The magazine Vela e Motore tested the catamaran Astréa 42 marked Fountaine Pajot
An hard test, successfully completed by defying wind jumps, lurking rain and flights with tight schedules. To navigate with the new Fountaine Pajot Astréa 42 and "deliver"
his trial we really did anything in our possibilities.
We arrive in fact in Palma de Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands in Spain, in early May in the only beautiful day stuck in a strong perturbation and in addition to the test we also have to reserve time for the photo shoot, which you see in these pages. The Astréa has just been "baked" by the La Rochelle plants in France and has been brought directly to the La Grande Motte multi-hull showroom and we were the first to navigate.
Right there we met Domenico Furci, head of the dealer network in Italy who told us: "we are going to a very different situation for how we will face the market in the future. First, because with the purchase of the Dufour Yachts shipyard, a group is set up that has the opportunity to compete at 360 ° with the groups on the market today. Secondly because it is the first time in the history of boating, I say this in the light of my almost 30 years of experience, that a shipyard builder of multihulls buys a shipyard of monohulls. History has taught us that, until today, the opposite has always been the case.
I also want to emphasize our vision, which is giving us reason: we are on board a 42-foot with spaces and functionality that were unthinkable only a few years ago, and it gives a good idea of technological, stylistic, approach and functional difference that we managed to achieve. Italy is achieving excellent results and we have excellent prospects for the future. We also doubled the turnover, thanks also to the charter market, which historically has always been weaker than the private one.
THE TEST
✔ Trial site: Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ✔ Weather: 10/12 knots of west wind, calm sea.
OVER 7 KNOTS WITH GENNAKER:
The boat on which we sail is the first model produced and to appear well in the salons and in the photos it is equipped with a carbon mast (an optional for over 60 thousand euros), high performance sails by the French Incidence Sails and a folding stern platform. When we leave the Club de Mar it's 9 o'clock in the morning and the wind blows between 10 and 12 knots. We hoist the 65 square-meter square top mainsail with the help of an electric winch and then it's up to the gennaker, whose starboard sheet is sent back to the wheelhouse while the left one arrives on a winch on either side of the cockpit.
To arm the gennaker it is also necessary to purchase a package that includes, among other equipment, the bow bowsprit where the sail is walled and the anti-torsion stay with the drum
to wrap it for a total of about 10 thousand euros (including sailing). With an apparent wind angle of between 84 ° and 89 ° we sail steadily around 7 knots with peaks up to 7.7 at times of greatest pressure. We continue in perfect conditions for a pure cruising catamaran: calm sea, aft wind for a load-bearing gait without criticality. The boat goes big and although the rudder is mostly "silent", sailing is a real pleasure. We arrive with this gait up to the height of Cala Xinxell, west of Palma, where we pull down everything for the photos in the harbor. When we share the air is slightly lowered and with only mainsail and furling genoa (not self-tacking) the pace is slower. The wind has indeed dropped between 8 and 9 knots and with an angle between 40 ° and 50 ° to the apparent wind we always sail over 5 knots with some incursion beyond 6. In these conditions the bow waves give a certain annoyance, arriving to slow down the boat a lot, which takes some time to recover. We are powered by a pair of Volvo Penta 40 horsepower engines (optional), each with sail drive and three fixed blade propellers (standard). Launched at 3,000 rpm, we reach a top speed of 9 knots, while the cruising speed is around 7 knots at 2,000 rpm, at 2,500 we reach 7.7 knots.
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See the article on the website: https://www.velaemotore.it/prova-navigazione-catamarano-multiscafo-crociera-fountaine-pajot-astrea-42-17399
