There was a time when the major boat manufacturers tried to keep their cruising and their performance ranges so far apart in concept that you could be forgiven for thinking they came from two entirely different builders writes W M Nixon. In fact, with successful and distinctive “cruiser-racers” such as the JPK 10.80 dominating the contemporary offshore racing scene, we are arguably returning to that state of affairs.
Yet not so very long ago, the world of production yacht-building was going through a happy phase where there was considerable cross-fertilisation between racers and cruisers. The fact that designers with racing success such as Doug Peterson, Bruce Farr and Jean-Marie Finot were turning out performance cruisers for mega-manufacturers such as Bavaria and Beneteau respectively seemed to be a throwback to Uffa Fox’s dictum that the best offshore racer makes the best cruiser.
And certainly this Groupe Finot designed Beneteau Oceanis 411 Celebration, which is set up with the performance rig, is no slouch in the good looks and the sailing stakes. So much so, in fact, that we’ve gone beyond the photos available with the Afloat.ie boats for sale advertisement to include this shot which shows how well she looks powering along in a perfect breeze.
A handsome creature. The Beneteau Oceanis may make a very comfortable cruiser aimed at overnight stays in port, but she deserves the occasional canter round the daytime race course if there’s a decent breeze.
But of course in making his statement, Uffa Fox meant a cruiser which anticipated spending several nights at sea on passage while making the annual cruise. For sure, you could make overnight passages with this boat. But not all the bunks (she sleeps six excluding the saloon settees) would be usable when she’s heeling or plunging into a head sea, and at night her capacious accommodation is at its most useful when she’s snugly berthed.
In fact, the pleasant ambience of the accommodation is one of the features most mentioned by those who know this boat, and there are a lot of them – having been introduced in 1997, she was Cruising Yacht of the Year in 1998, and such was demand that they continued to build them until 2005. This particular boat dates from 2003, when they’d have got things running very smoothly on the Oceanis 411 Celebration production line. She’s a lot of boat for €85,000, and well worth a look. Read the full advert here
