This new Briand design built by Jeanneau for its Sun Odyssey line targets cruising comfort in a very contemporary Euro style. In this case, the promotional material comes right out and says one of the aims of this design is interior volume. I can see that.

Again we see almost no overhangs and high freeboard combined with a chine to add volume where it's handy for accommodations. You could argue that the chine increases initial stability and you would be right. But with a hull as beamy aft as this one I can't imagine initial stability would ever be a problem with or without the chine, which disappears amidships.

The D/L is 153 indicating moderate displacement. The L/B is 3.14, and while it is not as beamy as the Oceanis 38, this is still a very beamy boat. In plan view this design is very full in the ends. Clearly this shape was drawn for cruising comfort, not speed.

As usual, two draft options are available: 7 feet 4 inches if going to weather is important to you, and 5 feet 4 inches if shallow draft is important to you. There is a single rudder. Phillipe Briand is a very skilled designer. I'm sure this boat will sail quite well.

This is a really interesting deck design. The cabintrunk appears almost segmented into three distinct shapes. Forward is a smooth, bullet-type wedge trunk with no windows. Jib tracks are on the top of this wedge.

The middle segment of the trunk conceals lines under covers until they emerge at the winches flanking the indented companionway. The sheets emerge from the aft segment just forward of the cockpit coaming winches. There are twin wheels aft and no place to sit aft of each wheel. You will sit outboard to steer. That's fine.

The transom folds down for easy boarding, and there is a large dining table in the cockpit. The mainsheet traveler is forward of the companionway and that puts the mainsheet past 50 inches on the boom. In this case the mainsheet is forward enough to almost work as a vang. Almost. This is a very clever deck design.

The interiors were designed by Frank Darnet and Olivier Flahault. There is a three-cabin layout with two heads, a four-cabin layout with four heads and a three-cabin layout with three heads. I like the three-cabin layout with two heads. The thought of having four heads to clean somehow bothers me. With the two-head layout you get a nice shower stall in both of the heads. Mirror image quarter cabins aft have double berths and lockers.

The galley is L-shaped and not very big for a boat of this size. To starboard there are built-in chairs separated by a small table. There is a large U-shaped dinette to port with a centerline bench seat. Six could dine at this table. The owner's cabin forward is spacious with a small, writing desk to starboard. There is no nav station on this boat, although I think that small table in the saloon is intended to serve as one.

There is nothing unusual about this fractional rig. The spreaders are swept 23 degrees. Today, this is the basic rig you'll find on pretty much every production boat. That's fine. It's efficient and the small offset above the jib hounds gives you room to fly an asymmetrical chute. The SA/D is 19.96. You can't fly a large overlapping genoa because there are no jib tracks to sheet to. But small overlapping headsails are better anyway.

Looking at the sailplan I find this a good looking boat in the Euro style. The windows in the hull spice up the look and provide a lot of light below. The long cabintrunk window is an interesting treatment. Despite the high freeboard I like the proportions.