MAGNUS OPUS
Where we tested: Orust, Sweden
Conditions: smooth to moderate seas, winds Force 2-5
Model: 40C fitted with Elvstrom Epex sails, electric headsail furler and reversible electric Lewmar Revo sheet winches, plus three-bladed Gori Overdrive propeller
“This is the best sailing boat we’ve ever built,” enthuses Magnus Rassy about Hallberg-Rassy’s new 40C. The company CEO is bound to be biased, but that’s a big claim from a yard that has a reputation for generations of eminently seaworthy, beautifully built offshore cruisers.
To find out whether this yacht’s sailing prowess really is as claimed, we’d need a serious test to put it through its paces. And what better way to do that than beating out into a Force 5 and the steep chop of a bitterly cold Skagerrak in the depths of the Swedish winter, a day before the winter solstice?
Unfurling the Elvstrom Epex main and genoa as we left Ellös, the boat heeled to the first gusts skittering down the fjord. Clearly this was going to be an exciting sail. It wasn’t long before we were beating out of the channel and into more open water. With the sheets cracked slightly to help us punch through the waves, the instruments were soon showing over 7 knots and touching 8. Clearly this boat is no slouch. Hallberg-Rassy traditionalists won’t be disappointed, however. For a fast and powerful cruising boat, the 40C
