I want to close this years´s Cannes Yachting Festival retrospective with – in my eyes – the most beautiful sailboat that was to be seen on the pontoons of Port Canto. The Eagle 46 is by far not the flagship of Dutch Leonardo Yachts shipyard (you could get a 54 and also a staggering 70-footer version as well) but certainly with 46 feet or little bit over 14 meters truly a very impressive yacht indeed.
She was moored a bit offside, people who wanted to see the boat needed to take a kind of long walk. But on the other hand, her berth was so wide that she didn´t had to squeeze herself in between other yacht so that anyone was able to admire her tempting lines. Well, on my pictures you´ll see a workshop-pontoon, but that was gone the next day. Since I have a sweet spot for boats like these, let´s do the final Cannes walkthrough aboard the wonderful Eagle 46.
Who needs a boat for what anyway?!
This is a question every sailor get asked at least once. Since you aren´t Maersk, CMA-CGA or any super tanker shipping company, nobody really needs a boat anyway. So, as I heard from many people I spoke to about the Eagle, some asked kind of snubby, that such a boat wouldn´t have any „practical“ use: Too long, too slim, no standing height … well, your cruisier may have all of these, but is it more „practical“?
The Eagle does not want to be practical. At least not in a sense your ordinary family vacational volume-oriented cruiser is. The Eagle is made to be beautiful, to provide tempting eye-candy looks. She is a true head-turner and certainly a boat that appeals to sailing sensations and emotions, rather then ticking all the boxes for an all-out family vacation.
With juts over 14 meters and 3 meters width, she is as slim as a Playgirl with the longest legs imaginable. This boat is always rouged, all done up. There is no plain mode, as an owner you don´t need time to make her look nice: Looking good is her prime USP and … damn! She does it so good! No matter from which angle you look at this beauty, she makes (at least my) eyes glued to her.
Noblesse oblige
Leonardo Yachts offers two versions of principle building materials for hull and deck: The „standard“ version offers a Vinylesther foam core injected hull and deck and aluminium rigging. Standard is a bit funny because this version in connection with North Sails NPC Cross-Cut sails would be an upgrade for other boats … The Carbon-version features an ultralight and extra stiff Corecell-carbon combination, carbon mast and boom and North Sails 3Di sails for maximum performance. Can it get any better?
Well, apparently. As I mentioned in the walkthrough of her smaller sister, the Eagle 38 which allured me this January during Boot Duesseldorf boat show, the distinguished choices are mirrored in the details as well. Just look at these wonderful stainless steel high glossy panels, hydraulic gauges or the absolutely adorable steering wheel. Sitting behind it, looking at the clavier of switches and handles makes you instantly wanting to put on white gloves.
Of course, the winches to operate the sheets are made by Anderson and I am sure that the other suppliers are top shelv, starting with the running rigging and ending with the sinks and taps down below. It´s in no way just nicely pimped up gal that only looks great from afar, she is high class even when you peer into the farthest and most hidden corners.
What I like though is the idea of connecting hight tech materials and most recent CFD-technology for hull-shape and design with the calssic approach to boatbuilding. It is in no way awkward or inappropriate to see such a classy hull shape with a top-notch Axxon carbon rigging. On the contrary, it´s a quite beautiful combination!
The boat by no means is just only nice to look at. With a weight of just 7.5 tons and a sails area of over 90 square meters – let alone the fact that she is powered by 3Di-technology – makes clear that sailing performance is something any Eagle-skipper can easily unleash when casting off with this beauty.
In the cockpit
Of course I am not as lucky as this and have to make my imagination work. So I enter the cockpit, take a seat and look around. Aboard the Eagle 46 the layout is very classic as well. There are two facing benches, each can take on three adults I´d say, but we all know that just one would do best: Your love. She (or he, of course) will make herself comfortable lounging on the thick cushions.
The Eagle is not made for hectic regatta-sailing. I´d say, fast and active, screaming guys sweating whilst grinding the winches is nothing this boat is made for. Instead, the helmsman could reign behind the huge wheel – surely a single of potency here – or he lets the autopilot do its job and joins his love in the lounging area, where he can trim the sheets on the four winches.
