It's been a while since Ilast blogged about the new Sabre 40. Tooling is almost ready now and will start shipping from Florida to Maine next week. Meanwhile, "back at the ranch" the engineering department is preparing everything from woodwork to bilge pumps so that the first boat can go on line in December. Public enthusiasm for the boat is high with seven boats now sold to retail buyers and many more sold to dealers for their inventories.

It goes without saying that the boat market is tough right now but designs like this one that create new enthusiasm and excitement, help keep our yard busy. Our Zeus experience on the Sabre 42 Express has been fantastic and we are really looking ahead to sea-trialing this Zeus design next spring.

Next week I'll post some performance expectations for the new Sabre 40. I think you'll like the promise of better fuel economy and great perfomance in this stylish design.

Does everyone remember that first time they stepped on a boat for an exhilerating ride, perhaps their first sail – or maybe just one of those manifest destiny boating days where the boat, company, conditions and surroundings just gelled?

Friend of Sabre, Sara Noyes has just posted on her blog about her sublime day sailing on hull #1 of the Sabre 426.  You should all read her musings about that day in 2003, her quick rise to magazine and boat brochure fame and how she’s still sailing now!  In fact, she’ll be racing up in Toronto next month with an all women crew.  She writes passionately on her blog about sailing in Canada and racing their boat, ‘Girls Round the Bouys’.

This is what its all about… bringing someone into the world of boats in an auspicious moment and cascading that experience to grow our boating community so we can find more crews out there enjoying life on the water.  Please share your own stories like this in our comments section.  Have a wonderful late summer weekend of boating all!

Read Sara’s post here.

I know many of you have been wondering just how much these new Cummins Zeus Pod Drives have boosted the maneuverability and performance of our 42 Express motoryacht.  We have posted both running and docking footage on our website – but you can just use the links I’ve provided.  The videos are high res – so they take a few minutes to load, but are completely worth it.  I can tell you from being ‘the model’ on the back of the boat while Bentley made those sharp turns – I barely had to hold on.  The ride was unbelieveably smooth.  Earlier in the week I had been driving the boat through those turns, so I now know what it feels like as both captain and crew – equally fun.  Enjoy!

https://www.sabreyachts.com/motor_yachts/sabreline42_express/product_reviews.php

Last week, I attended an exlusive Boat Show event at Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth, RI.  Friday brought a perfect hot summer evening giving our local dealer, Boston Yachts a chance to exhibit their fleet of Sabre and Back Cove Motor yachts, with 5 models shown.  The Back Cove 29 and 33 sitting next to the Sabre 34 and 42 Express models were backed up by our flagship of the 52 Salon Express.   From the dock, we could see many people up on the hill enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the tent.  A perfect summer evening in Rhode Island.  Having the vantage point of looking over this fleet of stand-outs, the crowd soon began trickling down the dock to get onboard.  This not being a traditional boat show, we had many yachting newcombers who were amazed at the interiors of these boats that they had been looking at from above.  Carnegie Abbey had arranged for a blessing of the fleet, and we all were happy to see a memebr of the chuch adorned in robes come down to give his blessing on these vessels  and for whomever is fortunate enough to step aboard.

This morning I opened my inbox to an update and photo from one of our exuberant Sabre Spirit owners who has been enjoying bringing out VIM on breezy days in Marblehead, MA.  He writes that he and his daughter were sailing the boat by their house and his wife was able to take this shot.  The were powered up and probably at the borderline of reefing, but the boat is fun to bring out with friends and they continue to enjoy passing people in the bay.

IPhones, Hybrid cars, I MAC’s and lots of other very cool things. Our parents all complain when we throw away a TV that’s still working or upgrade our computer that "works just fine". In fact in my family we have to sneak things out of my mother’s house so she doesn’t hang on to them. It’s a new day and consumers are loving technology. And why wouldn’t they if it gives them benefits.

We are working on a new design and felt it would be fun to share it with our readers. A soft launch if you will. We have a lot of great boating readers and would really love to get some feedback on the new Sabre 40 Sedan. The boat is going to be launched in the spring of 2009. She will be built both as a sedan and as a fly bridge boat. She will employ Cummins Zeus pod drives and she will be our first infused fiberglass boat. She will be lighter, faster and quieter yet use less fuel that previous designs because she has smaller engines, pods and is infused. Infusion allows us to use less resin (about 20%) and yet make the parts as strong by having better resin to glass ratios in the laminate.

Here are some images. Let us know what you think. 

On a hot steamy July day in inland Maine, seeing cooling images of these 2 Sabres crusising up in British Columbia can cool me right down. Here are 2 Sabre Sedans fuklly kitted out for distance cruising.  They were both doing just that when they discovered each other in the Prince Royal Channel on the British Columbia Coast, north of Cape Caution.  The McKeon’s in COAST STARLIGHT were on their way down from Prince Rupert, the last stop in BC before Alaska while BOJANGLES was in the headed north to Glacier Bay, Alaska.  What stunning cruising grounds and a neat story to find a sister ship in such remote waters. 

Have any of you run into another fellow Sabre in your own travels and shared a moment like this?  Let us know, send a picture!

blogged by, ~Sarah

All three of us fortunate enough to be aboard the 42 Express Zeus boat on this mornings’ sunrise photo shoot in Casco Bay agreed that if only every work day could begin with a sparkling 3-hr cruise zipping through stunning coastal Maine scenery… the world might just be a better place.  The shoot was done by our very good friend and photographer Billy Black and his assistant Gretchen and onboard with Bentley and I was Power Cruising magazine’s editor, Chris Cornell. 

Last summer, the majority of my Maine on-the-water-time was spent either racing or on evening sails on our company Sabre Spirit.  Not that those evenings didn’t give me a lifetime of images I carry with me, but this mornings’ ride on the 42 Express comfortably running out the fog at 27 kts cruise speed and seeing the sun come up against our rocky cliffs rivaled any sunset I’ve had under sail in these same waters.  I think we even impressed a few of the lobster boat fleet that were out working their traps.  I know we gave some of our local island residents a nice view to gaze on over morning coffee as we gunk-holed into a few secret spots for some still shots.  We picked back up to head home and I was trying very hard to be a stoic model adding some personality to the shots for the photographer, but its hard not sport a huge grin when you can sit there easily as your boss pulls a 4-boat-length hard over turn at full speed and your only concern is that the sun is now facing the opposite way and you’ll have to move into better light for the pictures.  pinch me, really.

Look for this article and photo spread in the upcoming Power Cruising as well as other press coming out in Yachting and Soundings on the newest Zeus driven Sabre 42 Express.

~blogged by, the providential Sarah (with pictures to come soon, I hope!)