I have been waiting now for a few weeks after Boot Duesseldorf with this article. Partially because I wanted to clear my website from all the noise going on around this new X-Yacht. And also because I wanted to let all my impressions and feelings settle down a bit before I start to postulate anything here. Now, I guess, it´s about time to take you aboard the XR-41, shall we?
There couldn´t have been more buzz and fuzz around this new boat in the months and weeks before the show. X-Yachts was very clever in their teasing-campaign, revealing nothing but tiny bits and pieces of this project. It takes a lot of thorough planning ahead and discipline to carry out such a campaign. So hats off to the marketing: Well done guys! Keeping anticipation and public eagerness to know more at a high level over such a long time is some great communicational achievement! Believe me: I´ve tried at least ten times and I was being a pain in the ass directly going onto X-Yacht´s CEO Kraen Brinck Nielsen nerves, just to be invited to Haderslev. But he remained firm and solid. No side-communications and no special treatment besides the official communication.
The big reveal in Duesseldorf
Of course, I am a bit sad about this as I am sure there had been some extremely exciting stories to write about. For example the development of the cockpit-layout by a 1:1 physical mock-up or all the meticulous work that has been done to design the XR-41´s modular interiors (later more on that). In this, at least, I was happy that yacht-optimizer Max Gurgel agreed to an interview of XR-41´s optimization, much appreciated! But, of course, I´m not the most important sailing magazine in the world (which hurts a bit but that´s the truth) and so I had to wait with all of you guys until January for the official world premiere of this boat. A slight solace at least: Even Toby Hodges had to wait …
So, why this big hustle around this new yacht? Well, the XR-41 marks the first real racing yacht in the shipyard´s history for many, many years. The XP-44, which still is an adorable yacht, could be seen as their last racing boat design. But a „true“ all-out racing boat, as it has been the core of X-Yachts´ DNA upon their foundation decades ago, is really a new thing. That´s one side of the medal. The other side of this story is the elephant in the room: X-Yachts founder and for many the personification of the brand, Niels Jeppesen, has left years ago. And so the brand must re-define, maybe re-invent itself for the post-Jeppesen-era.
After a transition period with (at least for me) some rather „unspecified“ or let´s say „strange“ boats called „Pure X“-series, X-Yachts seemed to have found their new path. Last year´s launch of the new XC-47 marked a big step forward and I must say that this quick cruising boat was indeed something new, something unexpected and fresh. She is still unique. By that, it´s their first yacht which is not trying to emulate the Jeppesen-style but which boldly goes foward to define a new, own approach. In this, the XC-47 is dubbed being one of the best bluewater cruising yachts in her size to date. But enough with background talks, what´s about the new XC-41?
Serving the aces: Hull-design tricks
If you have read my piece with Max Gurgel you may have understood that the new XR-41 is designed to win races under ORC-rule. There has been a kind of shitstorm both here on the blog in the comments as well as on my social media-channels like facebook about this approach. „Cheating“ or „cutting corners“ were some of the buzz words. Well, guys, my opinion is this: There are regulatory systems in sailboat racing, be it handicap, ORC, IRC or whatever, it´s a fact. And of course designers as well as owners try to squeeze out everything they can to sharpen their blades for the fight. That´s a normal thing and there is nothing unfair about it, even less cheating.
Of course, I personally also prefer a one-design approach where all contenders have the same aresenal of tools at hand and the winner will be the best sailor, the best trimmer, the best tactician or best weather-man. But I´d never call someone else a cheater just because he is trying to get the best technical interpretation out of a set of rules. In this logic, legendary Ross Brawn – the man behind Michael Schumacher´s technical side of the career – would also be a cheater. That´s ridiculous. That said, the XR-41 is heavily optimized to perform „bad“ on paper to get the best rating, meaning it can sail slower in realtime and still win. That´s the game, guys …
I found it very interesting to see first hand where in detail these optimizations are visible. Take the iconic V-shaped stern for example. You might think it has been made that way to allow planing when tilted (which maybe is the case) but the real reason was to shorten the waterline for a better rating. Also, like to be seen in the picture of the bow section above, I was surprised how incredibly sharp the entry of the yacht is shaped! Where it seems that everyone goes for more volume in the direction of Scow-like bows (wait for my article on the new Solaris 55!) X-Yachts came up with a very, very sharp bow that almost looks like a Wavepiercer. Interesting. The boat is full of those little details – thatswhy the headline of this article: A colorful, exciting grab-bag full of cool things.
Combining racing and cruising aspects
True, all-out racing boats are a rare breed nowadays and owners wanting to have one of these will opt for the distinct one-off-ish brands or designers. X-Yachts wants to appeal the semi-pro racer with occasional cruising or, at least, an owner who is interested in some multifunctionality for his boat. XR-41 tackles this, which even starts in the cockpit.
The winch-layout is racing optimized with two working winches next to the companionway down, Jib-sheet winches on the coamings of the cockpit and two more winches just in front of the steering wheels. A nice little detail: The cockpit benches are modular, at least the rear part of them. When cruising or sailing alone, the bench-extensions remain fitted and double-function as fender lockers. During crewed crewed, these can be taken off and put ashore. Something we´ve seen in the First 36 already.
