Just for the men

The Elan range of production yachts from Slovenia is making a bold statement with its new generation of E-series yachts. The first in New Zealand is the E4.

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With an output of around 220 vessels a year, Elan is a relatively lightweight player in the European production boat arena. Still, models such as the Elan 450 performance cruiser – [ Boating, August 2013] have earned the company several international awards in recent years as a sleek speedster that draws heavily on VOR race-boat genes.

The new E-series yachts advance this parentage even further. The first E4, a 10.6m performance cruiser with a healthy bias to going places in a hurry, has arrived in New Zealand. She is named Elantra.

At this stage there are five models in the E-series: E1, E3, E4, E5 and E6, ranging from 6.34m to 13.6m LOA. All are performanceoriented cruisers and if this E4 is anything to go by, they all offer exceptional handling, stability – and speed in abundance.

Since acquiring the agency in January this year, Vining Marine has sold an E3, a second E4 – both due to arrive in a few weeks – and an E5, due in September.

Launched in late 2013, the E4 is from the drawing board of Elan’s long-time British designer Rob Humphreys. In some ways she feels like a scaled-down VOR boat: near-vertical stem, open transom, expansive cockpit, broad aft quarters, twin helms, twin rudders, a torpedo bulb on a deep keel, a prod and a bendy mast.

As is pretty much standard on any performance cruiser these days, the E4’s deck layout excels in aerodynamic styling: a sleek cabin top, flush hatches, a below-deck furler and an electric windlass built into the anchor locker. Your bowman will thank you for that clean, spacious foredeck when he’s wrestling the gennaker into submission.

But Humphreys has done an even better job with the cockpit. For a start, I like that it’s a true performance-cruiser cockpit, equally adapted to racing or chilling. The key to this is its spaciousness and the easily-removable drop-leaf table.

An L-shaped galley to port is equipped with a gimballed two-burner cooker with oven beneath and a top-loading fridge/ freezer. Opposite, just forward of the bathroom, is a nav station. Again, for a 10.6m vessel, it’s quite a roomy nav station. I like the motion-activated light above the station; there’s no need to hunt for the switch in the gloom – just wave. The vessel’s equipped with LEDS throughout.

PERFORMANCE

The E4 carries around 66m2 of sail on her 17m Selden mast: a 35.9m2 fully-battened main and 29.6m2 jib as well as a 110m2 gennaker. At the other end of the balance equation is a 2.15m T-shaped keel/bulb of 1,385kg. A heavier, shallower keel of 1.560kg and 1.7m draft is optional.

With unladen displacement of 5,350kg, she’s a trim lady. The hull and deck both benefit from the VAIL construction process ( Vacuum Assisted Infusion Lamination) to optimise weight and strength. To make sure the keel remains part of the vessel, the keel bolts sport heavy stainless steel reinforcing plates.

A vertical stem and stern maximise waterline length; at 10.1m it’s just 500mm shy of the 10.6m LOA. The waterline’s further extended by a hard chine down either side of the hull which comes into play when the boat’s heeled. By widening the hull’s aft quarters the chines also improve interior volume and boost buoyancy.

So – the E4 looks fast and, with her technical specs, she should be fast. She doesn’t disappoint. Her Dacron sails from the One Sail

30hp Volvo

185 litres 75 litres