That may be the question. But here's my problem. You see, I was reading a magazine review the other day of the new Catalina 445. Once the reviewer had given the overall design, concept and application his blessing he went on to say that "not everyone will want the in mast furling"

And so I wrote to a few friends to try to flesh out this idea that in-mast furling is perhaps not desirable. I told them that few years ago I entered a boatshow in Oakland, California that had been set up by my local dealer. I had no idea where our boat was within the show but quickly realized that there were only a couple of boats without furling masts making my search for our boat (without) far easier. That image has stuck with me and I continue to swing back and forth on the subject of in-mast furlers and their market acceptance. Should Sabre's be equipped as standard with in mast furlers?

On the (very) positive side the sail isso easy to deploy and refurl and without the sail cover there is no yelling associated (with this maneuver anyway). Nobody has to go out on deck. The purists, including me I will admit, don't like the sail shape, don't like the weight of the sail aloft when I am at anchor or under power and I am always afraid of a jam when the sail is half way in (or out).

But is my own view of the world the wrong one?

Billy Black shoots most of our still images and these days he also brings along a video camera mounted on a gyro so as to stabilize the movement of the camera. Cool stuff.

On a recent foray into Casco Bay, Billy brought along his video equipment so you can get a glimpse of the 40 running at speed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deomcXnK7j0&feature=email

Now keep in mind that the camera has flattened out the water in this video. It was blowing about 15 to 20 knots and there was a substantial chop inside the bay. Out in the open ocean the swells and waves were building and as you can see the boat performs impeccably in every situation.

The "fun" I refer to above is doing tight turns with Zeus. The first time I experienced this on a Zeus boat the captain said, "hold on.". Then he said, "no, I mean really, hold on." As soon as he threw the wheel hard over I knew why he had restated his order. To see and feel and 31,000lb boat going 31 knots do a turn in a full circle in just three boat lengths is a thrill. The "G" forces make you think you are in a jet fighter. Now, I don;t think too many owners are going to be doing this stuff but it is certainly nice to know you can dodge anything in your path with such agility. (and it it a heck of a lot of fun too I have to admit)

Not sure how this happened but one of our readers posted a comment and it came back through an entirely different email track. So, I am going to answer Peter C. here instead of on his comment.

The pocket doors are great for opening up the space but if you want a swing doors we have no problem with that. When you're on the boat close the sliders and get a feel for the passageway. If you still feel strongly we can quote you on that change. We felt we had the better mouse trap but we are always open to individuals ideas. That's what makes a Sabre unique and we want people to make as few compromises as possible during the process of building one of our boats.

Bob asked for some images of the dinette version and everywhere I looked this morning there were people working, no cushions in place and, well, you know,……I could not get anything meaningful for him. So I decided for now to upload the rendering of that space along with the view of the cabin as taken in hull #1. I hope that helps.

To date about half of the boats are being built with the dinette.

Bob also asked about the location of the optional washer/dryer in the engine room and the answer to that one is forward of the port engine. Standard location of the gen set is now forward of the starboard engine leaving a space that is almost seven feet long forward of the port engine for the washer/dryer.

I am not sure how many of our readers are from the northern tier but here in Maine the rain has been relentless this month and perhaps you can sympathize. Before long it will be July and the sun has been MIA for weeks.

So last Tuesday when the sun came out it was indeed our good fortunewhen Peter Janssen of Motorboating Magazine came to Portland to sea trial the new Sabre 40 for what we hope will be a September issue. The sun was brilliant and if you are a Mainiac, this was one of the days you live for.

Sea trials can be mundane if all you do is power and fuel tests so I decided to give Peter the 50 cent tour of Casco Bay. Stops included many of my favorite anchorages at Jewel Island, the Goslings, Little Whaleboat and French's. We passed by Pumpkin Knob and Pound of Tea and other islands with equally great names. Our stop over was South Freeport and the Harraseeket River where we found delicious lobster rolls at Harraseeket Lobster and Lunch.

Oh and I almost forgot, we also docked the boat with ease at Brewers, South Freeport using the joystick controller and cruised to and from our stopover at 27 knots while experiencing sound levels at 76 Db (ridiculously low for a 40 foot diesel power boat). We discovered that even with the large Webasto sunroof open noise levels did not increase so we were able to take some sun and cool breeze while underway. Lobster pots were no issue. The boats sports car like handling allowed us to steer around the pots with ease. And this year the lobstermen are replacing all of their gear with sinking line so even if you do run one down there is very low risk of snagging one on your prop. With the counter rotating props on the Zeus pods the line would just be chopped if you did snag one anyway.

So here we are three days later. It is raining again and I have asked the design office to start work on a production version of the ark. It may be the next big thing in recreational boating. Hopefully it will perform as well as the Sabre 40

This week several dealers came to sea trial the Sabre 40. Now, these are all very opinionated, professional boat people who have handled hundreds if not thousands of vessels. Each and every one of themwere very impressed with the fit and finish, the operation and performance and of course, with the quietness of the boat. As word of the boats first launch has spread many new inquiries and earlier prospects have stepped forward to express new interest.

As we work on the color brochure and video here are some additional images of the interior and of the boat underway, for you to enjoy.

If you are interested in sea trialing the 40 please contact our office or post your interest here in the Comments section of the blog

Here are some new images from Billy Black of the interior of the Sabre 40. If anyone doubted that this boat was going to be another Sabre sensation these are proof positive of the high quality design and craftmanship our shop is capable of. Enjoy!

(If there are any specific images that anyone would like to see please let me know.)

 Forward Master

 GUest cabin looking aft

 Looking into the galley from the salon

Hard turns at 28 knots are really a lot of fun with Zeus drives!

These first images of the Sabre 40 Sedan were taken yesterday in Portland, Maine. Obviously a great day for photography but nonetheless a little windy. Billy Black Marine Photographer extraordinaire, shot the professional versions of both the exterior and interior and those will be posted to our site within a week. I hope this keeps you photo hungry Sabre 40 admirers happy for a few more days.

Sorry for the lack of new pictures. In Maine, May is madness in our boat yards and delays are something that we learn to expect if not anticipate. The 40 has been in the process for a couple of weeks now but earlier this week the boat was run for th first time. After some propeller changes so that the engines achieved their required RPM and load, the Sabre 40 sedan made her maiden voyages.

Performance numbers do not surprise me because technology is now so good that numbers are very predictable. 18 months ago our engineers said the boat would weigh in at 31,150 pounds and we were within 100 lbs of that estimate. Cody Faye from CMD predicted speeds based on those weights and yes, we hit those speed numbers right on the money.

But while the propulsion science is predictable, the levels of noise (sound) that we were working towards could only be measured when the boat was running. And the results of the sound measurements had to be checked a few times because even the engineering staff was surprised by a 75 Db sound level while running at her 26 knot cruise. At wide open throttle running in excess of 30 knots, sound levels only rose to 77 Db’s. I have checked as many boat reports as I can find and there are few boats in the size range that come close. Like riding in a luxury sedan on a very smooth road.

Fuel economy was right where it was predicted and as it should be with a Zeus pod boat, Fuel consumption at 27 knots was 32 gph and at >30 knots 40 gph.

All in all a great success and a great job by the design and engineering teams at Sabre Yachts. Images on the other hand are only going to be done in ten days. Sorry to keep you waiting but believe me when I say “it’s worth it”