Where: Solent, UK
Test conditions: Force 4 south-westerlies, smooth seas
Model tested: standard boat with optional second forestay, reaching sail and upgraded ‘Flagship’ interior trim level
For some of us, sailing has always been about the functional and fundamental. We enjoy sailing for sailing’s sake. But today people want so much more from a boat and, in many respects, today’s yachts undoubtedly offer a lot more.
What you might loosely call the mainstream European builders of family cruising yachts have been following this path for some time, making each generation of designs bigger and plusher than the last. For Hanse in particular, it has been a rapid evolution from the small, basic and functional to the large and luxurious.
This latest Hanse is the first to be designed by Berret-Racoupeau. After the earliest models, which used the
