The Italian-built Grand Soleil 44 is a dual-purpose 44-foot sailboat that can be raced at the highest levels or cruised comfortably with a family of four. Sailing World’s Boat of the Year judges selected it as the Best Crossover, noting how well it sailed upwind and downwind, and the over quality of the construction and interior design.
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Rupert Holmes takes a look at the new Grand Soleil 72 Performance, which picks design characteristics from top racers to improve performance
The gorgeous new Italian designed Grand Soleil 72 Performance blends excellent performance that’s optimised for Mediterranean sailing with a very spacious and comfortable interior.
The sleek lines and low-profile coachroof have a timeless elegance, yet the hull shape embodies the latest design knowledge, without unnecessary nods to temporary fashion.
“The target was to take advantage of as many aspects of today’s hull shapes as possible to improve performance and also to create a yacht with lots of volume for very comfortable accommodation,” Grand Soleil 72 Performance designer Matteo Polli tells us.
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The latest offering from Grand Soleil is clearly performance oriented with this desire for speed reflected in her hull lines. But can she offer cruising comfort too?
The new Grand Soleil 44P is marketed as an easy-to-cruise performance yacht that can deliver you to your destination in record time in a comfortable fashion.
For those interested, the brief for this new model from the Cantiere del Pardo stable also includes the creation of a yacht that could excel in both IRC and ORC regattas.
The Grand Soleil 44P marks the yard’s first collaboration with Matteo Polli, who has worked successfully with Cossutti Yacht Design and Italia Yachts in the past.