The Dusseldorf boat show opens next Saturday and runs till the following Sunday week.

J/Boats will have the newly launched J/45 showing, and Grand Soleil will have the newly launched Grand Soleil 40. Both boats will be very popular at the show, and Irish visitors wishing to view these are advised to book their slots beforehand to ensure they get to see them.

J/Boats also have the very popular J112e and J/99 models on their stand.

Mark Mansfield is the Irish agent for Key Yachting, which has the UK and Irish agencies for both brands. Appointments can be booked through him at [email protected]

Grand SOLEIL 40

In addition to these two brands, Key Yachting are also the agent for the Tofinou brand of high-class daysailers. They will have their Tofinou 9.7 at the show.

The Dusseldorf boat show is the largest in the world and has not been held, due to Covid, since 2020. There are easy direct connections from Dublin to Dusseldorf with Aer Lingus and Eurowings, and also through Amsterdam, with a train to Dusseldorf. With delivery now a year or so, many premium new boat models like J/Boats and Grand Soleil need to be ordered shortly for 2024 delivery, so the Dusseldorf show is well positioned for potential owners to view models available.

The Grand Soleil 40 replicates the great success of the GS44, which was the winner of the last ORC World Championship. The success of the 44 is proven by the performance of Robert Rendell’s GS44 Samatom, which races in Ireland.

The 40 maintains the style, elegance and safety seen throughout the range. It is a fast and responsive boat that reflects its sporting personality in its performance on the water. Available in both performance and race versions, the GS40 has a 3 cabin, 1 head layout, with an optional 3 cabin, 2 heads configuration.

The interior of the Grand Soleil 40

After its exclusive world premiere at Cannes Yachting Festival last month, the GS40 has been nominated for Performance Cruiser for the 2023 European Yacht of the Year awards.

Test sails are currently taking place on the nominated models in a number of locations, and the results for the award will be announced at Dusseldorf Boat Show in January 2023.

A stern view of the Grand Soleil 40

The model is also nominated for Performance Yacht of the Year at the British Yachting Awards.

Voting for the awards closes 6th of November and will be announced at the award ceremony on 28th of November at the Royal Thames Yacht Club. Vote for the GS40 here

Further details on the new Grand Soleil 40 can be had here

For more information on the GS40, contact Key Yachting’s Irish agent, Mark Mansfield, at [email protected] or call 353 87 250 6838

Key Yachting is already looking forward to September and the exclusive world premiere of the new Grand Soleil 40 at this year’s Cannes Yachting Festival.

A fast and responsive boat that reflects its sporting personality in its performance on the water, the new Grand Soleil 40 has all the credentials to replicate the great success of the GS 44 — winner of the last ORC World Championship — while maintaining the feeling of style, elegance and safety seen throughout the range.

Available in both Performance and Race versions, the design once again bears the signature of Matteo Polli.

Key Yachting’s Irish agent Mark Mansfield notes that this new design is following in footsteps of previous successful Grand Soleil 40s such as Nieulargo, winner of ICRA Boat of the Year for 2021 and the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race.

The lines of the hull and the naval architecture of the GS 40 maintain the strong vocation for performance, without sacrificing volume to the advantage of space and comfort on board. A boat easy to use, luxurious and at the same time competitive and a thrill to sail.

In collaboration with the Nauta Design studio, the layout maximises the volume with fine finishes and timeless design. Below deck, the spaces have been optimised to ensure maximum comfort onboard for the owner and their guests.

As well as the Race and Performance design options, the GS 40 has a three-cabin, one-heads layout and an optional three-cabin, two-heads configuration.

“The design brief for the new Grand Soleil 40 was very similar to that of the GS 44, but with the request to further raise the bar, given the smaller size,” naval architect Matteo Polli says.

“The overall length of 40 feet, one of the most common on the market, presents a great challenge in finding a compromise between internal volumes and sporting characteristics.

“Thanks to the experience gained on the 44 and a well-established team of designers, it was possible to find the perfect combination of performance and comfort.”

Find out more about the new Grand Soleil 40 from Key Yachting HERE. And contact Mark Mansfield at [email protected] or at 00353 872506838.

There are some boats which make the world seem a better place simply by sailing by, writes W M Nixon, and this dark blue Grand Soleil of 2003 vintage listed on Afloat Boats for Sale has been warming the hearts of discerning sailors around Dublin Bay since she first made her appearance in 2006. For though she’d been built three ears earlier, other commitments obliged the owner to delay her commissioning.

What’s not to like? This is a modern classic with all the best trimmings of teak deck and so forth. But beyond that, there’s a completeness to her concept, and an elegance, which will have honest pride of ownership top of the list of your proprietorial benefits.

