Salona ranger

Croatian boatbuilder Salona has been producing excellent cruiser/racers for many years now yet remain relatively unknown in the UK. Toby Heppell explains why that needs to change

- Toby Heppell

The words performance cruiser can, to a degree, mean anything to anyone and are often deployed by manufacturers to add a little pizzazz to an otherwise fairly ordinary cruiser – and widen the target market. Is it a cruiser, is it a performance cruiser? Why not both the marketing department cries!

The phrase, then, tends to be something of a red flag when you read it in marketing bumph. But as much as the term might lack sufficient definition to easily categorise boats as either cruiser or performance cruiser, there is an element of ‘you’ll know it when you see it’. Stepping onboard the Salona 380, it is easy to see performance is very much baked in. The Croatian marque, though popular in the rest of Europe broadly and the Med in particular, has never achieved quite the reputation here they have elsewhere. In fact the UK seems to have erroneously dismissed the brand as a bit cheap and cheerful - at least that seems to be the reaction I usually come up against when discussing them on home-shores. Some might argue it stems from the quality of the interior finish, which has not always been their best selling point.

Deck and build

Whatever the reason the UK has not given the brand enough attention, the Maurizio Cossutti designed 380 really does grab the attention from dockside with sleek lines, retractible carbon bowsprit and a flying bow delivering a performance-oriented look.