Design
This twin wheel setup looks conventional but is actually quite unusual, incorporating two independent systems
But why? This is not a boat that will
line up against an all-carbon TP52. ‘Performance is every bit as important
to the cruising sailor as it is to the most competitive crews on the circuit. And if it isn’t, it should be,’ he says. ‘Making sure the weight is where it should be is essential in achieving a boat that is easy to manage, whether you’re sailing shorthanded or fully crewed. Most people will understand that in a strong breeze you want the centre of gravity to be low and that a heavy bulb helps to achieve this. ‘Saving weight
aloft achieves the biggest gains, the options for a carbon mast and boom are there for this reason. Saving small amounts of weight high up has big benefits when it comes to adding weight in the keel. ‘We have spent a great deal of time
looking closely at the sail plan options which focus primarily on conventional slab reefing or in-boom furling. They are further examples of how we are striving to keep the centre of gravity low and get the best handling as well as the best performance. We have also looked very carefully at the operation of the systems and the control line layouts. Achieving a range of gears is one thing but making sure you can switch between them easily is just as important. The link between a stiffer boat and saving weight in the accommodation is less well understood, but this is still weight that we can put in the keel.’ When building a high-quality blue water
cruiser there will always be a balance to be struck between creating an elegant, practical and robust interior and saving weight, something Arcona Yachts’ CEO Urban Lagnéus is acutely aware of. ‘As we went through the design process
and took a close look at weight it was clear that saving say 25kg was often possible’, he says. ‘On the other hand, when considered in isolation it is also
68 SEAHORSE
The hull’s key design features include a high-volume plumb bow, a shallow underbody and powerful aft sections with subtle, well radiused soft chines
clear that a weight saving of this size is tiny, almost insignificant on a 50ft boat. So, the next task was to look at how many times 25kg could be saved. Achieve it 10 times and the picture starts to look very different.’ But even then, the weight saving issue
is still not straightforward. ‘There’s something about getting to
‘We’ve stopped talking about the navigation station and tend to refer to this area as the workstation’
50ft thatmakes people want to put all kinds of items aboard their boats,’ Jeppesen continues. ‘Given the nature of their long-distance cruising it is completely understandable. Even so, the fact remains that below this size, say in a 35-footer people know that they will always bemaking
compromises. Yet the bigger you go, the less they keep this concept inmind. So, part of the design process was keeping the weight obsession inmind while accepting that people would want to be adding dishwashers, washingmachines, bicycles and so on. So, it was our job to anticipate this and look for themost weight-efficient items without compromising on quality.’ While weight was uppermost in their minds, Jeppesen along with the boat’s
naval architect and designer Ariadna Pons and the Arcona Yachts team were also on a mission to make the 50 an easy boat to sail well. ‘The fixed carbon bowsprit is a good
option for an asymmetric spinnaker but for those looking to sail shorthanded a code zero is a far better option inmy opinion,’ says Jeppesen. ‘You can sail very deep with one, you can use it upwind in light airs and can raise or lower it easily fromthe deck. I’mnot sure that I’d have an asymmetric kite.’ The option for a self-tacking jib is
another detail that will appeal to those sailing shorthanded, but the ability to combine this with longitudinal tracks on the coachroof allows additional versatility elsewhere in the sail plan. From setting an overlapping jib and sheeting to the tracks, through to a self-tacking heavy weather jib attached to the inner forestay, the geometry of the foretriangle and the deck layout has been carefully worked out to allow as many options as possible while keeping things simple too. Further aft, the cockpit has an option
for a mainsheet traveller. The standard setup is a simple mainsheet attachment on the cockpit sole, but even then the attachment is concealed to give a neat,
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