s the right boat at the right time. I still think about a new olympic class when I see it. Above that it is easy to handle and fast to sail if needed. I will keep an eye on it and in season 2019 the first boats will be available at Steinlechner / Ammersee; my lake. Hopefully I will have the chance to get a ride with it.

BOOT Düsseldorf / GARCIA Yachts

22. Januar 201922. Januar 2019Alex Beck

GARCIA-Yachts, nobody really needs that. Quite the opposite is the truth. Everybody should have a exploration yacht. If you have a feeling for adventures, a Land Rover or a UNIMOG, than the Garcia is your thing. For me it wasn´t a must-see at the boat show, but now I have to say you have to see it. It can change your ambitions in sailing. Perhaps you see yourself in the arctic after you have seen the boat.

My sailing area has to be warm an it should be done without shoes, but with a drink in your hand. Nevertheless I was standing beside that huge yacht, made out of aluminum (Have a look at the video from my „Bow-Dive“ and the „Deckwalk„) and I was impressed. The yacht has a brutal design, almost martial. When I was aboard my senses gave me the feeling of beeing save. Everything on that yacht tells you, that it is not certified for the ocean, it is build for the ocean. The dimensions of the winch, or the layout of the cockpit; everything is driven by perfection. It´s not a beauty in a romantic way. It is a beauty in the sense of a MB Trac. After that first impression your mind clicks, and you think about the arctic. You get the feeling of beeing autarkic. Planet Blue invites you for exploring. Your great adventure will begin. The high latitudes are calling.

In the inside you will see big heating systems. Real radiators, never seen on a boat. The saloon ist built up very high to see the enviroment better than on a normal layout. Normal is nothing on a Garcia. As expected there is a basic design of the interior, but you can customize it for your life. Everything is possible from a workshop cabin to a pilot-bed in your office cabin. Everything you need could be realized. Really stunning.

The coach roof is build in composite and it looks rough as on a IMOCA Racer. At the end, I´m really excited by that yacht and I´m far far away from a expedition.

Preview BOOT DüDo with Spy Pics.

18. Januar 201918. Januar 2019Alex Beck

Tomorrow the largest boat show in the world will open its doors in Düsseldorf. HighTide gets in the leak lead. Today I got a view pix of one of our sailing spies. Here you will see a few highlights which we will see at the fair.

The SPEEDLOUNGER will be my personal Highlight. Build out of aluminium with a outstanding look. Looks like a performance cruiser with picnic possibilities. It has all I need on a 28ft boat, a wheel, a Fat-Head-Main, waverpiercer bow, a perfect colour with a outstanding design and you can sleep aboard if necessary.

Above that there is the long time project of the German YACHT Magazine. I saw all their videos of the refit and I knew that boat since I was a child. The DEHLER 25 was one of my Dreams, back in the 80ies. In that look it is still adorable.

In 2014 I heard the first time about the BLU26 Daycruiser. It´s an amazing boat, unfortunately without a gennaker. So far I know. All the more I appreciate the foiling BLU26. That´s really a big thing. WOW.

Another Highlight which we all have to see ist the all new BENTE39. Now we are in the 40ft class and that´s a sign for the open water. But BENTE will have another new boat for us which will be stunning. They will inform us about the BENTE 26.

Now we will see a few things which just came on the lense of our spy. Things like the Foil of the Beneteau FIGARO 3, or a grey daycruiser which looks like a ESSE. Tomorrow we will know what it is.

Hightide – Life Aboard

Monat: Januar 2019