(Refreshing) transparency
It’s easy to describe your latest design as a cruiser-racer but that often just means a boat that sits somewhere in between the two categories. Elan are taking a rather more scientific approach to their own product descriptions…
The Elan E-Line
There’s a gap right in the middle of the new boat market, which has been there for years. If you want a docile cruising yacht that’s designed primarily for novice sailors, there are lots of those to choose from. There are also plenty of options if you’re mainly focused on racing with a bit of family cruising on the side. But if your style of sailing lies halfway in between, you’ll no doubt have noticed that there aren’t so many genuine cruiser-racers in production. This used to be an important segment of the market: yachts designed for experienced sailors who put the same emphasis on both racing and cruising, who value performance and comfort in equal measure, and who above all want a boat that is simply a joy to sail. It’s no coincidence that most of today’s “modern classics” were originally conceived as cruiser-racers. Today, by contrast, a lot of yacht builders expect their customers to make a fundamental choice between “performance” and “comfort”, and they produce yachts accordingly. Elan has spotted this gap in the Venn diagram between racing and
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cruising, which it calls “crossover sailing”, and moved to fill it. Market research and new management have set the Slovenian yacht builder on a new course, straight down the middle. Rather than making separate racing and cruising versions of its highly regarded E-Line yachts, Elan is now focused on producing one really good, dual-purpose version of each model in the range.
‘We’re much closer to a boutique yacht builder than a production line operation,’ says David Rajapakse, Elan’s head of marketing. ‘This becomes obvious when you delve deep into the details of the boat: the quality of finish, technology and state-of-the-art equipment.’
Equipment Upgrades Instead of offering a vast array of optional extras for owners who want to “cross over” between cruising and racing, Elan has given all three E-Line models a major upgrade, aiming to optimise them for both purposes. There are still plenty of options available, but all boats now come with a much higher specification of standard equipment, including a retractable carbon fibre bowsprit.
Above: Elan’s E-Line yachts are genuine cruiser-racers aimed at
experienced sailors who value speed and comfort in equal
measure. The hulls feature very wide, powerful afterbodies with twin rudders and hard-chined quarters.
A bulbed keel keeps the boats’ centre of gravity as low as
possible and a redesigned cockpit
makes them more suitable for two- handed racing and shorthanded cruising
A headsail furler is now standard kit – a Furlex unit with its drum recessed into the foredeck to allow the foot of the sail to sweep the deck, closing the slot to give better performance upwind. Deck hardware has been completely upgraded and now includes premium brands such as Harken, Seldén and Spinlock, cordage from Gottifredi Maffioli and retractable mooring cleats that should be impossible to foul with the spinnaker sheets.
The yachts’ sail plans haven’t changed, but their standard-spec rigs have been upgraded. All boats come with a tapered, keel-stepped mast and an adjustable split backstay. ‘A keel-stepped mast allows more rake, it has a smaller profile and lowers the centre of gravity, which are all crucial benefits for a boat that has a performance pedigree,’ Rajapakse says. ‘We have also designed it so the usual risks of keel-stepped masts are negligible.’ Elan’s new “crossover” approach is evident in the boats’ cockpits, which have been made more spacious, easier to move around in and better suited to both singlehanded cruising and short-
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