Hallberg-Rassy 44

Do twin-rudders and a bowsprit have a place onboard the world-girdling iconic brand Hallberg-Rassy, or are the Swedes simply following fashion? Graham Snook travels to Ellös in Sweden to find out.

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Hallberg-Rassy regularly tops the poll of the boats that YM readers aspire to own, with good reason. I’ve seen that tell-tale blue stripe on yachts from Torquay to Tahiti and from Sydney to Saint Lucia. There aren’t many boats I’ll interrupt my Christmas holiday for, but the new HR44 isn’t any boat, she’s the replacement for the 43 that spanned 16 years in three guises. She’s also the first boat from the Ellös yard with a moulded bowsprit and twin rudders. Who wouldn’t want to sail this Hallberg-Rassy as a late Christmas present to themselves?

Performance

The night before I arrived, winds had exceeded 60 knots, but you’d never have guessed from the millpond-like Ellös Fjord. Initially heading NE up the fjord we had light winds which lacked enthusiasm and got weaker the further north we went. She sailed nicely in the light winds, but it wasn’t enthralling, so we headed south in search of breeze, thankfully we got some and as it increased, so did the feeling on the helm; as if someone was turning the volume up which she speaks to you. As she heeled the leeward rudder gripped the water and she responded well. Although not pushed to the limit we did have almost 20 knots over the deck with full sails and no need or desire to reef.

Leaving the shelter of the archipelago we met 2-3ft waves with a ground swell. Coming off the top of the larger waves, her rounded forward sections softened her landing as much as one can expect. Given that it was December and we were beating into the sea from a storm 12 hours earlier, the three of us on board could have happily kept sailing all night. Had it not been for the drop in temperature after it started to get dark at 4pm, it would have been comfortable too.