This entry-level family cruiser has packed in everything for fun sailing
Here is a very interesting 30-footer—its actually 29 feet 6 inches—from Beneteau for its Oceanis series. The design is by Finot-Conq with an interior design from the Nauta Design studio.
This interior is impressive. Yes it’s tight but it’s all there. The aft double berth is big and has a hanging locker forward of it. The forward cabin takes advantage of the plumb stem and shows a more comfortable than usual double V-berth. There are two hanging lockers in this space. The settees in the main cabin look a bit narrow to my eye. This works when you are sitting up at the dining table but if you want to relax, I think more depth to the settee top is required. The starboard settee is truncated aft to make room for a small nav table. All you need now for nav gear is a laptop. The head is big, but the galley is not big. But on a 30-footer you would not expect a big galley.
The sailplan uses a square-topped mainsail. This means there is no backstay. Instead, the spreaders are raked by what I measure as 38 degrees. That is a lot. You won’t sail downwind wing-and-wing. Instead you’ll reach and jibe, but that’s the way to get the best VMG anyway. The jib is self-tacking. Using 100% of the square-topped mainsail and the self-tacking jib areas I get a SA/D of 16.28. In addition to the self-tacking track there are deck tracks that would allow you to carry an overlapping headsail that will enhance light-air performance.
Click OCEANIS 30.1 to read Bob Perry’s entire review.