There is a nice removable cockpit table as well, as with everything about this boat, almost too beautiful to use it for such profane things like eating or drinking. Folding the tabletops, being only accustomed to the heavy standard GRP or Teak-slabs, the non-weighing carbon table tops are making me smile: I´d kill if there would be a scratch from a glass in these!
Timeless beauty: Interior design of the Eagle 46
You love „Miss Marple“ or „Death on the Orient Express“? These good old, kind of innocent times, when classic beauty was common sense and not a sensation to stare at? Well, down below, it gets even better! The boat´s interior is in no way over-exaggerating, expressionistically screaming “I have class!”, it´s just plain, straight, balanced beauty. Aaaaaaach, what a great interior!
I mean, I love modern interior. I even like the minimalistic and reduced approaches of many performance-oriented yachts and even the lush and luxurious extravaganca of the upper class-yachts. But this is what I like most: Understatement, clean lines, pragmatic but executed by proud and skillful handcraft-experts.
The joinery is awesome! The balance of wooden and padded surfaces, the reduced artificial light, the amount of natural light. It´s a great combination of all. You go down below and feel at home and welcome. In this, The Eagle 46´s interior design has both a maritime appeal but could as well stand alone as a nice Air b´n´b-flat or hotel-suite. And you know what? The fact, that this yacht does not provide full standing height … who cares?
Is she cruisable?
A 46-footer normally is a proper size for serious cruising. I´d say that a „yacht“ starts at 40, 42 feet. Below, I´d call it a „boat“. So, for a yacht the Eagle 46 should at least offer some cruising amenities, right? And yes, of course, she does! Meant to be sailed by a couple who – occasionally and not over night – welcome guests, this boat can of course be used for cruising.
She is equipped with a fully stocked galley. A large sink, two flame electric stove, stowage and a fridge of course. So, in principle, you find everything aboard this yacht to make a lon sailing trip comfortable. In this I must say that the available interior volume of course is very limited. I would question if any owner-couple use this yacht as a multi-week holiday base.
She´s a daysailor or weekender in my eyes and in this also a boat for the good weather. Rated CE category B with a very low freeboard she´s not your typical go anywhere yacht. Although it would certainly be a huge thing if a boat like this would suddenly pop up in the Caribbean or even Cape Horn … but, no, she´s more the coastal cruiser and, even better, a boat for the distinguished inshore lake sailor. She´d wind the yacht parade on Lake Geneva with ease, I am sure!
In this, factually, the Eagle 46 offers a V-berth in the fore cabin and a single berth in the stern, the classic pilot berth. The boat has a fully operational bathroom with electric WC, shower and a large sink, although due to the limited volume an all-out beauty-session especially for taller people is not recommended. Nevertheless, everything is there and absolutely cruising-ready if you want.
The pilot berth is a perfect place for storage, be it the spare sails, clothing, safety equipment or the onboard-SUP. As much as I like the micro-cruising approach, this berth would not really make me happy if I´m honest. But anyway, as I said, I doubt that an Eagle yacht is a boat bought by a family of four who want to experience the ordinary cruising vacation. She is …
… a connoisseur´s yacht indeed!
I feel so familiar with that boat maybe because my own new yacht, the Omega 42 is a bit like the Eagle: Considered too slim, too much overhangs, too less volume (aka „comfort“) inside. She is beautiful, yes, but most people miss the large microwave- and dish washer-equipped galley, the standing height throughout the whole boat and all the amenities.
She is s sailing machine in a world, where most people want probably are looking for a vacation machine. A fact with which I am perfectly fine of course: That´s the beauty of the boating industry: There´s a yacht for everyone. So, the Eagle 46, much more than my Omega 42, is a prime example for a yacht that just makes you happy, provides you with some incredibly beautiful and lush hours when sailing and makes the head go round when moored at the jetty.
It´s a bit sad that this boat had been moored so far „out“ from the main hustle of the Cannes boat show, but maybe this was also the best place. Connoisseurs don´t like the bristling crowds, the frenzy rush. They are casually sauntering by, their Cashmere pullover loosely thrown over the shoulders, stopping, watching, smiling. And relish on the wonderful outlook this Eagle 46 offers.
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Aboard the Eagle 38: Gentleman´s sailing
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