WINTER 2011
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Boat Tests > Fjord > 40 Open
Open minded
If you ignore this messing around and simply push open the throttles she rockets away, the nose rises slightly then drops immediately and we are at top speed. Good modern boats accelerate so hard we should be timing them from 0-30 knots, say, as the car testers do.
The Fjord runs happily at any speed and rev range, which leads me to suspect that even the base model would have enough power for lively performance.
We had smooth seas?we always have smooth seas?but Chad from Windcraft, who has done several coastal runs, reckons she's smooth and dry upwind, directionally stable and dry downwind. Toss her around a bit and she is very sure-footed. The structure feels very solid.
IPS installations are quieter and smoother than other set-ups; you feel that something is missing and although you can't quite place what it is, you're better off without it. Cruising home at 27 knots, we talk easily.
Nick puts her away into a nasty, tight berth. As we approach he rotates the little IPS joystick and she spins in her own length. Then we proceed, stern-first. The hull slowly turns through 90 degrees and she is alongside the wharf. Reacquainted with the mooring lines, we are reattached to Mother Earth. Slow, says Nick, is the secret.
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THE WRAP
You can't really fault this boat. It is a perverse world where the Germans and Norwegians produce an open boat that Aussies recognise as something they need and embrace so readily. No longer is this the land of the flybridge. Perhaps we have too much outdoors and in the past people have needed to hide from it.
The Fjord 40 has great on-water presence. This boat was moored side-on, so that as we approached we could see a large plane of metallic-finished fibreglass, which dominated the seascape. It was obviously a boat, but there was nothing else like it in sight.
What I like about the Fjord is that in other ultra-modern boats, the determined pursuit of clean lines has been carried too far to the point where the boat was uncomfortable or, in some extreme craft, unseaworthy. Not in this case. There is no point in suffering for art or status. Enjoy it.
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The Fjord runs happily at any speed and rev range, which leads me to suspect that even the base model would have enough power for lively performance.
We had smooth seas?we always have smooth seas?but Chad from Windcraft, who has done several coastal runs, reckons she's smooth and dry upwind, directionally stable and dry downwind. Toss her around a bit and she is very sure-footed. The structure feels very solid.
IPS installations are quieter and smoother than other set-ups; you feel that something is missing and although you can't quite place what it is, you're better off without it. Cruising home at 27 knots, we talk easily.
Nick puts her away into a nasty, tight berth. As we approach he rotates the little IPS joystick and she spins in her own length. Then we proceed, stern-first. The hull slowly turns through 90 degrees and she is alongside the wharf. Reacquainted with the mooring lines, we are reattached to Mother Earth. Slow, says Nick, is the secret.
read on below advertisement
THE WRAP
You can't really fault this boat. It is a perverse world where the Germans and Norwegians produce an open boat that Aussies recognise as something they need and embrace so readily. No longer is this the land of the flybridge. Perhaps we have too much outdoors and in the past people have needed to hide from it.
The Fjord 40 has great on-water presence. This boat was moored side-on, so that as we approached we could see a large plane of metallic-finished fibreglass, which dominated the seascape. It was obviously a boat, but there was nothing else like it in sight.
What I like about the Fjord is that in other ultra-modern boats, the determined pursuit of clean lines has been carried too far to the point where the boat was uncomfortable or, in some extreme craft, unseaworthy. Not in this case. There is no point in suffering for art or status. Enjoy it.
« go back