Under sail

I met up with the boat at Jabin’s boatyard on Back Creek. We powered out into the bay, and the boat had plenty of get up and go with its optional 60-horsepower engine. We quickly hoisted the main and unfurled the gennaker, sailing down the bay. The large B&G displays on the mast were easy to read, but since the boat was fresh off the ship from Italy, they hadn’t yet been calibrated. The easy to read B&G multifunction display at the helm had the SOG hitting 12 knots. Jibes were a simple matter of rolling up the sail and popping it open on the new tack. 

The boat was fitted out with a full kit of sails with the optional North Sails package. We had plenty of hands from the Solaris company as well as the U.S. dealer Berthon to help pull the strings, but it wasn’t needed. The Solaris 44 is set up to be sailed shorthanded.

Heading onto the wind was also easy. We simply rolled up the kite and unrolled the self-tacking jib. The 44 is set up for overlapping headsails, but we had plenty enough wind to keep the boat sailing at 7.5 knots upwind with the small jib. The helm felt well balance and only a light touch was needed to keep it in the groove, the twin rudders providing plenty of control with the boat heeled. As we sailed rail down, foot chocks would have provided more security. Because the helms are located outboard, the view was excellent perched on the side deck.

This gorgeous performance cruiser has the speed to make a fun racer and the comfort to head off to explore far flung cruising grounds.

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LOA 43’10”; LWL 41’9”; Beam 13’9”; Draft 8’6”; Displ. 21,826 lb.; Ballast 7,937 lb.; Sail area 1,281 sq. ft.; Fuel 58 gal.; Water 100 gal.; Auxiliary 30-, 60- or 75-hp.

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Solaris Yachts

Via Curiel 49

Aquileia, Italy

info@solarisyachts.com

www.solarisyachts.com