with any sea: the definition of a Blue Water boat starts from these concepts.
Blue Water, this definition in recent years, since there has been an increasing trend of living aboard or sailing along, is becoming more and more recurrent. Today a little bit of all yards have in their productions something that is identified as Blue Water. If we wanted to draw a parallel with the automotive world, Blue Water could be super sea suvs, in the style of the Lamborghini Urus or Maserati Levante. But what are the boats that can boast of belonging to this category and what characteristics must they have?
THE MYTHICAL BLUE WATERS
The expression in English literally means “blue water” and symbolically identifies deep-sea sailing. In a more extended and accomplished sense, by Blue Water in the boating world we mean those boats with an above-average level of equipment and construction, customizable in some element, capable of sailing around the world, or at any rate for a long time, in total safety, with a high level of comfort on board.
LENGTH AND SPACES
To achieve these goals, the first discriminating factor in defining a true Blue Water cruiser is length: when we talk about these boats we can rarely look under 40 feet, because it would miss one of the key features, namely XXL space and livability. Going on a world tour or sailing for a long time, perhaps with family, means spending months on a boat, so space and interior quality are two of the main criteria for identifying this category of boats.
CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT
The other important feature is construction and equipment. Aluminum was the material of the first true blue water and is still very much in vogue today, but carbon or more classic resins are also used, always with the goal of obtaining extremely strong, rigid boats that can withstand major impacts against the sea.
The blue-water sailing boat in some of its declinations can also be very high-performance, so construction is crucial to making a craft as robust and safe as it is capable of sailing in any wind and sea conditions, even in breezes.
The equipment, always chosen from the top of the range available on the market, is more than oversized compared to the boat’s loads, precisely to cope with any prolonged stresses when sailing for days with hard seas and strong winds. Therefore, the choice of first-rate deck equipment is an essential piece in determining whether or not a boat can be placed in the blue water world.
The Mylius 76 (23.40 m – 25.25 with dolphin boat – x 5.92) in the DS (Deck Saloon) version with the characteristic guest cockpit, separated from the maneuvering area, can be considered an Italian example of blue water.
THE INTERIOR.
Just as with the quality of the equipment, inside a Blue Water there can be no compromises, every detail must be taken care of with craftsmanship, and the joinery cannot indulge in any smearing. Spaces should be used rationally, with great attention paid to storage areas. The whole thing should make us feel like we are at home: safe, comfortable, protected.
A DIVERSE UNIVERSE
There are boats that are born with the goal of belonging to this category. We are referring, for example, to most of the Hallberg Rassy, the cruising Swans, or many of the French aluminum-built boats such as the Garcia or Alubat. Three examples of how construction, quality deck equipment, and sailing skills come together. Then there are other boats that perhaps are not born avowedly with this goal but can become Blue Waters with some modifications and improvements. However, the starting point must be that of internal comfort. A modern Dufour, or other standard boats with similar characteristics, for example, very comfortable and enjoyable in terms of comfort, by increasing the deck equipment and designing special solutions for rigging and sails, could become a boat with which to engage in very long sailing and to live aboard for months.
In short, the Blue Water criterion can also be declined in various ways, there are boats more unbalanced toward performance and others with a more classic philosophy, but they all want to do one thing: sail, sail, sail.
Mauro Giuffrè
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