70-79 COMPARATIF MM157-US essai 18/01/13 16:43 Page70 ... · fifty-fifty formula for the Neel, with...

COMPARISON

feet: whichmulti to choose?

45

70-79 COMPARATIF_MM157-US_essai 18/01/13 16:43 Page70

Text: Emmanuel Van Deth – Photos: DR

Neither too big nor too small: 45 feet is the right size for leaving as a family. Onehull for the parents, one hull for the children, a cabin for passing guests, goodload-carrying capacity without having a rig which is too powerful for easy handling... And all for a budget comparable to that of a house...not a mansion!Amongst the many models on the market, we have short-listed the Hélia 44, the Nautitech 441/442, the Lagoon 450, the Leopard 48, the Neel 45 and theAntares 44i.


HEL

IACOMPARISON

72

ARCHITECTURAL CHOICES

Five catamarans, one trima-ran…and many differentoptions when it comes totheir design. Although all themodels in this selection areabove all blue-water boatscapable of taking you to theother side of the ocean, cer-tain of them are real floatinghomes, others prove to bemore suitable for shorterstays. There are also fast,light multihulls, and heavier,more comfortable ones... Anexplanation...

HullsThe Neel 45, with its centralhull and two floats with inver-ted bows must obviously bedealt with separately: its prin-ciple is to graft a wide brid-gedeck onto a gull-wing sha-ped platform, itself resting onthree hulls, which are veryslim at the waterline.Amongst the catamarans,three groups can be distin-guished: those which playthe slimness card, with amodest wetted surface area -Hélia 44, Nautitech 441/442,Antarès 44i. These threemodels are logically the ligh-test – 8 to 11 tonnes on the

scales. The Leo-pard 48 and espe-cially the Lagoon450 don't botherwith these preoc-cupations. Theylive with their hullswhich are wide atthe waterline for maximumvolume and above all have alarge load-carrying capacity(roughly 20% of the displa-cement), almost 50% grea-ter than that of the first threeboats.

AppendagesThere are no daggerboardshere – the speciality ofCatana and Outremer: thebuilders have opted for fixedstub keels, which althoughthey give poorer perfor-mance to windward, arestronger in the case of groun-ding. Another advantage ofstub keels: they protect therudders perfectly and allowfor easy beaching. We areobviously thinking of a trans-lucent lagoon, bordered withcoconut trees... In reality, thestub keels are especiallyappreciable when it is time toscrub off, and the boat canbe set down directly on thehard. The nuances? A draft

which ranges from 1.15m forthe Hélia 44 to 1.40 m forthe Leopard 48, the biggestof our six multihulls.

Sail planTwo contradictory options:keep a compact rig for moresafety in heavy weather, andto postpone sail reductions,

or prefer a very slim rig, tocatch the wind higher up andgive good performance inlight weather? Necessity dic-tates, we would be temptedto answer, as the three hea-viest boats in our selection,with the Lagoon 450 in firstplace, adopt the most power-

HELIA 44Fast, even in light weather, rather elegantand well finished, the replacement for the

Orana has hit the mark. Quite a competitor!


ful sail plans, with generoussquare-headed mainsailsinto the bargain. The mostsober is the Nautitech, theonly multihull in our selec-tion with a windward sailarea of less than 100m²...forthe first models, in any case,as the genoa is now 5m² big-ger. The lightest, the Antares44i, offers a self-tacking jib,very practical when beating –although there are fewpurists who beat to wind-ward close to the coast, atsea, it's a question of savingdiesel on those returnAtlantic crossings... Down-wind, our five catamarans willbe boosted by a gennaker, acode 0 or an asymmetricspinnaker, attached to abowsprit. The trend over thelast few years? Opting for agennaker, the general pur-pose sail par excellence. Butfollowing the launch of its 39and 52, Lagoon insists on acode 0 and a spinnaker, tooptimise performance... If thebudget can cover it, we are inagreement! As for the Neel45, it makes do with a com-bination of a self-tacking jiband a genoa. We must admit,fitting a bowsprit to the cen-tral hull's sharp, inverted bowwould not be easy.

PERFORMANCE

We have been able to sail on

all the models presen-ted here…but nottogether. It is hard forus to say that onemodel is much fasterdownwind in a freshbreeze than another.But certain data, andour memories of thetests, are very useful.The best indicator of aboat's potential undersail is its sail area/weightratio. Here they are: Hélia 44= 10.65 m2/t ; Nautitech =10.87 m2/t, (a ratio whichwill increase to 11.24 m²/t,thanks to the accommoda-tion and the structure in infu-sion/foam on the very nextmodels); Lagoon 450 =8.66 m2/t ; Leopard 48 =9.54 m2/t ; Neel 45 = 15.14m2/t ; Antares 44i = 12.59m2/t. It appears that theNeel, and to a lesser extent,the Antares 44i, stand out inour selection. These two arecertainly the fastest in lightweather.

