PROVEN. Hallberg Rassy 340: the unsuspected breeze hunter. PHOTOS
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From the test of theHallberg Rassy 340 we expected many things, except perhaps one thing: the boat’s ability to perform in light winds. This is because we probably had a preconception toward a boat with a certain type of displacement and equipped in a purely cruising mode. In fact, the model we tested was equipped with a furling mainsail, a detail that deprived the boat of quite a few decisive “horsepower” in the light winds we encountered during our test. But being surprised by a boat’s features is something that is always a pleasure.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BOAT
Let us start with a consideration, the new Hallberg Rassy 340 fully reflects the canons of the Swedish shipyard’s tradition in crucial respects: construction care, of details and finishes, quality and oversized equipment, concept of a true all-time cruising boat, classic interior with manic attention to joinery. What more could you ask for from a boat like this?
And then there are the innovations, dictated by the times and the need to, why not, intercept a new and younger audience, a type of sailor who loves cruising but also likes the lines of a modern and up-to-date boat. Space, then, for the straight bow, the dolphin boat on which to wall gennakers or a code zero, space for better performing water lines under the banner of a renewed design of appendages and shapes conceived by German Freers, space for the much “criticized” double rudder. The time was ripe to renew the line, both aesthetically and in some functional details, without distorting the concept of the historically produced boats in the full Nordic tradition .
SAILING
We leave the port of Loano on a day that seems distinctly spring-like despite the fact that it is still February. The wind is patchy and does not exceed 5-6 knots, we have to position ourselves offshore by motor to enter a true stable air channel. We unfurl the mainsail and jib and unconvincedly prepare to adjust the sails, but the surprise comes right away.
The 340 does not struggle to start in the wind burr, despite the fact that the area of the furling mainsail is not even close to the ideal sail plan area. Tightening the angle to the 50 degrees of true upwind, the boat remains stable at 3.3-3.5 knots with 5 wind, even managing to cross areas of complete becalmedness with the apparent, losing only a few tenths. We are frankly positively amazed by the numbers we read and the feelings at the helm. The wheels are extremely accurate on the action transferred to the blades in the water, course correction is immediate, and so sailing becomes truly enjoyable even in this little wind.
Length: 10.36 mt
Length to the gall: 10.10 mt
Width: 3.47 mt
Dive: 1.90 mt
Displacement: 5.98 tons
Text and photos by Mauro Giuffrè
THE FULL PROOF AND ALL ISSUES OF HALLBERG RASSY 340 IN UPCOMING ISSUES OF THE NEWSPAPER OF SAILING PRINT EDITION
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