L30: RACING AND CRUISING ON THE FAST LANE

I had already heard about the L30, that was advertised mostly as a relatively inexpensive fast and trailerable one class racer, designed over a concept from Luka Rodion (Ukraine dinghy champion), so when I visited the boat in Dusseldorf I was expecting a race boat and was pleasantly surprised with a very interesting cruising interior.

The boat site puts almost all emphasis on racing and it is a pity since it kind of gives a misleading impression of the boat that can perfectly be used as dual boat, a cruiser racer that will certainly  perform well on IRC and ORC racing and as a  one design racer.

The stability is not as big as it could have been due to the need of having an easily transportable boat. The beam is therefore limited to 2.54m for road transport on a trailer and in what that regards they propose a very good trailer as well as an easy lowering mast system, a lifting keel (0.58/1.80m) and retractable rudders.

Even with a beam limitation the stability is good due to  the considerable 39% B/D using a 1.80m keel with a lead torpedo. The stability is enough to certify the boat as class A and that, in a boat with that weight and size, says a lot about it.

The boat design (by Adrej Justin) is quite pleasant to the eye and only when looked from behind it shows a bit more volume, that is very well disguised in all other views, but it is on the interior layout that I find this boat really clever.

The lifting keel box is used as an internal division separating the head from the galley and it works surprisingly well. The head is a good sized one and the galley has what is needed for coastal cruising and, even if narrow, it works very well, providing back support to the cook.

The dinette and social area include the forward cabin, that is semi-open, larger than usual on this size of boats and has space for lateral seats and for a removable table that in order to allow space for legs, is fixed laterally, on the keel box.

There is a reasonable aft cabin (with ventilation) and a good open storage space accessed by the head. On the outside besides a small anchor and chain locker there are two big storage spaces on the floor one of them would be occupied by lithium batteries and an electric engine with a 16nm autonomy.

This solution is less adequate for cruising than an outboard, it is heavier, has less autonomy  and it is much more expensive. I don’t like it on this type of boat. It makes sense on a luxury daysailer but not on a boat that can be used for cruising and that wants to offer high quality sailing performance at low cost.

I also don’t like the two wheels (carbon) that are not necessary on this size of boat and can be substituted with advantage with a tiller at a much smaller cost, as well as the two rudders that are unnecessary with this beam, also increasing costs. Neither do I like the absence of settees on the cockpit.

It does not make sense to have a good cruising interior, a cockpit with a shower and all, if you don’t have at least two small seats on the forward part of the cockpit. Seating on the side of the boat is good for racing but does not offer any shelter from wind or water projections.

Those small settees would also increase the interior volume on the cabin as well as the interior height. But I do love the big retractile carbon bowsprit, the carbon mast  as well as the good sailing hardware.

It is built by Oceantec, a Slovenian firm with a good experience building IRC and ORC racers. It looks very well built using exclusively vinylester resins and vacuum infusion on a cored hull (PVC). That allows for a very light (1820kg) and no doubt a very fast boat with a LWL almost the length of the hull (9.20 to 9.25m), a good stability and a huge sail area for such a small displacement: 52.5 sqm upwind and 112.8 sqm downind.

The LC30 will be a great boat for racing and one that has a good potential for coastal cruising, especially if seats are added to the cockpit (that will be easy) with the big advantage of being trailerable and having a mast that can be easily lowered.

For a high performance and high quality built boat the price is not high, 70 000 euro at the factory without taxes….and it is really a beautiful boat and one that will give a lot of pleasure to sail.

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