TEST Grand Soleil Blue, the first weekender (10m) from Cantiere del Pardo looks like a superyacht

With Grand Soleil Blue for the first time the Forlì shipyard enters the world of day-cruisers, it does so with a boat attentive to sustainability, with “chic” style and excellent sailing numbers. We tested it for you in preview on Lake Garda!

Grand Soleil Blue – Our Test

A “gentleman, or gentlewoman, boat,” a craft for advanced boat owners. A refined boat with which to enjoy the pleasure of sailing for a day trip, or on the weekend. Grand Soleil, with its Blue, makes its debut in the luxury day-cruiser segment and does so in its own way.

First of all in terms of style: there is a clear strong reference to the Forli Shipyard’s “big boats,” the “Plus” range. Sharp and very forward tughino, long cockpit, low freeboard and important beam. Seeing it sail fools the eye: it does not look like a boat, a hull an inch under ten meters in length, but rather a twelve-meter or something more. Even at the dock, observing it exactly from the bow, it really looks like a “maxi,” but in a small way.

Its shapes, not surprisingly, were conceived by Nauta Design, which definitely knows about maxis (the nautical architecture is the work of Matteo Polli) . A number alone says a lot: the maximum width of GS Blue is 3.70 meters: between 70 and 100 centimeters more than the other “weekender chic” with which it will have to contend on the market (Saffier and Tofinou above all).

All this available surface area frees up space for a boundless cockpit and especially for a large aft sundeck that is truly one of the heaviest “trumps” the new Grand Soleil has to play with the competition.

Blue in name, green in fact

New in lines but also new in substance, construction and propulsion. GS Blue is in fact made entirely of sandwich and vacuum. Moreover, thanks to the collaboration with NL Comp, it uses thermoplastic resins instead of traditional thermosets. What is the difference?

The former, at the end of the boat’s life, allow for the integral recycling of the composite, which, subjected to a thermal/chemical process, makes it possible to separate the resin from the fiberglass so they can be recycled. With this in mind, the entire boat is designed and built: systems, equipment and wiring are already installed with a view to disassembly and recycling.

The propulsion of GS Blue is electric, 6 kW power with direct Pod Drive transmission from E-Propulsion. The battery pack is 4 kWh, dockside charging time about 7 hours. The boat can also rely on a Solbian solar panel pack on the deckhouse, totaling 340 W. In this case, total recharging of the batteries occurs in about six to seven days, which means, in the yard’s calculations, finding oneself “full” from one weekend to the next even without staying connected to power at the dock.

Finally, again in terms of autonomy, while sailing, E-Propulsion’s Pod Drive motor allows the batteries to be recharged by taking advantage ofhydrogenation, the flow of water generated by the movement of the propeller as the boat proceeds under sail. Here the system provides a minimum recharge of 250 W at a speed of about 6 knots.

Interior

The boat is a true day-cruiser, a weekender at best. It is not, and is not meant to be, a means of spending long periods aboard. Life takes place outside, not inside. The GS Blue has four berths, two in the middle of the boat, made from the seats of the sofas facing the central dining table, two in the traditional bow triangle. A double configuration is possible here: a fold-down backrest allows the double berth to be converted into a third settee at the head of the table.

The heights are low, about 140 cm, but this is the necessary consequence of a design centered on external livability on the one hand and aesthetic balance on the other. On a ten-meter boat to have a low freeboard, a prerequisite for having an elegant profile, one must necessarily give up generous interior heights. At the foot of the ladder, on the left a small kitchen with induction burners, on the right the bathroom.

The numbers of the Grand Soleil Blue

The GS Blue has a fractional, no spreader, self-tacking Jib. No backstay, but a long mainsail track. At the bow on the 130-cm bowsprit you can tack a 110 sq. m. gennaker (upwind the total area is 64 sq. m.). The rudder is single, deep and rather narrow. The keel is box keel with lead end bulb and a considerable draft, 2.20 m (optional 1.80 version).

The displacement is not particularly small (the boat is in fact super-equipped, including the Flexiteek deck, and the constriction with thermoplastic resins imposes an extra 5 percent weight) but the Grand Solelil Blue is, as a whole, “very light”: at the helm it responds with ease; the accelerations coming out of maneuvers are brilliant, the average speeds surprising.

Grand Soleil Blue, sailing

It is also “light” because you hardly notice you are carrying it; on board every maneuver is very easy, although the numbers are always high. Upwind “real”, with 10/12 knots of real and once in trim 6.1/6.2 knots of pitch we were holding them without problem; with the gennaker on shore, and the wind increased to 16/17 knots we were on 10/10.2 knots (at 145°).

And everything was happening with five people on board of whom only one was really in charge of running the boat, the helmsman. From his station, thanks to four electric winches, everything happens at the tip of his fingers. And the others? “invisible,” chatting away, lying aft on the sundeck, or sitting comfortably in the cockpit. The living space on deck, once abaft the mast, is boundless.

True, we tried it in ideal conditions: upper Lake Garda, flat water and winds between 10 and 17 knots, but truly the pleasantness with which we were able to enjoy a nice day of sailing aboard GS Blue was amazing.

When powered, the guaranteed range is just over twenty miles sailing at 5 knots. Making use of the full 6 kW of the E-Propulsion will achieve 6.7 knots.

Grand Soleil Blue – The Price

What about the price? As is easy to imagine not very low. High quality of finish, environmentally sustainable and decidedly more challenging than average construction, electric propulsion, high performance: to have a well above average product, one should expect a commensurate price. It starts at 229,000 euros plus VAT.

by Luca Sordelli

Grand Soleil Blue

Overall length 11.30 m
Hull length 9.99 m
Maximum beam 3.70 m
Draft 2.20 m (1.80 optional)
Displacement 3,500 kg
Upwind sail area 64 sqm
Gennaker 110 sqm
Motorization E-Propulsion 6.0 Evo 6KW
Battery capacity 4 kWh
Project Nauta Design – Matteo Polli

• Here you can request information on the new Grand Soleil Blue