A refined Danish cruiser that’ll please connoisseurs
Danish yard Faurby custom-build each interior to every owner’s requirements. Graham Snook heads to Denmark to test the first two boats of its new flagship model
As yachts go, few cruising yachts sail as well as the narrow Faurbys, in particular this new 460E; a boat that will sail at 24° to the apparent wind at around 7 knots in 16 knots over the deck is little short of witchcraft. But her shining performance on the water is only part of the story. Imagine being given a blank piece of paper and told you could design your ideal interior. What would you do? How many cabins would you want? How many heads compartments? What kind of galley, and would you sacrifice saloon space for a chart table, or go without? Most boat owners never get the chance to make such decisions; then again most sailors don’t buy a Faurby.
For some, being given carte blanche might send them into a mild panic, but Faurby’s joint owner Thomas Dan Hougaard is on hand to walk new owners through the process, and given that 60% of new Faurbys go to existing Faurby owners it’s obviously a process that many are more than happy to repeat.
It does, however, make the job of a boat tester particularly difficult as each Faurby is built to her owner’s requirements, everything is a movable feast; you can do what you like within the confines of the hull with the caveat that it has to be safe and comply with the Recreational Craft Directive. YM was able to test not just one but the first two yachts in Faurby’s new range and, while on the outside they are similar, inside they are worlds apart.
Given the modern trend of wide-transomed yachts with interior volume maximised by wide beam and hull chines, Faurby stand out for resolutely bucking the trend with its use of narrow hulls.
To put that in figures, the 460E has a beam of 3.90m (12ft 10in), whereas the equivalent size Bavaria and Beneteau both are around 4.50m (14ft 9in) or 15% wider. They also cost a lot more than your normal production cruiser. Yes, you have understood that correctly, they are smaller and cost more, so why should you buy one? Two things: uncompromising sailing performance and bespoke quality.
A boat that will sail this close to the wind is little short of witchcraft
TO WINDWARD AND BEYOND
Let’s look at the first, performance. Usually, performance means conceding on the quality of the interior since luxuries are heavy and weight costs speed. So how does Faurby make a fast boat without compromising quality? By looking at what makes boats quick and refining them. The 460E’s hull is narrow; as the boat’s designers, CDE Danish Marine Design explain, ‘the narrower hull allows for a better all-round yacht. The waterlines remain symmetrical [when heeled] which calms the boat down’.
Then there are the appendages, the standard keels and rudders have been optimised giving 40% less drag than a standard design; the rudder takes its inspiration from shape from the fin of the agile humpbacked whale, while the T-shaped keel has all the lead ballast (3.9 tonnes of the stuff) in a bulb that is shaped for minimum resistance but also to give lift – it might only provide 1-2mm of lift along the length of the hull at speed, but every fractional gain contributes. Draught can be personalised as well, from 2.10m-2.75m. The blade of the keel is galvanised steel, surrounded by a GRP fairing, which keeps all the keel weight and ballast as low as possible for better stability and stiffness. On deck too, the genoa tracks are mounted on the coachroof. Bearing in mind the generous width of the deck, the clear walkthrough at the shrouds and the already narrow beam – the tracks are less than a metre from the mast, giving a very narrow sheeting angle without the use of extra tweaker lines.
The result of all these improvements is a yacht that easily out-points her opposition and is able to go up 22-26° off the apparent wind while still doing between 5.5-7 knots in 8-10 knots true wind speed. Bearing in mind the test boat was fitted with in-boom furling system and a furling genoa (even if they were Elvstrøm’s EPEX sails) she pointed high enough for me to question the accuracy of the instruments, but they were correct on both tacks. Sailing on the tell tales she could go a little higher, but speed suffered. Sailing a little freer at 30° and she was even happier and increased her speed to show it. On all points of sail she was quick, especially given the light, sub-10 knot true windspeed. When the breeze did increase so did her speed, she’d just lean a little and accelerate. Under a high-cut code zero she was making over 6.5 knots in 7.0 knots of true breeze (6.4 AWS 80°AWA).
The steering system is direct drive using universal joints, gears and rods. It’s smooth, if not the freest of systems. Either wheel is independent of the other but has to turn the other’s gearbox. In an emergency one system could be disconnected and the other will still work. The wheel to starboard felt very light and needed quite a rotation to make her move, the port wheel felt heavier, but strangely, more responsive. The extra feel of weight I had originally put down to the autopilot being mounted on that wheel’s drive system. Further investigations showed that the gearboxes supplied by Jeffa were actually different on each wheel; the starboard wheel was three turns lock to lock, the port wheel two turns, although Faurby had specified a gearbox to give two turns on both.
QUALITY CRAFTSMANSHIP
The cockpit gives 2m of seating on each side, with high, safe and sheltered coamings. Halyards and lines from the mast are all led under the deck, through stainless steel tubing. Even the barber haulers at the toerail, genoa sheets and genoa car adjustment lines are led under the deck and emerge either at the two halyard winches midway along the coaming or at the aft end immediately forward of a Andersen 58 winch recessed into the deck next to the helm. Manual Andersen winches are standard, though this boat had all electric, which made sailing her shorthanded a doddle; the German mainsheet is led back to each helm, as is each genoa sheet.
