Salona 34 and 35
From £70,000
J&J Design quickly became one of the world’s most prolific and successful naval architect firms, having been founded by brothers Japec and Jernej Jakopin in 1983. The office claims an amazing 115 Boat of the Year, design or environmental awards from a total of 60,000 boats built to 300 different designs by 55 builders in 22 countries.
They were a natural choice for Salona, which has been building quality performance cruisers near the Croatian port city of Split since the early 2000s. The 34 was launched in 2008 and quickly won acclaim as a quick, but civilised, design with good handling characteristics.
The concept was significantly updated to create the Salona 35 in 2013, which remains in production today. It has the same hull as the 34, but with an extra foot added to the transom, which extends the effective waterline length at speed. It also gained twin wheels, a little more cockpit space behind the helm, and an all-new interior with more usable volume. For those planning to race there was also an option of an IRC optimised keel developed by Jason Ker.
Below decks the conventional two-cabin layout has a bright feel and well thought out features. There’s a decent owner’s cabin forward, spacious guest cabin aft, and a proper nav station.
The company now produces a range of five yachts from 33-46ft. The latter is its latest model, again developed in conjunction with J&J, and is available in a semi-custom format with options including twin electric motors that obviate the need for a bow thruster. All are sold throughout Europe and the UK.
salonayachts.com