NAJAD 395
Touted as a ‘mini superyacht’, najad’s new 395 is promised To be something special. does it deliver? put her To The Test in sweden
IGraham Snook
f you think Najad’s new 39-footer might be a bit small, think again. This is the biggest 39ft yacht you’ll see for some time.
To put that into perspective, the Najad 410 – the model the 395 replaces – was longer, but is dwarfed in height by 395, its deck almost a foot lower when they are berthed alongside each other. Yet, surprisingly, this new design doesn’t look out of proportion – two maroon hull stripes disguise the high freeboard well – but it’s something you definitely do notice when climbing on board.
On the water the Najad 395 feels commanding. It’s no lightweight, being almost four tonnes heavier than the equivalent sized Bavaria, and feels solid, substantial and regal.
We found a good swell on our test, the remains of the previous day’s Force 6 and 7 winds, but it didn’t bother the Najad, which gently swatted the waves aside, losing little speed or composure in the process.
Tacking is gracious. The yacht carries her way through the tacks and the optional electric winches can easily be operated from the helm.
The boat we tested was hull No1 and there were issues with the steering – it was far too stiff and stole the feeling from the helm completely. Najad are working with Lewmar to fix this.
The genoa sheets are led through the stainless steel handrails on the coachroof, then go through the coaming of the fixed windscreen to the genoa winches on the wide coaming. On future boats it will be possible to lock the sheet off in order to used the halyard winches.
There’s no seating behind either of the twin wheels. Instead, the tops of the coaming lower to make seats outboard. On most yachts these are around deck level or, if you’re lucky, a little higher. On the Najad these seats are substantially higher than the deck, as too are the long cockpit seats. Although this yacht is AC (or aft cockpit) by name it has the raised feel of a centre cockpit yacht, but you still feel like you’re in the cockpit rather than on it.
The 395 is also available as a centre cockpit variant – not the first time the company (or another manufacturer) has tried this tack; the older Najad 440 was available in both AC and CC versions too. I’d be