The seating aft of the helm feels high when in harbour, but at sea the best seat is outboard. There is pull-up foot bracing inboard of each helm and the fold-down bathing platform forms the central section of the transom and closes the aft end of the cockpit off nicely when not in use. Both of these features help to make it feel safe. Deck storage varies with the layout you choose. There will always be two large, deep lockers under the aft helm seats, as well as a central lazarette locker between the helms. Hull number two also had a large cockpit locker (with a washing machine accessed from the heads compartment) and a large deck locker forward. Hull number one did away with the large cockpit locker, having two smaller sole depth lockers on each side and a smaller deck locker forward to allow for the forward vee berth. The locker lid to port on hull number two was an escape hatch for the aft cabin, which is situated aft of the galley.
Like the whole boat, there were neat details in abundance on deck, but to list all of them would fill pages; while it would show the beautiful craftsmanship that goes into these boats, it wouldn’t be the most enthralling of reads, so I’ll keep it brief.
The craftsmanship on the teak deck was gorgeous from stem to stern. Her thick teak toerail is made in one full-height piece from bow to stern and attached. Only then is it cut down to be flush with the hand-laid teak deck at points where the cleats and stanchions are. There are also less visible details, like the groove in the underside of the solid teak rubbing strake to keep drips away from the hull and stopping streaking.
Faurby’s partnership with Nordship has also introduced its great cockpit table that can be lifted and stowed when not required, leaving a substantial bracing bar in the middle cockpit.
The sail plan, too, can be your preferred choice; whether you want a cutter, slutter, sloop, genoa or
self-tacking jib, Faurby can make it possible.
There are two Faurby 460Es on the water and a third being built in the yard of Faurby and Nordship – both companies retain their individual brand values, but the same craftsmen build both brands in the same factory alongside each other.
All three 460Es are different from each other. Hull number one is for the Herr family of six, who do coastal cruising. They cook before they set off, spending their time sailing in the cockpit and the time at rest below decks. The Herr’s requirements for a cruising yacht will be wholly different from cruising couple, Ruth and Michael, owners of hull number two, who have their heart set on sailing to the finest restaurants in bespoke luxury. And their requirement will be different from husband and wife Rene and Ulrech, the owners of hull number three. He wants to sail across the Atlantic with his friends before being joined by his wife to cruise the Caribbean together. You or I would have different requirements again. Neither layout is right or wrong, but there is no one layout that fits all. The needs and tastes of each owner will lead them to make different decisions, so while on the outside the three yachts look similar, below you’ll find three completely different boats.
AN INTERIOR LIKE NO OTHER
The reason I know who the owners of each yacht are is that every Faurby gives credit to them on the builder’s plate. ‘Without each owner the boat wouldn’t exist. It’s because of them she is here,’ explains Thomas. In the corner of the meeting room is a wooden box with different-style locker doors in it. Not only can you choose the wood, you may also choose the style. Hull number one had an oak interior with silky smooth flush-fronted doors, while hull number two was typical Faurby: deep red mahogany with thick protruding solid wood frames surrounding the locker doors. Her owners had also opted for classic brass fittings, latches, lights, hinges and handles, all brass – even the slide bolt to hold the lower engine panel (inside the engine compartment) was brass.
I’m a sucker for solid wood and good craftsmanship, and I was smitten.
Her layout was classic too. A huge 1.60m x 2.27m (5ft 4in x 7ft 5in) island berth is forward, L-shaped saloon seating to port with 2m-long seating to starboard.
Aft of this was a forward-facing chart table, with an L-shaped galley aft of the saloon. A double cabin is tucked under the cockpit on the port side, while to starboard was a large heads with shower, forward of a vast cockpit locker.
In contrast, hull number one had possibly the largest U-shaped saloon I’d seen in this size of boat, at 2.3m long it was designed to seat six comfortably. Opposite this capacious space is a long linear galley designed to be able to supply a crew of six and
Her refinement will make your sailing experience pure pleasure
accommodate the pots and pans required to make the cook’s life easier. Forward was the parents’ cabin with vee-berth and large ensuite heads and shower compartment, while towards the stern there are two good-sized double cabins, a smaller heads compartment and a smaller forward-facing chart table at the bottom of the companionway.
Hull three has a similar forward cabin of hull number one but with the option to divide the forward berth, while the saloon and aft cabins are like hull number two. All had over 2.05m (6ft 9in) of headroom thanks in part to the high 1.30m freeboard. Hull number one’s headroom had been increased for her owner by lowering the floor to give a whopping 2.11m (6ft 11in).
When asked what limits there are, Thomas’ standard reply is, ‘Anything is possible’. As long as you can afford it, you are free to go all out and make this the boat of your dreams.
Surprisingly though, because the cost of a bespoke interior is already calculated into the price, it might only cost the same as a bow thruster installation to have your interior design made.
TRULY BESPOKE
Whatever layout you choose, it will be made by craftsmen, rather than a CNC machine. Everything is shaped and fitted to that boat by a person, so there are no templates for the furniture, no moulded heads compartments and no inner tray moulding.
Beneath the whole saloon floor is a galvanised frame to take the loads from the mast and keel.
All the bulkheads and main furniture panels are laminated to the hull; others are bonded so they can’t rub and make noise, and it also makes the whole boat part of the hull structure.
Throughout the boat, I noticed a number of visible screws. This is to give access to the headlining, and behind lockers and furniture, wherever you may need to access in the future. To give an insight into the attention to detail, Thomas goes through every yacht before she is delivered and he runs his fingers over every visible screw to make sure its head hasn’t been stripped.
On the deck, on the flat coachroof side, you’ll discover a line of bolt heads, these go through to the handrails inside because it’s the strongest way to attach them.