This is one of the boats I am waiting with more expectations and I confess that I was a little worried not to have any news about its development, but yes they are making the boat that will be launched till this summer.
There are some good reasons for my expectations: The Archambault are just great performance cruisers, the A31 continues to win races and the "new" 35 is beating everything on the water, including the new SF 3600 and JPK 1080, not only in compensated but in real time, but the truth is that even if we can cruise on those boats their interior storage space and tanking is limited and either the cruising is really spartan or long range cruising is not really an option.
Contrary to those the A13 has the space and the buoyancy to have all the load needed for long range cruising, assuming a moderately sportive kind of approach. Anyway other kind of cruising would not make sense in that type of boat and the boat can become the only real competitor on the Pogo 12.50 market. They are studding a swing keel and that's one of the big advantages of Pogo, but not everybody wants a Swing keel that, if not needed, would only make the boat more expensive and with increased maintenance. Anyway the announced 2.60m draft will be too much for many in what regards cruising. I bet they will end up with a version with a keel similar to the one on the Pogo.
They saw this cruising potential on Archambault and contrary to the other boats this one will have several interiors, from the stripped out interior of an offshore racer, passing by the usual interior that they use on their boats, to a really nice and comfortable cruising interior. The drawings that they have released are very convincing and I find the boat beautiful, a Joubert/Nivelt desig, like the other Archambault.
Comparing to the Pogo this boat would have advantages to all that want to do regattas or offshore racing: Contrary to the Pogo this one will be competitive not only in real time but in compensated time and it will be a much better boat for crewed regattas. It will probably also be an easy boat to sail solo, but in this case the Pogo will have an advantage in easiness that will be translated in downwind speed.
Upwind the A13 should be better, with crew or solo. Comparing with other fast boats, for instance the Sydney 43 GTS (now made by Salona) the A13 should not only have a better interior (even if the one from Sydney is quite good) but the completely different type of transom will allow it a much easier sail downwind making it a boat much more suited for cruising or solo/short crew racing. Why do I say this:
Looking at the transom design type the differences are not many between the Pogo 12.50 and the A13. We can see that both have a soft curve that will make for sailing without too much heel and that a big resistance will be offered to high angles of heel but while the Pogo has a hard chine that will increase resistance to heel at that point but will create drag if sailed over, on the A13 even if the overall shape is not very different, that chine does not exist and the boat can be heeled more, pushed upwind in racing conditions (or for fun), taking advantage of the ballast (that almost for sure it will be bigger than on the Pogo), without creating so much drag.
But the real difference is beam: The Pogo 12,50 compared with the A13 is a smaller boat with a LOA of 12.50m versus 13.10m, but with considerable more beam, 4.50m, versus 4.15m. The Pogo is lighter, with 5500/6000kg versus 6400/6700kg but should have more ballast weight (as it is normal on the two different design types) and both boats will have a big draft, the Pogo 3,0m with the swing keel down and 2.20m with the fixed keel, the A13 with 2.60m with the fixed keel.
The A13 is a very interesting mix for the ones that want a very fast cruiser a boat more comfortable and faster upwind than the Pogo, a boat more suitable for regattas, with a good solo sailing potential. Of course in what regards voyage or racing on the trade winds (Transat and circumnavigation) the Pogo will be a better and more suited boat but for the ones that sail on the Med and coastal areas with variable and weaker winds, the A13 would be faster and more adequate.Regarding price I believe it will be very difficult for a boat of this type to approach the Pogo price (they point to 320 000 euros without VAT). The two boats are complementary in the kind of performances they offer. I cannot wait to see a comparative test sail with the two boats on the water ;-)
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