Contest 41

If you fancy a well-built Scandinavian cruiser but can’t quite afford one, the Contest 41 could be a suitable alternative says Dick Durham

Many of us are counting down the days to that date when we can finally say goodbye to the commuter train,get the offshore yacht we’ve saved for a lifetime to buy, and sail off to cruise the world. And if you’re buying second-hand, the retirement boat of choice is typically a forty something footer from one of the high-end Scandinavian boat builders. But how about a boat that’s of comparable quality, has similar performance and equally good accommodation, but costs about half as much and will allow you to take early retirement?

Like what you hear? Then turn instead to Holland and say hello to the Contest 41.

Performance

With a fresh southerly wind tunnelling down the Medina valley we cast off our mid-stream mooring and turned Kiran, a Contest 41 owned by Rodney and Karen Ireland, north towards Cowes and the Solent. Once clear of the new breakwater unfurled the rather daunting genoa, which is more than twice the area of the main, leaving three rolls furled.

In the fluky winds beneath the woods of East Cowes she stopped, started, and staggered along, so we motored out into the Solent to find clear air. Then with anything between 18 and 26 knots of apparent wind she came alive, heeling over surprisingly far and quickly, making you realise that her lofty rig – the mast is 17.56m in height, and that on top of 2.44m-high topsides – is designed for Trade Wind sailing, and that she needs the first reef thrown in early. While cruising through Holland, Rodney and Karen had to use the commercial locks as their Contest 41’s air draught was above the maximum 18.5m for the leisure craft locks.