The cockpit flooring is covered with EVA-foam which I still consider the currently best non-wooden decking material at hand for boats. It is durable, offers some pretty good anti-skid properties, is relatively cheap and can be applied as well as repaired with ease. It´s also a very modern material that looks nicely on a boat like the XR-41 (on all performance-oriented boats!) and as one can see with my own new boat, it even looks nice on classic yachts where your first impulse may be to put in real wood. Other than that, the cockpit of the XR-41 is designed to work both for single- or double handed use (be it regatta or cruising) as well as for crewed racing. Again, let´s look at some nice details out of the lucky bag here …
Some nice details
So, for example, the aft winches are munted tilted to inward. This clearly optimizes the angle of attack when sheets are worked upon during a heeled highspeed-ride of the boat. You see, this is where my „content-hunter“ genes kick in: Telling the story behind these tilted winches would have been something highly interesting. How did they come up with that idea? Did they play around with this on the 1:1 wooden mock-up? Had there been iterations of the tilting-angle and why did they end up with this particular one? Well, this will remain a story never to be told … at least not by me.
Another nice detail is the open transom, which is en vogue in so many performance-oriented boats nowadays, even series production cruising boats have them. With the XR-41 the transom is distinctively shaped, almost aggressively imposing its shape. What I am asking myself is: How did they make it? I mean, where is the the outer and the inner GRP-shell? How is this shape achieved in lamination? I couldn´t tell. Also a nice in-depth detail one could talk about when visiting the production of this yacht.
Which by the way is an interesting detail by itself: X-Yachts owns a lamination facility „X Composites“ in Poland near the border to the Russian exclave Kaliningrad, where hulls, decks and complete boats are manufactured. I guess, the „Made in Denmark“-label is a mere reminiscence to them „good old times“. In a globalized world even upper shelf brands like X-Yachts rely on cost-optimized, outsourced production. That´s nothing to be ashamed of at all – if the quality delivered is living up to the promise (and the price demanded) I am absolutely fine with this.
Looking at the foredeck in the picture above, you´ll notice the huge cap hiding all lines coming from the mast in little „canals“. Another little nice detail are the from and aft pulpits for the guardrail. It seems that X-Yachts re-purposed some spreaders to act as posts for the railing. Those look sharp, almost like fins. That´s certainly half of a knot more speed just for the visuals … I like it.
The boat´s deck has some more surprises for you which would fill up this article. It is worth taking your time and look at it thoroughly for sure. Back at the boat show in Duesseldorf I was lucky to being able to roam the XR-41 before the show opened (negotiating my way around the cleaning party to shoot my pictures). Just a few minutes later the queues at the X-Yachts booth were long and never seemed to get any shorter, the boat being crowded.
Pursuing the post-Jeppesen path
Before we go down to check the XR-41s interior, let´s come back to the before mentioned post-Jeppesen era for the brand. X-Yachts is the brainchild of Niels Jeppesen and this man had defined how the boat looked like, how they performed and what was done in which way – and what not. I don´t know the backstory of him parting with X-Yachts, but it was a big surprise seeing him re-appearing at Arcona Yachts where he is now the lead designer after Stefan Qviberg´s sad and too early departure. Anyway, how does X-Yachts deal with it?
As the best example for the once-and-for-all decoupling from Niels Jeppesen the new shape of the rhomb can be seen. It´s a pretty bold step in terms of design, because it is an edgy, therefore „aggressive“, shape. It´s not appealing or „nice“, it is rather polarizing and certainly a „loud“ signal. For me, it is the new sign, the new birthmark, the new deciding logo-shape that defines the post-Jeppesen era of X-Yachts.
The shipyard has introduced this shape first in the then-new XC-47 cruising yacht which had been shown first time last year. Back then I personally wasn´t so sure if I like it or not. As I said, its a bold, a cheeky shape. Last year I thought that it will maybe grow on me, that I´ll get used to it. Well, seeing it now appearing aboard the XR-41 I am sure it is certainly not a flash in a pan. And this rhomb seems to be carried through in the coming new models. And yes. It grew on me somehow, I quite like it. So, you´re ready? Let´s go down!
A surprise down below
My initial reaction upon coming down was of utmost surprise. This is, by the way, also the feedback I´ve received from many friends who roamed the boat. This yacht´s interior is very cozy, is conveying a warm feeling and one almost forgets being aboard an all-out racing machine. Well done! But the most surprising thing about the XR-41s interior is neither the beauty nor the functionality – it´s the modularity and lightweight build.
Generally, the layout is in itself „inversed“, meaning, that you´d expect to find galley and daybath just upon coming down the companionway. But it´s not: When stepping down you will immediately arrive in the saloon. This in itself is at the widest spot of the boat so that both sofas to either side of the middle aisle have their own little saloon-table.
The sofa to port side is L-shaped and the corresponding table can be folded out. Thus doubling the dining area if you happen to have to feed a whole crew. It´s a simple, no-frills design, Danishly conservative, one could say. The whole idea of the interior is that it is almost completely removable so that the maximum amount of weight is left ashore when sailing and the XR-41 is turned into a lightweight racer.
