The confusion continues regarding European Yacht of the Year choices, turning what is potentially a great idea into a mess. This year they chose as European Yacht of the year on the Performance Cruiser category a 36ft that has a head that is worse than the one in most 30ft cruisers, a head that would be barely acceptable in a 36ft race boat, but utterly unacceptable in a 36ft CRUISER, being it a performance one, or not.
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First 36 head, with a foldable wash hand basin |
And then they have chosen as European Family Yacht of the year a boat (Linjett 39) that is similar in price and characteristics to several boats that in past editions were nominated and judged as Luxury Cruisers, boats like the Grand Soleil LC46, Sunbeam 40.1, Maxi 1200 (2016) X4, Italia 12.98 (2017) Wauquiez Pilot saloon 42 (2019), Grand Soleil 42LC (2020), Hallberg-Rassy 40C, Moody 41DS (2021).
In the European Yacht of the Year award, Family Cruisers were always the category for the more affordable mainstream yachts, the ones produced by the big brands, or others that were able to match their prices or to come close. The Linjett 39, with a price tag of 485 000 euros (for a sail away boat with VAT) and luxury finish is certainly not in this category, where 39/40ft sailboats, in the same condition, cost about 320 000.
To further increase the general confusion, another of the boats that competed in the same “Family Cruiser” category was a Bente 28, which, by its sailing potential and design program, is a performance cruiser. The only other boat in competition in this category was the Dufour 37 (that is really a 33ft yacht), a boat that I don’t like due to its extreme beam, but that was the only one that belonged in the category.
Facing this, the Jury only had two options, either to elect the Dufour as the European Family Cruisert of the year or to find that this year no boat deserved that award. It has already happened in past editions, but not to a big brand like Dufour.
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Dufour 37 |
The reason for this state of affairs is clear: the yacht’s demand and the number of builders are not enough to produce each year a suitable number of new yachts in all categories each, so, instead of making this a biannual or quadrennial event, to be sure that there is an adequate number of boats in the contest for each category, they prefer to aleatorily distribute boats for each category, to give as many prizes as they can.
It is good for magazines, and for brands, but in the end, takes away the contest’s credibility, that, if made in different terms could be a very interesting one, and eventually give some guidance to consumers.
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Finnflyer 34 |
Contrary to what some testers said, Linjett is a well-known brand, at least in the North of Europe, a brand known to build very solid well-built sailboats, with a slightly outdated designs, a brand like others that, in Scandinavia, build a small number of sailboats.
Those brands have been diminishing in number over the years, some existing in limbo, not being able to find a market for high quality, but also much more expensive boats, brands like Sweden Yacht, Finngulf, Wasa, CR, Vindo, Maxy yachts, Malo, SwedeStar, Fabola, Fantasi, Confortbatar, Scanyachts, Nauticat, Finnflyer, Aerodyne, Degero, Maestro, among others.
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Fabola Yachts – Diva 34 |
The fact is that the biggest European sail magazine, Yacht.de, has made good work in regard to announcing each new model from these brands, some of them very modern sailboats, that end up disappearing and never being heard about again. I remember particularly one, the Maestro 345, a true beauty and a very advanced design for its time, that still looks now like a brand new design, more than a decade after having been designed.
And in regard to Linjett they had not only talked about them as they have tested them, the 43 in 2017, the 34 in 2015, and the 37 in 2011, and they have always said very well about the boats, their building quality, and the way they sailed.
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Maestro 345 |
I posted about the Linjett 43 in this blog, back in 2014, calling attention to how well the boats were built and how strong they were:
https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2014/11/linjett-43-very-strong-boat.html
When the Linjett 39 was announced I thought about posting about it in the blog, but after looking carefully at the sailboat, and the data, I decided not: sure, it was well built, it has a very well-finished interior, even if in what regards design it is not clearly designed by a top interior designer, and the hull design and the looks are outdated in many aspects, starting by the bow design and finishing in the transom and aft hull sections.
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Above and below, Linjett 43 |
In fact, in regards to hull design and outside looks, I prefer the 10 years older Linjett 43, than the new 39, which, by the way, is a 40ft boat.
Note that being outdated does not mean that it does not sail well, as well as a good 15-year-old design would sail. It means that if a top naval architect would have done that design, it would have improved it in several aspects, from the length of the LWL, to the keel efficiency, to the design of the aft sections and transom.
