100-POINT BOAT TEST The UK’s most comprehensive yacht tests


NEW BOATS TRIED & TESTED


Swedestar 370


This sleek, sexy Swedish model is new in town and looking for love. Chris Beeson goes out on a first date


on the southern shore of the Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake. The 370 is Swedestar’s only model at present but there are plans for a 41-footer, then a 46. With its youth comes vaulting ambition. Swedestar is hoping to storm local boatbuilding bastions such as Hallberg-Rassy, Arcona, Najad and Malö, and has chosen the 370 as a battering ram. She was designed in 2006 by Håkan Södergren, one of Swedestar’s investors and a noted yacht designer since the early ’70s. The subject of our test, Tindra,


I


used to belong to the Scandinavian director of Swedestar before UK dealer SD Marine prised her out of his hands to use as a test boat. The UK spec involves extensive enhancements to the base boat – a permanent double bow roller, cruising laminate sails, chartplotter, radar and so on – pitching her into luxury territory. That’s all well and


Behind her pretty looks, the Swedestar 370 has astronomical power, so much that she needed a double-reefed main in a Force 4


f the name is unfamiliar, that’s because Swedestar is just six years old. The yard is based in Lidköping, 75 miles north-west of Gothenburg


good, but is this fresh-faced ingénue seriously going to cut it among the well-established Scandinavian supermodels? There was only one way to find out.


Performance We had 14-17 knots of true wind


from the north-east. With two reefs in the mainsail and a full blade jib, she waltzed off in a way that reminded me instantly of the Arcona 430, leaning stiffly against gusts and powering ahead. We beam reached towards


Calshot, making 7.4-8.1 knots with 14-16 knots over the rail. The helm felt wonderful, well connected, highly responsive, perfectly weighted, just a shade twitchy directionally, but not a trace of slack anywhere. Hardening up onto a fetch, she clocked 6.9-8 knots in 14-18 knots apparent. On the wind she made 6.8-7.3


knots in 18-23 knots of apparent wind at around 35° with the flat blade jib pinned in and the main zipping up and down the traveller. With this sailplan, tacking through 95-100° was a cinch. It was gusty off Hillhead and, though we had to ease the mainsheet a few times, the rudder never lost grip. We shook out one reef on the


fetch back up Southampton Water,


to see how she took the extra canvas. She didn’t flinch as she charged along at 7.5-8.6 knots, without much heel, with 15-18 knots of apparent wind at an angle of 50°.


Living below Down the flat companionway steps


there are hand-holds either side and 6ft 2in headroom at the bottom. The galley and chart table fiddles act as hand-holds heading forward and there are handrails in the headlining. The double-leaved saloon table dines six in comfort and the port settee, over 7ft long and 2ft wide, is a better berth than the starboard settee, which is less than 6ft. There are stainless steel water tanks and batteries beneath the seating, so stowage is limited to the three outboard lockers with a little extra behind the seat backs. There’s plenty of dimmable halogen lighting, and natural light through the stainless steel-framed Rutgerson port lights. The main hatch provides ventilation. The L-shaped galley is a good size


and has 6ft 1in headroom, with a work surface aft of the stove. The fridge is forward of it and twin sinks, with a splashback panel, inboard. Lighting is excellent and includes a strip of LEDs below the lockers outboard, to illuminate your


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7