Furniture modules: How does it work?
The X-Yachts designers went as far as you can imagine: Both the bathroom as well as the galley are said to be removable. A „take-out“ furniture. But I mean, look at the pictures: Does this appear to you to be removable? A concept like this isn´t that new. There have been a number of yachts coming up with such a set-up. But here aboard XR-41 I simply cannot spot which part could be dismounted and where. Impossible.
In this, that´s great work because usually something like this looks fumbly, slackly and often also cheap. Not so aboard the XR-41: All of the furniture and the modules have a heavy quality and no „take-out“-cheap style at all. Which brings us back to the interior layout of this boat. Adjoining the saloon further to the bow, as you can see in the pictures, there´s the galley to port side and the bathroom to starboard.
For a racing yacht that has been designed for maximum weight saving the galley is nothing less than huge! Look at the massive furniture modules here – there´s a load full of stowage for a boat made to win races. I love the fact that X-Yachts went for the easiest way to fit a stove: Aboard this boat it´s a full electric two-flame induction cooktop – no oven at all. I like that. The same simplicity applies to the bathroom.
XR-41 has very little and in this very simple fittings. The bathroom houses the standard Jabsco pumping WC, a considerably long worktop with an integrated sink and just a few decorative wooden panels to close off some stowage for hygiene products. The shower is integrated, no extra luxury in this respect. Do I know how this all looks when taken away to „no interior“-race mode? No! Again, this would be a great story to tell in a future article.
Cabin comforts aboard the XR-41
The XR-41 features three cabins, one fore-cabin and two in the aft. I don´t know for sure if the lovely wooden-veneered bulkheads are also removable, but the doors are for sure. In this, the „cabins“ are very, very reduced to a minimum and do not feature any decorative of „luxury“-inducing elements. In fact, some said they are „dull“, but considering the fact that these are the least important locations aboard a racing boat, I´m perfectly fine with this approach.
The fore cabin contains two simple matresses, that´s all. You crawl in here, close your eyes and hopefully quickly find a good night´s sleep. This cabin has no hull windows. It´s just an opening skylight-hatch through which some natural light comes inside. This hatch – also double-functioning as emergency escape – is also sized XL. When in empty racing mode a Gennaker can be quickly stuffed thrown down inside here or hoisted very quickly when the fore cabin serves as sails-locker.
For the aft cabins, not much to say either: At least here some more wooden panels and a sufficiently sized cabinet make for a more „cabin“-like atmosphere. There is a lightweight and simple denim-shelf mounted to the hull´s side which looks like it could also serve as makeshift pilot berth if needed, but that´s just speculation.
A cozy, at-home atmosphere with a futuristic touch
„This yacht has much more coziness and design than expected.“, a sentence I´ve often heard from my friend when they returned from taking a look at the exhibited boat. I also think it´s a great design! I particularly love how they´ve managed to integrate the rhomb-shape again down here, look at the picture below:
Instead of just choosing a normal shape for the frame and maybe hiding this structural element, they went for the opposite and rather highlighted it. For the inner outline of the frame, the all-familiar new rhomb-shape has been chosen, which wonderfully harmonizes with the windows and the new style I´ve mentioned above.
The whole appearance is slightly futuristic, but with a „Scandinavian“ touch. I really like it. But I´m also aware of the fact that the rhomb-shapes all over the place and the „edgy“, angular design choices often tend to be too trendy. Fluent, round shapes are considered longer lasting and often „classic“. It becomes apparent when comparing some of these classic or conservatively designed boats such as the First 44 or even Grand Soleil 44 with the XR-41.
But of course, time will tell. For now, this boat is fascinating a lot of people and literally surfing on a wave of increased interest by so many. As I was able to speak to many people from the business, also insiders in X-Yachts, when Duesseldorf boat show concluded as rumors had it, almost 15 units were said to have been sold. Which, acknowledging the upper shelf-price of such a yacht and the fact, that this boat has been sailed just one quick time for a PR-shooting prior to the show, is a big time success!
Will she win races?
Yep, that´s the big question, right? When talking to people who are really deep into contemporary boats and serious racing, there´s currently only one yacht on the series-market which could take up the fight against the XR-41: And that will be Matteo Polli´s Grand Soleil 44 in her racing configuration. Also, many believe that the XR-41 will be faster. This needs to be and certainly will be proven in the coming two seasons when both boats (and many of those other fascinating performance yachts are competing with each other in the big races.
For now, I must say: I liked the outward and especially the exterior appearance of this new boat. X-Yachts managed to take another big step in their port-Jeppesen time and I am curious not only how the next new boats will look like and perform but also, how the market will accept and judge these bold steps. Well done, X-Yachts, what an amazing boat!
You might also find these articles interesting to read:
Top notch performance-cruisers: At the X-Yachts HQ in Haderslev
Discovering the new XC-47 (in 2024)
Talking to X-Yachts CEO Kraen Brinck Nielsen