But the 3.95m beam is quite adequate for a good sail performance in a 40ft boat, while maintaining a reasonable interior volume, the 39.1% B/D on a 2.15 draft, kind of lead torpedo keel, is about ideal.
These two characteristics, fine bow entries, and a decently designed (even if outdated) hull as well as low weight (8700kg with a 3400kg ballast, made possible due to the use of vacuum infusion using sandwich with divinycell foam as core and vinylester resin), gives the performance that would be expected from a sailboat with these characteristics, a quite good one.
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Jeanneau 410 |
But why on hell implicitly compare this boat with boats like the Bavaria, Jeanneau, Beneteau, Dufour or Hanse, putting it in the same category these boats enter in this contest, the one of Family Cruisers?
If you pick up the Jeanneau 410 design, which is the only one among Family Cruisers that does not have a huge beam (3.99m) and build it with the same materials and techniques, giving it a similar B/D you would end up with a boat that would outperform the Linjett 39, and if the same quality and finish were used on the interior, it would make for a far better cruiser.
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Jeanneau 410 |
The problem would be that the Jeanneau 410 would not cost 232 400 euros, but probably not far from the 375 854 euros the Linjett 39 costs, both boats without VAT, a price that is higher than the ones of Solaris 40, Arcona 415 or GS40, boats that are built the same way, using the same techniques and materials. And regarding the Jeanneau, contrary to what is usual in more expensive sailboats, it comes with more equipment than the Linjett, including sails.
What really pissed me off was the tone of some sail testers while speaking about the Linjett 39, as if they had discovered the gunpowder. The Linjett 39, even if slightly outdated is a good boat, but, given its price, without anything really extraordinary regarding the competition as their words make suppose, and most of all, not a Family Cruiser, by the definition they have been using in the European Yacht Boat of the Year contest.
If they really like the basic concept of the Linjett 39 as a Family Cruiser (like I do), I mean a sailing yacht with a good sail performance, a good B/D and a cozy, comfortable interior, but without trying to look bigger than the 40ft the boat actually is (by increasing beam, bow entries, and standing weight), or without reducing B/D, substituting it by hull form stability, then they should criticize those features and options, that are detrimental to sailing, in the design of current Family Cruisers, that are increasingly beamier, fatter, with higher freeboards and lower B/D.
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Above and below, Linjett 39 |
But I never read any criticism by these same sail testers about excessive beam or freeboard in regards to the design of Beneteaus, Dufours, Hanses, or Bavarias, as I never heard any complaints regarding the low ballast ratio on those boats. Are they so ignorant about yacht design that they don’t know what those options imply in terms of sail performance and even in what regards safety stability and AVS?
In fact, I remember that 15 years ago they used to publish in magazines, in each test, the stability curves of each boat and they stopped doing that allegedly because readers did not know how to interpret them as if it was not their job to interpret them for the readers, a thing, that, by the way, they have never done.
If they find it more adequate for a mainstream cruising sailboat the combination of design factors we find on the Linjett 39, that is not a reason to make it European Yacht of the year, in a category it does not obviously belong, but it is certainly a reason to criticize family cruiser’s design when they clearly go astray of those design parameters. I hope it happens in the future, but I still have to see it happen.
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Above and below, Linjett 39 |
I was ending this post here, but it would not be right, and quite unfair to the Linjett 39, which would be a victim of my irritation over all this affair regarding inappropriate choices, in the European Yacht of the Year contest. So, getting back to the Linjett:
If you can get over the 15-year-old Bavaria looks, or even better, if you like them, if you want a relatively fast, well-built, 40ft seaworthy cruiser, that does not put interior volume ahead of sail performance, then the Linjett 39 is a great boat.
The interior layout is specially adequate for a couple, with a single small head but a big cabinet that can be optionally turned into a separate cabin shower.
The 3 cabin layout, with only one head, does not make much sense and almost all 40ft cruisers on the market propose 2 head versions, but that is not the case with this one, even if probably a tiny head can be installed in the shower cabinet, that can be a normal one if the small chart table is eliminated.
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Above Linjett 39, below Hallberg Rassy 400 |
The galley has a very good dimension and the cabinet storage all over the boat is just great, providing very good and detailed interior storage. The interior is of very good quality, but the design quality leaves to be desired.
