Polar diagram for 430 ?

uploads/20070606_120344_HA430polar.pdf

hello! Congratulations, this site is great and is amazing the quantity and quality of information on the new Hanse 430. That proves that the owners of this boat are enthusiastic sailors and that is a good sign.

I hope you can shake some doubts I have on this boat. I should say that the first time I laid eyes on it I thought that this was the boat  I was looking for: Fast and sporty without losing the cruising attributes. But later I got suspicious of the small winches, of the shape of the jib on the self-taking rail (photos) and the last drop was a boat magazine comparative test with an Oceanis 43 and a Dufour 425.

All the boats were tested simultaneously with 17k of wind. The Dufour was faster against the wind, the Beneteau faster downwind (all boats with standard geenaker) and they reported that the Hanse was a lot more difficult to control downwind (they lost control several times).

That comes as a complete surprise to me. The 425 and the Oceanis are pure cruising boats and I would say that the Oceanis doesn’t look like a fast boat.

That polar speed chart shows a very fast boat and that confuses me. It is for real? Can someone who knows the boat well confirm those speeds? A boat with that polar should smoke the 425 and the Oceanis!!!

Thanks

Manuel

First of all I want to thank everybody and declare that I don’t want to piss nobody even if I ask some not very comfortable questions. This is one of the boats that I consider to have and the questions represent my doubts about the boat. As I say, I am grateful for your help.

Alex, as Alain said the test was published on the December edition (2007) of Voile Magazine. Alain, I don’t understand why you call that test a “so called test”. Voile Magazine is an old and good sailing magazine. I have to say that I have read several other Hanse 43 magazine boat tests, including the one on Yachting Monthly, the comparative on the Yacht.de and this French one. It seems to me that the French one has the advantage of a real comparative test. I mean all the boats in the water at the same time, with the same wind and that was not the case with the German (so called) comparative test.

Alain, I believe that you have reason, in what concerns those stability problems sailing downwind, I mean the Hanse has a mainsail much bigger than usual and could need different sail adjustments.On the test they say that next day they have solved the problem putting a reef on the main sail. This means that with 17k wind the boat should go downwind with the standard Geenaker and already with a reef on the main?

Alain, about one of the boats having “tailored made sails” that is not really true. The boat, the Dufour 425, the one that could go against the wind faster and with the better angle, was equipped with good cruising sails, an option for the boat, not tailor made. Those sails are the same I have in my boat. Very good cruising sails, but not even racing sails.

And that option brings to me one of the things I don’t like on the Hanse, I mean as Alex says, it looks the Hanse sails are not great, but Hanse doesn’t propose a performance kit.

That seems to me a shortcoming. I don’t know about the options on the Dufour 425 (it is not an option for me, I don’t like the interior disposition) but obviously they have performance sails as an option. The Jeanneau 42i has a compressive performance kit, with bigger mast, longer and lighter keel, Dyform on the standing rig and Dyneema on the running rig, bigger winches and performance cruising sails (the same kind as Dufour).

Such a kit represents a big economy if you intend, like Alex, optimize the boat and change sails and cables to make it a fast boat.

Why not propose to Hanse the availability of a kit like that? After all the Hanse 43 looks sportier than the other boats on its class but the others have performance kits and the Hanse comes with not so good equipment and doesn’t propose a performance kit, not even good sails?

It seems to me that this forum has the means to bring this subject to Hanse’s attention.

What do you think about this?

(Sorry for the long post)