To windwardThere are no daggerboardsto allow us to decide radicallybetween our candidates, towindward…but in this gameof sailing into the wind, theNeel is a clear winner.Despite the low area of itsstub keel – fitted under thecentral hull, it reminds us ofthe one on a Dart – the tri-

maran makes almost no lee-way, and sails at 45° to thetrue wind, like a good mono-hull. Speed? Over 8 knots in10 knots of wind. Our catscan't keep up with this per-formance. Not so much inspeed, as they all succeed inreaching 8 knots to wind-ward, but their pointing angle

is much wider – around 55°.A special mention for theHélia 44 and the Nautitech,which performed well on thispoint of sailing, reputed to beunfavourable for cruisingcatamarans. The Lagoon, theLeopard and the Antares arepenalised by significant win-dage.

NAUTITECH 441/442441 for a steering position against thecoachroof, 442 for two steering posi-tions, it's up to you. A rather elegant

catamaran which is easy to handle.


ANTARES

COMPARISON

Passage through the waterWhat progress! Today, bridge-decks are much higher thanin the past; just have a lookat the Leopard 48 head on,to convince yourself. And thegull's-wing profiles betweenthe hulls, in addition tomaking the structure morerigid, offer a smoother pas-sage through choppy seas. Inshort, our boats slam muchless. However, weight cente-ring could be improved. Withthe exception of the Neel 45,whose float ends are empty,the catamarans are fitted outalmost as far as the bows –forward cabins, followed by asail locker. It is hard to resiststoring equipment here,which thus encourages pit-ching.

Off the windAgain, clear advantage to theNeel 45, which quicklymanages to exceed 10 knots,then comes the group of fivecats, which all sail at 8/9knots in 15/18 knots ofwind. The first to unroll thegennaker will gain one or twoknots.

DownwindDue to lack of a suitabledownwind sail, the Neeldidn't open up a gap here. Instrong trade winds, our boatsare all capable of keeping upan average of 11 to 12 knots,without a doubt a little more

for the Leopard, which isquite a bit longer. Butbeware: you can't hope forsuch speeds if you keep thestandard fixed propellers...

Under powerThree hulls and one engine,or two hulls and twoengines… as only oneengine can be fitted to a tri-maran – difficult access tothe floats and above all, nospace for the engine and itsperipherals. So a clear advan-tage for the catamarans inreliability (it's rare to haveproblems with both engines)and ease of manoeuvring.With a bit of experience, youwill be able to pivot the boaton itself and get out of thetightest berth by judicioususe of the throttles. However,beware of the windage wehave already mentionedabove. The engines offeredare generally 40hp (apartfrom the Neel 45's single55hp and the lighter Antares'2 x 29hp). The builders offermore powerful engines as anoption, but in our opinion,the standard engines aremore than sufficient in allconditions, including heavyseas on the nose.

DECK PLAN

There has been a lot of pro-gress in the last few years, to

make movement easier bet-ween the cockpit, the stee-ring position, the sugarscoops and the bridge-deck…as well as to offergenuine dedicated relaxationareas. A development whichresults in the absence of astep between the cockpitand the accommodation,and more extensive use ofthe flybridge area.

Steering positionThe most spartan is definitelythe one on the Neel. A wheelagainst the coachroof, a foambackrest, as seen in semirigids, and that's all. Youwould quickly set the autopi-lot. The Hélia has opted for araised steering position tostarboard, matched by asmall exterior lounge. It givesa good view over the bowsand the sail plan, not so

good over the port transom.The same configuration forthe Leopard 48, with theexception that protection ofthe helmsman is taken careof by a polyester bimini – incanvas on the Hélia. Aboardthe Antares, the steeringposition is also raised, butthis time protected by a gla-zed coachroof extension. Themost comprehensive? TheNautitech, of course! You canopt for the 441 and its singleraised steering position (in addition, this saves 8,000 euros) or the 442 fortwo offset positions, close tothe sugar scoops. This for-mula is appealing for theexcitement, but the helms-man is not very well protec-ted, and the coachroofcauses a significant blindspot. The Lagoon has an

ANTARES 44iIt's getting on a bit, as the hull moulds are those of the 44,

launched in 2003…but it's a real private owner's catamaran,100% designed for living aboard.


