We all know Hanne is crying and begging for one of our SL yacht builders to build the Beneteau Figaro II in SL. Yeah, I too wonder why no builder ever took care about that boat, which is a favourite racer in RL, in the very popular class of cruiser/racers and fits perfectly in the gap between high strung professionals and amateurs. She’s not irresponsibly expensive and can be maintained with an amateur budget but still she’s fast and exciting enough to be sailed in some very high class international races.

So when I heard Rene Underby of Rene Marine is building a Beneteau 30 footer I was rather curious if she maybe/hopefully built the legendary Figaro … but no. In fact Rene couldn’t care less about racing boats and remodelled the Beneteau First 30 instead. No problem,  the First is a rather quick cruiser which shouldn’t fare too badly in the occasional race neither. Well, I haven’t sailed her yet but the hull makes a good impression as it’s rather svelte, has it’s widest part in the back, sports a double rudder and is steered with a tiller not with a wheel. That’s kinda sportive and light, at least

it looks elegant and fast.

So maybe Hanne can live with the First as well. 😉

Anyhoo, when Anu told me about the new Rene boat I TPd to the RM store right away for a looksee and a test sail, and found Rene there, finetuning and testing the Beneteau First  RM 30 …

She showed me all the crew sits and niceties of her RM30 … and I was sold immediately and ordered 2 boats on the spot. One for Anu, one for me. Ya, Anu already said she wanted one, and since I had the opportunity to snatch some boats up before the official launch date I just had to. 😮 I guess this is finally a very capable boat for both of my favourite sailing activities: Cruising in style and racing for the win. 😉

Then we went out for a little testsail and I was in love at once. I promise I will even try to get used to RM’s special way of steering and maneuvering the boats. And indeed, after just a few minutes it didn’t look as if I’m trying to write my name in the water anymore and I managed to sail in straight lines … mostly. 😉

Well, what we see here in the pics is Rene’s personal design, so you can’t have this particular looking boat. By the way, the design was made by Laured (which is back in SL … again), so she has the templates and is ready to accept your custom orders anytime. 🙂

  Woah, that reminds me I must find Laured and order another Linux styled boat. But nothing green this time …

Rene is going on a short vacation in RL now. Sailing of course. But she will launch the boat officially next Sunday, 07.06.15, at Hake Sports Club. Hope to cya all there.