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Unlocking the full potential with the First 36


Øyvind Bordal joins a masterclass for a new breed of planing cruisers, honing his skills at the Beneteau First Academy in Croatia


When I get out of bed in the morning and pull the curtains aside, the sun almost blinds me. As soon as my eyes have adjusted I can see the bay surrounding the house: green vegetation, brown rocks. The blue water at the foot of the building is like a mirror but the leaves on the trees are moving. The wind is probably OK further out and will increase during the day. From the window I can see marble


steps leading down to the dock where the RIB is moored. Further out in the bay two sleek white hulls, each of thema First 36, are circling around their anchor chains. A new day of sailing in the Croatian archipelago lies ahead. But first, breakfast with the coaches and my co-sailors. A boat is not just any odd thing


you buy. It’s a tool for adventure, freedom, joy and new experiences – but also it’s a door into a community. When you buy a boat, you also buy into a relationship with other sailors who have chosen the same kind of boat. You also enter into a relationship with the team that


68 SEAHORSE


developed and built the boat. And so the question arises: What community do you wish to be a part of? Because obviously they are different. Not everyone knows this, but


the teamnow in charge of building a new future for the legendary Beneteau First line has a very interesting background. They spent the last decade building their vision and perfecting their skills through the development of a series of


smaller, trailable sport boats, the Seascapes. They also took great care building a community around their products. Today,most of these Slovenian-built boats are adapted and implemented into the new First line under the brand First SE (Seascape Edition), along with the more recent, newly developed First 36 – and soon the upcoming First 30. The latestmodels, the First 36


and the First 30 are a new breed of sailing boats, a new species called the planing cruiser. Themain thing about themis that theymake speed easy. They aremeant to give even


Above: this new training programme for First 36 buyers with coaching from pro sailors is part of a drive by Beneteau to help owners get a lot more value out of their boats


beginners the special feeling of joy that arises when a sailing boat is light and powerful enough to free itself fromthe chains of displacement mode and startmoving freely over the water. The Beneteau and Seascape


team, lead by AndrazMihelin, wanted tomake this experience available in a comfortable, easily-handled cruising boat.Which is something really astonishing, since this level of performance traditionally has only been available to hardcore racers. Contrary to a lot of vague


marketing hype, it’s very easy to see if they actually delivered on this promise. You can just check the numbers on the log or look at the flat wake behind the transom. You can also ask owners. They will probably tell you about a whole new, double digit sailing experience, often sailing twice as fast as they used to go. But when you get to know the


people behind this new breed of sailing boats, you will understand that it’s not only about the boats.


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