- Events
- Gallery
First sailing trip of Flabria 40 - report.
First sailing trip of recently launched yacht Flabria 40 took place along Polish coast of Baltic sea during first weekend of October. This was not only pleasure trip, but first of all real test of sailing value of the boat, as well as all her systems.
We started our trip together with whole fleet sailboats starting in this year\'s edition of \"Blekitna Wstega Zatoki Gdanskiej\" regatta. We were very lucky with the weather. Sun and wind 10 to 12 knots.
In those perfect weather conditions we set full main and genoa. Heading upwind our boat reached from 5,6 to 6,2 knots, heeling around 12 degrees. 40 ft boat moved through slight sea (weaves up to 2 feet) very gently. Narrow and high bow was slicing weaves without any pitch or roll. Also all surface of the deck was perfectly dry. Not even drop of water.
In those weather conditions everything worked fine. We tested safe and comfort of communication inside the boat and ran all the systems including emergency steering with tiller and extension.
Our destination was Wladyslawowo - Polish fishing harbour located on open Baltic shore.
Next morning we started our trip back. We still had nice sunshine and a lot more wind, with gale warning from Harbour Master on the VHF. At 0900 A.M. anemometer showed 20 kts of true wind and according to weather forecast will increase up to 30 kts.
In the begining we started with the engine - 43 hp, 4 cylinder diesel with sail drive. During half an hour test we reached from 7 to 7,4 knots against 20 kts true wind and 3 ft waves. On the end of the test we slowed down to set the sails: main at 1st reef and full genoa.
Results were still comperable with previous day. Heading up wind, along Hel Penisula, yacht heeled about 15 degrees and reached avearage speed 5,5 knots.
During the day wind was increasing and reached stable 30 knots. I decided to furl a quarter of genoa and put 2nd reef on main. Our speed dropped to 4,3 knots, what was result of quite big and short Waves, typical for raising wind. With 5 ft height, both bow and stern were exactly on top of the wave.
In such weather conditions cockpit still was a comfortable place. Our test team, protected by sprayhood was enjoying October\'s sunshine from clear sky.
This day we also checked the interior. We visited every cabin, bathroom and locker. There were no even one crack, typical for modern sailboats from massive production.
Finaly we reached end of Hel Penisula and changed course from up wind to half wind / backstay. To reduce rolling from side weaves we unfurled completely genoa. Boat heeled up to 20 degrees and speed raised up to 9,8 knots with little help of weaves.
To sum up, Flabria 40 is a solid, somfortable and sailing well construction.
respectfull,
capt. Jaroslaw Grabowski
Zdjęcia z pierwszego rejsu
