Although these were the owner’s choices, I think those looking at cruising offshore might still find the cockpit too small and shallow. The test boat had some distinctly Mediterranean-oriented options, including a hydraulically lifting table that doubled as a sunbed. And she felt assured and powerful coming back downwind, where we averaged 9.5 knots with surfs up to 12.5 under white sails. The Centurion lived up to her Roman name, was steadfast through the swell and maintained a consistent 8 knots close reaching upwind. But with two reefs in the main and a couple of rolls in the genoa (both impractical laminate sails for the conditions), we were soon heading to weather competently. Indeed we had very un-Italian, ugly, testing conditions: 25-30 knots combined with a short, sharp swell. Aboard the test boat we certainly did when we were one of the only yachts to venture out in a Force 7 and large swell during the Santa Margherita trials. But these are features cruising folk (and those of us from ‘up north’) might admire. The Berret-Racoupeau-designed hull is fuller and heavier, with a slightly raked stem – evidence perhaps that she uses the mould of the company’s 55ft Pilot Saloon. In comparison with other such modern fast cruisers, the Centurion 57 looks a little dated. And in its European Yacht of the Year category of Luxury Cruiser it was up against two other yachts of similar length, price and market in the Italia 15.98 (see our test in January) and Euphoria 54.Ī sign of the Mediterranean influence is the open transom Testing conditions The 57 is still an expensive yacht though with a base price of €690,000 (£544,000) it sits exactly between production and luxury semi-custom prices – it’s half the price of a similar-sized Oyster or Contest, yet twice the price of a Hanse. Wauquiez has benefited from its period under Beneteau by incorporating high-volume practices such as milling machines into its production to help offer quality at a reasonable price. It puts the yard, established by Henri Wauquiez in 1965 near Lille on the Belgian border, back on the map after a change of ownership and direction in 2010 – Beneteau owned the yard for the first decade of the millennium. She represents a hybrid of styles, a potential all-rounder of cruising yachts.īy taking some styling notes from the south and providing some northern substance, the danger of this blended Wauquiez Centurion 57, however, is that she is neither exciting enough to belong to one camp nor practical enough for the other.īut with her launch, Wauquiez is certainly sending out a clear message that it is back in the business of producing quality cruisers for discerning sailors. And the latter is precisely what Wauquiez has done with its new Wauquiez Centurion 57. Either they ignore everyone else and design what they like, or they try to incorporate the best of both worlds. This inevitably led to many a healthy debate during our trials for the European Yacht of the Year as the pan-European judging panel offered differing viewpoints on the various designs, though overall this boat appealed as she won the Luxury Cruiser category in the 2015 European Yacht of the Year Awards.īut then there’s the French, a nation of sailors who border both types of seas and weather conditions. Their super-trendy yachts actually solicit exposure to balmy conditions, all straight-edged and minimalist, with maximum area for sunbathing. Our Mediterranean-based counterparts, meanwhile, scoff at such trivialities. For us it’s all about protection from the elements, comfort in a seaway, the ability to depower a sailplan easily and live harmoniously with the boat heeled. The cold North Sea and Baltic types tend to favour function first. Nowhere is the north/south European divide more evident than in cruising yacht design.
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