Stress free sailing solutions | Baltic Yachts
Baltic Yachts is best known as the world leading builder of full custom, carbon composite superyachts but the yard also has a long, strong heritage of small-series platform builds. The current model, the Baltic 68 Café Racer, offer a simple, swift and streamlined route to owning a boat with Baltic’s signature build quality and standard of finish
What you don’t get with a platform build is the almost unlimited scope of a full custom project. Having your own vision of the ultimate yacht designed from first principles and precisely tailored to fit your personal style of sailing is an immensely rewarding experience but it’s not for everyone. You do need to devote quite a lot of thinking time to a full custom project to get the best out of it.
Some people prefer a boat-buying process that starts with a set of pre-defined options rather than a blank sheet of paper. For them, a platform build has many advantages and makes a lot of sense. Building with Baltic, you still have far more scope for customisation – if you want it – than most semi-custom boatbuilders can offer. In essence you get a lighter, stiffer, faster and stronger boat with the same levels of craftsmanship, technology and composite engineering as a full custom Baltic superyacht.
From the best-selling Baltic 39 of the 1970s to the very successful Bill Tripp-designed Baltic 50 at the turn of the millennium and the remarkably versatile judel/vrolijk Baltic 56 mini series in more recent years, many of Baltic’s platform builds have become highly sought-after modern classics. With the same world class design, engineering and build pedigree, the current Baltic 68 will be no different.
‘The semi-custom platform is engineered above all for easy sailing. The Café Racer is at that crossover point where it’s are large enough for the owner to sail and live comfortably on board with a couple of professional crew, but they can also be managed without any crew by an experienced yachtsman with friends,’ Baltic Yachts’ sales director Kenneth Nyfelt explains. ‘At 68ft it is about as large as you’d want to go for cruising two-up. If you want to sail competitively, then obviously you will need more crew.’
BALTIC 68 CAFÉ RACER
A fresh concept for a modern yachting lifestyle, the 68 Café Racer makes high-performance sailing easier and more accessible. This spacious, striking and super sleek 21-metre platform designed by Javier Jaudenes is ideal for daysailing, inshore regattas and weekend cruising. The Café Racer, which takes its name and key elements of its concept from the iconic motorbikes of London’s rockers in the 1960s, is proving popular with the first two already sailing, the third being commissioned and the fourth in build at the time of writing.
Key features of the platform include an ultra-light displacement hull with a distinctive reverse bow and chamfered forward sections, very wide beam to maximise form stability and living space in the cockpit, low freeboard to help the helmsman feel directly connected with the water, plus a very low profile coachroof and clean decks for unobstructed views all round. Down below, the default layout is simple with a spacious open plan saloon, a full-beam owner’s suite up forward and another double cabin aft for crew or friends. The fit-out is luxurious, with a wide range of styling options from designers such as Jens Paulus and Design Unlimited. In both layout and design, owners have plenty of scope for customisation.
A wide range of eco-friendly technologies are available as proven, pre-engineered options and she has a next-generation rig that requires no backstay in normal operation. This is one of the very first applications of Structured Luff mainsail technology, which was implemented on the 68 around the same time as its adoption in the America’s Cup and several years before it appeared on large performance cruising multihulls. A lens of carbon fibre structure within the luff of the mainsail creates pre-bend in the mast when the cunningham line is tensioned. In fresh to strong winds, removable running backstays are used for racing.
It’s perhaps significant that all of the first four owners are downsizing to a Baltic 68 Café Racer from much larger and more complex sailing yachts. In typical use she offers a unique, minimum stress ‘unplug and play’ style of sailing. ‘We are seeing many of our clients looking for easy-use boats,’ Kenneth observes. ‘This is them getting something for the weekend, getting their hands back on the wheel and enjoying sailing with friends.’
The first 68 Café Racer, Pink Gin Verde, is a showcase of sustainable sailing innovation, which significantly reduces the environmental footprint of both her manufacture and operation. Her advanced composite hull construction uses more than 50 per cent naturally grown flax fibre instead of carbon. She has beautiful, durable cork decking – a viable and renewable alternative to traditional teak – and in eco mode, a huge array of solar panels generate enough power to keep her hotel systems running at anchor. Her twin 15kW electric motors can regenerate power as she sails to keep her batteries charged, with a low-emission micro turbine engine for back-up and to extend her motoring range for delivery passages.
‘The original idea for the 68 was driven by Baltic Yachts’ owner, Professor Hans Georg Näder when he commissioned hull number one and gave us a clean sheet of paper to push topics which we felt strongly were going to arrive in yachting,’ Kenneth explains. ‘He was absolutely bang on. Almost every boat we’re building now is electric or hybrid driven, and materials like cork decking are coming onto the radar.’
Perhaps the most remarkable thing for such a fast and powerful boat is just how easy the 68 is to handle. ‘Owners can decide whether or not they want to sail with professional crew,’ Kenneth says. ‘An experienced sailor can take this boat out on their own, it’s pretty straightforward to operate. You are power assisted with electric winches and furling systems. It’s an electric drive so you literally just push the lever forward and it goes. The appeal of unplug and go, enjoy the day or weekend on the water then plug back in, has proven pretty exciting for people.’
The second 68 Café Racer, Open Season is strongly focused on racing. A full carbon build with a pre-preg Nomex deck, she is more than two tons lighter in displacement than the cruising-orientated, flax fibre Pink Gin Verde. Launched last year, in her first season she won a day at Les Voiles de St-Tropez and a day at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Now fully optimised, she holds great promise for her second season on the highly competitive Mediterranean racing circuit.
The third boat in the series is also optimised for racing, while staying true to the original concept of effortless, stress-free daysailing and adopting some of Pink Gin Verde’s green innovations. She has the same displacement and ballast ratio as Open Season, so the two boats should be evenly matched on the water although their sails and rudder configurations are different. With three 68s based in Mallorca and quite likely more to join them, the prospect of fleet racing is emerging.
The fourth Café Racer is now nearing completion. Here the main focus is fun family daysailing, easy handling – and exhilarating performance.
EASY, CAREFREE SAILING
The core concept of reducing the stress and complications of yacht ownership to an absolute minimum can be extended still further with Baltic Yachts’ guardianage service. ‘All of the 68s that we’ve built so far live under the watchful eye of our Baltic Yachts Service and Refit operation in Palma, Mallorca,’ Kenneth says. ‘That is a major benefit for owners, having the boatbuilders themselves look after all aspects of their boats’ servicing and maintenance. Whenever you want to go sailing, you can simply turn up, cast off your lines and go with full confidence that all systems are working perfectly and the best possible support is on hand locally if you ever happen to need it.’
‘Whether you want a fast, comfortable and capable ocean cruiser or a stylish and sporty, next-generation weekender, the core ethos of Baltic Yachts is at the heart of both our platforms. The whole point of sailing is recreation, time off, a bit of head space. Lighter vessels like these are more easily driven and therefore the loads are reduced. This is important, especially for shorthanded sailing. You’re not dealing with massive, dangerously high loads even though they’re large and powerful boats. That’s the key to easy and stress-free sailing.’
This article was featured in the anniversary issue of Baltic Log. Read the full magazine here.