My name is Patrick Shaughnessy, and I am the President of Farr Yacht Design, and today I represent the combined design group that has produced the new Bavaria Cruiser 45.
After the completion of Bavaria’s flagship, the Cruiser 55, we were tasked as a team with producing a boat at the opposite end of the line which resulted in the Cruiser 32. With the two ends of the Cruiser line established we went about creating a third cornerstone design in the middle of the Cruiser line. The result of that work is the Cruiser 45. And with that design work we now have; a true flagship, an entry level yacht, and an anchor in the middle of the line to clearly show the world the Cruiser line’s complete intent.
The middle of any line represents a unique challenge. It needs to have the grace of a larger yacht, and the accessibility of a smaller yacht. The boat is a platform that needs to be capable of being a charter boat workhorse, and also a stepping stone toward a real luxury owners yacht.
In our other Cruiser line work we’ve clearly established a new way to link the exterior living space with the water. The enormous swimming platforms that we’ve created elsewhere in the line obviously needed to be a focal point for this middle of the line boat. That said we still faced a question of whether this boat should be a twin rudder or single rudder boat. In the end we chose the twin rudder approach. This choice allowed us to create large central storage area beneath the cockpit and to give this boat the benefit of real controllability at high angles of heel. Both of these are features that an experienced owner stepping up through a line of boats will realy appreciate in his or her next yacht.
We followed quite a bit of the design logic we’ve established with our two bookends. We created a hull shape with a long waterline and a great interior volume. We used our deck space wisely so that we can seat our whole crew for dinner on deck just like we can below deck. We created a cockpit space that is closed and secure to protect a young family, but can fully open so that we can truly enjoy the places we spend the time to sail to. We’ve worked hard to produce a boat that can be kind and forgiving for a novice and rewarding in the hands of an experienced sailor. This is a boat with 2 keel draft options at 1.72m and 2.1m, both with produce ballast ratios exceeding 28%. Both keel versions follow our logic that a true cruising boat should sail at heel angles of less than 20 degrees below 15kts true wind speed and avoid reefing until over 20 knots TWS. Even with those conservative choices a SA/Disp ratio of 4.56 ensures that the boat will have a very competitive performance in its class.
The new Bavaria Cruiser 45 is a boat which can be a great 4 cabin charter boat or a very rewarding 3 cabin owners boat. It clearly demonstrates how the middle of the Cruiser line will answer for styling and aesthetics. It does all of those things with a level of performance, engineering, and safety that has been the signature of every Farr Yacht Design product. Its not always easy to be in the middle of a family. The oldest gets the praise, while the youngest gets the attention. The middle child has to go out every day and do the hard work in order to get recognized. The new Bavaria Cruiser 45 is a boat designed to do that hard work, and to do it very well.
Patrick Shaughnessy