It is like an interior designed and made by a good yacht carpenter, or by a boat builder, but not designed by a professional good yacht interior designer.
Contrary to almost all family cruisers the Linjett does not offer a swim platform but a cockpit semi-closed by back seats that provides good, even if deep and not easily accessed storage.
Under the cockpit, on the passage, there is a dedicated space for the liferaft. There is no more storage in the cockpit, being the space under the seats used for interior volume.
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Hallberg Rassy 400 |
On the bow, there is a small sail locker, which is a very nice and rare feature in a 40ft boat. The mast is keel-stepped, another feature that you will only find in more expensive boats. The cockpit is not big, being most of the space used for the interior, but the layout is nice.
The boat comes with 2 standard winches accessible from the steering wheel and the running rigging that is typical on most cruisers, with all the lines carried back and a lot of clutches near the wheels, but with only 2 winches, even using the standard self-tacking jib the operation will be complicated because the boat comes standard with a good, over the cabin, mainsheet traveler.
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Above and below, Linjett 39 |
They offer two more winches as an option and the boat seems prepared to take a 6 winch layout, with two winches over the cabin. Two small genoa trackers over the cabin are also standard, but not the sails, the anchor windlass, the shore power, or the battery charger. It comes standard with a 75L water-cooled fridge and a diesel heater.
Regarding hull and sail performance, I should add that all sail testers found the boat very well-balanced, fast for a mainstream yacht, and pleasant to sail.
The gains in performance a more modern designed hull would bring are not big, and not important in regards to cruising or this type of sailboat, being the biggest drawback probably the bigger heel angle, while sailing.
https://www.yacht.de/yachten/fahrtenyachten/test-linjett-39-tradition-trifft-innovation-der-komplette-testbericht/https://www.sailingtoday.co.uk/boats/big-boat-review/boat-test-linjett-39/
At 375 736 euros the Linjett 39 has a fair price, being a lot less expensive than a Hallberg Rassy 400 and not with an inferior build, probably the opposite.
The Hallberg Rassy offers a bigger interior, but even if very well designed, and looking very good, is one of the brands that have opted for maximizing interior volume at the cost of sailing performance, and the beam difference between these two boats, that have almost the same hull length (12.30 to 12.15m), is quite telling (4.18m to 3.85m).
Due to superior building techniques (vacuum infusion) and better resins (all vinylester), the Linjett 39 is considerably lighter (8700kg to 11 000kg) even if having almost the same ballast, in a more efficient keel, so, being the HR a lot beamier I have no doubt the Linjett sails better, and it is faster.
Regarding the interior, I find the one of the HR much nicer, but it is not really a difference in the quality of finish or material, but a difference in the design quality, a bit like in what regards the outside look. The difference in beam has an influence on the layout and while the Hallberg Rassy is able to offer 2 heads and a full chart table, for having two heads the Linjett will not have space for the chart table.
Another difference is the space for equipment between the two aft cabins, which is more than enough for mounting a generator on the HR, while on the Linjett, if possible, it will have to be chosen carefully and necessarily among the smaller in the market.
But on a two-cabin version (that is not on the Linjett option list), face to the Hallberg Rassy two-cabin version, these differences will be a lot smaller, having in this case the Linjett enough interior space for a chart table and two heads, and the space for equipment can be found in the bigger storage space.
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Above, Linjett 39, below, Saare 41ac |
The true competition to the Linjet 39 comes from the Saare 41.2, which, being a bigger boat (12.50m to 12.15m) has a comparable beam (3.92m to 3.85), and offers also an outdated look, a classic one, a thing that I cannot say about the Linjett look, that to me, is just outdated. I agree that it is a subtle difference. It has to do with semiotics and with a reading regarding yacht design and the shapes that better defined an era, and the best boats of that era.
Like anything regarding aesthetics, this is a personal opinion, that may differ from yours, but while I like the Saare 41.2 looks, I don’t like the ones of Linjet 39. Besides that, the two boats have many things in common, including the way they are built and the materials used (vacuum infusion, vinylester resin, and divinycell sandwich composite).
The Saare is slightly heavier (9 300kg to 8700 kg) and I would not say more because I intend to make a comparison between the two sailboats, which I think would be interesting…. If you like the article, please click and look at some ads, because that is the only way I will receive something for my efforts. It is a ridiculous amount, like 0,70 cents a day, but will pay at least the electricity I spent doing this.