all transat racers who only need good downwind speed. The boat also had to feature plenty of living space and be capable of being built easily and at low cost. The hull fundamentals were based upon a moderate canoe body with narrow waterlines flaring out to give form stability and interior volume.


you’re invited to show it for free at our next show.’


I also posted a longer article about the boat and within two hours received a call from technology company CEO Helge Von der Linden, saying, ‘OK, I will build the mock-up for you guys.’ That is how the story has gone right up to today. And so it went; during that first Ham- burg Hanseboot in autumn 2014 we were one of the most visited stands. At the show we also found a shipyard that is now the builder of our Bente 24, starting work on the prototype a few days after the end of the Berlin Boatshow… where we also exhibited free of charge! (Also, with our ‘open’ project, we installed a webcam at the yard so anyone interested can follow the building process on the internet.) Prior to finalising the design of the Bente 24 we of course did our homework, carefully examining some 60 existing boats in this size range from all around the world. Then we set ourselves another simple objective… our boat must beat all of its existing rivals in every area. After the students finished their creative process we sat through numerous interest- ing presentations of ideas… some of which definitely looked rather weird on first inspection. But as our confidence grew, more and more of the new ideas found their way into the final product. No one creative idea made it onto the boat in its original, purest form, but with some tweaking here and there our students helped us to create something that we


believe is rather special.


For example, the students were largely responsible for the clever living arrangement adjacent to the companionway. At first sight some of the proposals were perhaps a little too adventurous, such as a retractable com- posite targa-top; but what came out of that was a nice composite/glazed fixed doghouse. What we got from the university was an endless supply of really nice design con- cepts – as we all know from the automo- bile industry. There are so many sketches of cars you will never see in reality, but you will find a lot of those ideas eventually making their way into production models. Working with our partners we also designed a completely new boat while avoiding the bulk of development costs, which typically – in ‘real life’ – would have cost at least €250-300,000. And in reality no one would ever spend this much for a small 25ft cruiser – which helps explain some of the boats that we see.


After the presentation in Hanover our detailed design began. One of our team members, designer Jan Kuhnert (also of Judel-Vrolijk), always referred back to his wife, and how he was concerned to deliver a boat that was as attractive to her as to him. In the future Jan wants her to come with him sailing, for sure… and this lady is called Bente. At every step we asked‚ what would Bente say?’ After a while it became obvious our boat would be the Bente 24. Design criteria were clear. First, the boat must sail perfectly in every direction. Not only downwind, because we are not


People mostly take more stuff onto a boat than we all like to think. That’s why we created an overhang on the transom and designed the boat to perform over a ‘live’ displacement range of 1,300- 1,750kg. Why should you go slowly when cruising with lots of gear onboard? The cockpit is optimised for two people with sail management designed for double or singlehanded operation – we all know that sailing such a boat with friends can sometimes be a ‘solo’ operation. Every- thing leads back to the cockpit so there is no need to go forward. A dodger seals the cockpit when required and offers 1.90m of standing headroom.


With good form stability and slender waterlines, upwind speed is excellent. Sim- ilarly, with massive volume in the bow the Bente 24 can be pressed as hard as you like downwind delivering sparkling sailing. Overall, however, the design is focused not on top speed but on good seakeeping with fast and safe sailing.


Bente 24 is built using strong and durable DIAB-sandwich cored construc- tion. Ready-to-sail price for a standard boat is €25,000 ex-VAT. Upgrades are also available, including a carbon rig with larger square-top mainsail. But the Bente view is that you do not need to pay for what you don’t need.


Inside there is no wooden furniture because, whatever the claims, wood needs to be cared for each winter. There is simple, modern upholstery and we use only bag-solutions for storage. Our idea was that you need only remove your bags and upholstery when you prepare for winter. That’s it. Low cost, low mainte- nance and maximum sailing fun. And the concept works. Only a year after first thinking about it we presented the hull of the prototype at the 2015 Dus- seldorf Boatshow. And many of you placed orders… How many? Well, our 2015 production is completely sold out. Stephan Boden


SEAHORSE 45


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