At first glance, the layout of the manoeuvres and equipment on deck is clear. Genoa and staysail on electric furling systems, carbon mast and furling canoe boom set the target segment from the outset: simple, easy and stress-free family cruising. Of course, all these configurations can be optionally set up with the yard according to your constraints and desires, everything has been planned in advance. The aft deck includes the steering and manoeuvring stations. The ergonomics are particularly well thought out to be well installed at all paces, just like the helm seats adapted for heeling. The electric winches are juxtaposed and allow easy hoisting and trimming of the sails, including for the helmsman.
State-of-the-art support
The seriousness with which the anchor locker is fitted says a lot about this yacht's ability to avoid the hassles that often plague even our most successful cruises. Control of certain functions, such as hydraulic backstay and downhaul adjustment, are grouped together on a Raymarine "Hybrid touch" interface on the helm console. The Hallspars mainsail furling system is also controlled by a motor located at the end of the boom. Forward and aft thrusters. The catalogue of options to simplify manoeuvres as much as possible has been pampered by the shipyard's design office, which is used to offering highly equipped yachts.
Great autonomy
With 1,300 litres of fuel under the floorboards in the centre of the boat, the 180 hp Volvo D4 engine will allow you to travel over 1,000 miles at 8 knots, considering that you also need to power a generator to satisfy the greed of the on-board living equipment. There's also a fleet of gel batteries to power the air conditioning all night long without having to switch on the generator. We're telling you, everything has been taken care of.
Furling the mainsail and unfurling the genoa can be done with a minimum of effort, as you only have to press buttons. In these fairly light conditions, the boat moves more than well and marks a real improvement over the Bordeaux 60. The 6 knots of wind speed are reached very easily when sailing upwind and on a small beam. As soon as you pass abeam you have to send a spinnaker or gennaker to keep this average. The feel of the rudder is very pleasant, precise and soft at the same time. When testing another boat with 15 knots of wind and chop, we saw the superb seakeeping skills of the NBC 66 sailing regularly at 10 knots. But it is also when the wind really gets up that the atmosphere on board remains joyful and serene, so much so that the tuning of the whole system brings a very reassuring reliability while walking very hard.