75

upper deck, with an impres-sive 2.9-metre settee and asunbathing area. The view isexcellent, but the helmsmanis a long way from the hullswhen coming alongside, andwould need a little help...

ManœuvresThe trend is to concentrateall the control lines withinreach of the steering position– or almost, as the gennakersheet on the opposite sideoften requires a winch toitself. On the centralisedsteering position hit parade:

the Leopard, theLagoon and theHélia. All the linesare accessible to thehelmsman on twoor three winches –including an electricone for the halyards,which is very practi-cal for hoisting themainsail. TheAntares has optedfor the mixed solu-tion: half for thehelmsman, half(mainsail) on the

central pedestal, at the aftend of the cockpit. Anotherfifty-fifty formula for the Neel,with the halyards at themastfoot and the sheets onthe coachroof. As for theNautitech, it is traditional,with halyards at the mastfoot, a mainsail winch aft andjib sheets on the side decks.Tradition has a good side,however, as it works well andeasily with a family crew.

CockpitAll the cockpits of our cata-marans are protected by arigid bimini, a natural exten-sion of the coachroof. All ofthem are very convincing forresisting both the tropicalheat wave and the squallwhich would have soakedyou through...and are reassu-ring. They are equipped withseating, a good-sized tableand two sugar scoops,access to which is via widesteps. The Antares makes dowith shorter protection, butoffers additional seating aft.The Lagoon and the Leopardprovide a bit more with their

LAGOON 450Not only does this catamaran offer incomparable volume and comfort in this size, but it is also the cheapest!


76

forward cockpits. The Neel finally differsfrom the others again, with an unprotec-ted cockpit and a modest aft platform fitted to the central hull...

ACCOMMODATION

Most of the multihulls have a big saloon,a galley and a chart table in a huge cen-tral nacelle…but not all! A review of thedetails.

SaloonU-shaped seating and a big table, capa-ble of seating 6 to 8 people – this iswhat you can expect in the saloon of a45-foot multihull. With subtle diffe-rences: although they are all situatedagainst the coachroof's forward port-lights, just one, the Leopard 48, offersan original access to the forward cockpit.The formula, already tested just twoyears ago on the 44, is convincing, allo-

wing better than ever movement aroundthe boat.

GalleyFour of our multihulls prioritized theclose proximity of the cockpit, for greaterconviviality. This is the case for theLagoon and the Hélia 44, with their U-shaped galleys offset to starboard. TheNautitech prefers the other side and onthe Leopard, the galley is L-shaped andto starboard... The Antares has opted fora port cabin, as on the good old Privilege51. The cook is more peaceful…or more

isolated, depending on how you see it,and may hinder the movements of thecabin's occupants. The award for themost unusual galley goes to the Neel45: sink, cooker, stowage and fridge aresplit between two central modules.

Chart tableIt's unanimous: all the chart tables areforward-facing and enjoy a clear view ofthe sea. Very few monohulls can say thesame! The Nautitech's chart table isadjacent to the cockpit; all the others arefurther forward in the nacelle.

NEEL 45, one of the only ocean cruising trimarans on the market, is less extremethan its big sister, the 50, so the price remains reasonable.


77

CabinsThe fashion? To make the beds more easily accessi-ble. It is sometimes enough to trim a bit of width atthe foot... And where do we sleep? Owners to star-board, children and guests to port. This is the rule onthe models available in two versions – three or fourcabins – such as the Lagoon, the Hélia, the Leopardand the Nautitech. Although in the smaller sizes, theforward cabins are sometimes a bit narrower, this isno longer the case in these 45-foot models, wherethe berths can even be fitted athwartships (port hullof the Nautitech). Most of these models can beequipped with two additional berths in the forepeaks,bringing the maximum sleeping capacity to 10 peo-ple...very useful, especially for charter or very largefamilies! This is not the programme for the Antares,which does not try to fit in as many berths. Onceagain, the Neel has its own ideas: the two big doubleberths are fitted either side of the bridgedeck, with anice view of the sea. A smaller cabin nestles in thebow, and two extra berths occupy the centre of eachfloat, giving a maximum capacity here again of 10people.

BUDGET

The cheapest boat in our selection – and by far – isthe Lagoon 450. When we admit that it's also themost comfortable, we are not surprised that two orthree times more of them are sold than their mostserious rival, the Hélia 44. The latest Fountaine Pajotimpressed the testers with its performance and thequality of its finishing. The Nautitech, advertised at400,000 euros is also an excellent opportunity: goodpotential under sail, comfort, a real private owner'sboat, also capable of adapting to the needs of char-ter. The Leopard 48, noticeably bigger, offers an excel-lent level of comfort. Its price, nearly 450,000 euros,must take account of its 14.75m hulls. The Antares44i is more original and a niche product. Dedicated tolife aboard, it offers exceptional comfort, but…theprice may be dissuasive for some. As for the Neel 45,less avant-garde and sophisticated than the 50, itmanages to remain – at the top limit nevertheless –within the average of the advertised prices. An origi-nal choice – there are few trimarans on the market -for an attractive and comfortable boat under sail.

