Launching Speech for the new Bavaria Cruiser 50

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My name is Patrick Shaughnessy, and I am the President of Farr Yacht Design, and today I represent the combined design group that has produced the new Bavaria Cruiser 50.

The line-up logic for Bavaria’s Cruiser line entailed producing cornerstone type products at 55, 32, and 45 feet, and following that, derivative type products between them at 40, 36, and 50 feet. Today with the 50 we have finally the complete Cruiser line together. For Farr Yacht Design alone this body of work represents 15,000 man hours, or roughly 7.5 man years’ worth of design time. Certainly a substantial undertaking.

We’ve continued our focused effort to link the exterior living space with the water. The enormous swimming platforms that we’ve created for the Cruiser line continue to be a focal point for the 50. The deck concept is improved by adding more opening ports and hatches in response to a want for greater ventilation.

Like the 45 and 55 the 50 is a twin rudder boat. This choice allowed us to create large central storage area beneath the cockpit and to give this boat the benefit of real controllability at high angles of heel. The twin rudders also allow us to create a hull shape with a long waterline and a great interior volume. By keeping our halyard runs and dodger above deck we’ve been able to package a large interior beneath a moderate freeboard height. Within our large interior volume we’ve packaged both a 4 cabin charter boat, and an owners cabin forward 3 cabin boat. Both of those interior options can also be had with a forward Pullman style cabin increasing the potential cabins to 3, 4, and 5 cabin versions. A range of interior options available for both owners and charter fleets. All of the cabin options will be able to seat the number of people they can sleep at the exceptionally large salon seating area. A separate shower area adds to the interior features list. Beneath the cabin sole we’ve been able to use large centrally located water and fuel tanks which should improve pitch response in waves. In our engineering work we’ve moved to a thicker hull core which has produced both weight reduction, and reduced boat assembly time.

We’ve used the deck space wisely so that the whole crew can sit comfortably for dinner on deck just like we can below deck. We created a cockpit space that is closed and secure to protect a young family, but can fully open so that we can truly enjoy the places we spend the time to sail to.

We’ve worked hard to produce a boat that can be kind and forgiving for a novice and rewarding in the hands of an experienced sailor. This is a boat with 2 keel draft options at 1.85m and 2.25m, both with produce ballast ratios exceeding 28%. Both keel versions follow our logic that a true cruising boat should sail at heel angles of less than 20 degrees below 15kts true wind speed and avoid reefing until over 20 knots TWS. Even with those conservative choices a SA/Disp ratio of 4.7 ensures that the boat will have a very competitive performance in its class.

And so we have the complete Cruiser line with the new Cruiser 50 following the line logic for styling and aesthetics but still managing to find improvement in several key areas. It does all of those things with a level of performance, engineering, and safety that has been the signature of every Farr Yacht Design product. Having said those things I would like to thank Bavaria for the opportunity to produce design work for the Cruiser line, and to be here today before you.