LEOPARD 48Priority has been given to the deck plan, with large areas dedicated to

relaxation – and well sheltered from the sun: rigid bimini, forwardcoachroof extension and shelter for the helmsman.


COMPARISON

78

T E C H N I C A L S P E C I F I C AT I O N S

HÉLIA 44 NAUTITECH 441/442 NEEL 45 ANTARÈS 44I LAGOON 450 LEOPARD 48Length: 13.3 m 13.47 m 13.5 m 13.6 m 13.96 m 14.75 mWaterline length: 12.58 m 12.2 m 13.5 m 13.3 m 13.38 m 13.85 mBeam: 7.4 m 6.81 m 8.5 m 6.6 m 7.84 m 7.64 mDraft: 1.15 m 1.2 m 1.2 m 1.2 m 1.31 m 1.4 mWeight: 10.8 t 9.2 t 7 t 7.94 t 15.5 t 14.46 tWindward sail area: 115 m2 100 m2 106 m2 100 m2 134.3 m2 138 m2Mainsail: 70 m2 65 m2 60 m2 56 m2 82.5 m2 90 m2Genoa: 45 m2 35 m2 46 m2 44 m2 51.8 m2 48 m2Gennaker: 115 m2 60 m2 59 m2 105 m2 150 m2Spinnaker: 190 m2Engines: 2 x 40 HP 2 x 40 HP 55 HP 2 x 29 HP 2 x 40 HP 2 x 39 HPFresh water: 750 l 800 l 600 l 568 l 350 or 700 l 1 000 lFuel: 470 l 400 l 300 l 455 l 1 000 l 700 lArchitects: Berret/Racoupeau Mortain/Mavrikios Joubert/Nivelt Alan Slatter VPLP Simonis VoogdBuilder: Fountaine-Pajot Nautitech Neel Trimarans Antares Y. Lagoon LeopardLaunch year: 2012 2009 2011 2006 2010 2012Basic price, exc. VAT: 378,000 € 419,200 € 444,816 € 839,000 USD 310,200 € 449,000 €

AND ALSO…

Swiss S2C 45It's off the ground, but not yet out of the yard, as it is being advertised for thenext Cannes Boat Show. The 55's little sister was designed by SébastienSchmidt , which is a guarantee of good performance. The boat is quite heavy –advertised at 12 tonnes – but the very slim rig should succeed in propelling it.

Outremer 45Although the new boat was announced during the last Paris Boat Show, youwill have to wait until 2014 to see it. So, let's be content with the good old 45(launched in 2000), emblematic of the builder's values. Fast, simple, easy tohandle, it has benefitted from a clever raising of the coachroof. A safe bet forthose who know how to travel light!

Privilège 445Launched in 2006, it remains up to date, with an interesting compromise bet-ween performance and comfort. Marc Lombard's hulls quickly reach 10 knotsand the crew does not feel deprived of anything. Although the coachroof designis a bit dated, we still appreciate the curvy cockpit... Three cheers for relaxation!

Cumberland 47 LRFountaine Pajot believes in trawlers: this next new model, to be launched at LaRochelle next March, and unveiled to the public at the Multihull Boat Show inLa Grande Motte, will be capable of crossing the Atlantic, thanks to its two225hp engines and two 1,200-litre diesel tanks.

Broadblue Voyager 435 Not too heavy, robust, this English catamaran is an excellent support for blue-water cruising. Far from the radical developments – very slim rig positionedquite far aft, square-headed mainsail, flybridge – the 435, the flagship ofBroadBlue Cat's range, on the other hand prefers sober solutions: its air draftis limited to 18m and its draft to 1.2m.

Catana 47Launched in 2009, this is the Canet en Roussillon-based builder's spearhead.Lightened by 700kg, thanks to a structure which employs generous amounts ofcarbon, this model is capable of excellent performance, particularly to wind-ward, thanks to deep daggerboards. We also appreciated the excellent level offinishing.


70-79 COMPARATIF MM157-US essai 18/01/13 16:43 Page70 ... · fifty-fifty formula for the Neel, with...

Documents

Transcript of 70-79 COMPARATIF MM157-US essai 18/01/13 16:43 Page70 ... · fifty-fifty formula for the Neel, with...