As to performance, while most photos show her revelling in fast cruising mode, she’s no slouch on the race-course either – don’t forget that it was her slightly larger sister, the Grand Soleil 43 Quokka 8, which was the Steady Eddy of the winning Irish Commodore’s Cup Team in 2014, always there with a good and reliable set of results just when they were really needed.

At 40ft LOA, this Patrick Roseo design is very manageable for cruising and day sails with a small crew of friends. But if you step up the numbers in the sailing performance stakes, this will be one rewarding boat to campaign. As for being on board and below and generally enjoying the sailing life, the Italian builders can be guaranteed to provide that extra something in the finish and style departments which make this a yacht to cherish.

And when you compare the price of €138,500 with the list price of much smaller new boats on the market today, you’ll realise that this definitely is worth a look. She’s in Dun Laoghaire on sale online from Afloat Boats for Sale here

Even on a sunless day in Dun Laoghaire, the classic good looks of the Grand Soleil 40 shine through

Dark clouds scudded across the sky over Valletta, bringing with it wind pressure for the ten boats that took to the start line for a coastal race in advance of Saturday's start of the premier event, the Rolex Middle Sea Race. The fleet – just a part of the 84 yachts entered in the offshore race – used the approximately 24 mile course as a warm-up, a chance for the foreign boats to shake off the jet lag and get crews sailing together, for some the first time in these waters.

One Irish boat is entered in the race Legally Brunette from Dun Laoghaire but one of Ireland's top short handed sailors is on board a Maltese entry.

"Aziza", a Grand Soleil 40 owned by Sandro Musu, will be racing with a half Irish, half Maltese crew.

It is Hurley's fifth Middle Sea Race in a row, and this year "I'm proud to be able to introduce three other Irish offshore sailors to one of the best middle-distance offshore races in the world" he told Afloat.ie. Hurley, Andrew Boyle, Fireball champion Brian Flahive, and Liam Coyne will sail Aziza under the burgee of the Royal Malta Yacht Club. The rest of the crew is local.

The coastal course also gave a chance to sort out the local conditions, which were fresh today, as well as this archipelago's fascinating geography. The fleet started in Marsamxett Harbour, in the shadow of the towering spire of St Paul's Cathedral and the landmark dome of the Carmelite Church. There was no shadow from the breeze however, which shortly before the start piped up to 15 to 18 knots. The northwesterly wind angle put the fleet on a broad reach and shortly after the start, many boats put up spinnakers or big genoas; the TP52 Lucky hoisted an asymmetrical spinnaker and shot to weather of the fleet and led out of the harbour. At the opposite end of the line was the 38-footer, Seawolf of Southampton (GIB) flying a symmetrical kite, that enabled them to sail more of a rhumbline course down the coast. Offshore the 3 - 4 metre sea was slightly bigger than the accompanying 18 to 20 knots of breeze; once on the opposite gybe the bigger boats made use of the following seas to surf at speeds of 18+ knots in the gusts.

The course took the boats a mile out to a fairway buoy, and then on the opposite gybe, around and down the eastern end of Malta to round the outer island of Filfla, leaving it to starboard, and a long beat back to the finish in Marsamxett Harbour.

Today's fleet was a good cross section of the breadth of the full list of competitors with boats from Russia, Italy, Switzerland, Gibraltar, United States, and United Kingdom. The lone Maltese boat was Elusive Medbank (MLT), Arthur Podesta's  Beneteau 45. This will be Podesta's 31st Rolex Middle Sea Race, and the lifetime sailor has the distinction of having done every race since the inaugural start in 1968. His track record is good with wins in 1970 and 1983, and a 2nd and 3rd place as skipper. Arthur's core crew is made up of his daughter Maya (who's done 9 races), and his two sons Aaron (9 races) and Christoph (8 races).

Following today's coastal race, Podesta reflected on the day, "It was a fantastic pre- Rolex Middle Sea warm-up. We're going to start off next Saturday in less wind; it might build up but it's good that we had today's wind that topped 27 knots. We managed spinnakers, we managed to top 15 knots of boat speed, and we also managed not to break anything, so that's a good hooray."

The conditions down the coast got lumpier and several competitors – Lucky and Bonita – retired rather than risk breakdowns that would keep them from the main event. Bryon Ehrhart, Lucky's owner/skipper said "We came here to do the offshore race, everything was fine, though with 24+knots we probably should have tucked a reef in. But we got the boat going, we checked out all the safety equipment, and we're ready to go on Saturday."

The first boat to finish was the Valentine Zubkov' Shipman 63, Coral (RUS), at 14:29:12 (an elapsed time of 4 hrs, 29 mins); but, it was David Latham's Seawolf that won the coastal race on corrected time, followed in 2nd place by Elusive Medbank, Peter Hopps' Nisida (GBR) in 3rd, and Coral in 4th (the balance of results were pending at press time).

Valentin Zubkov, owner/skipper of line honours winner, Coral, said, "It was really a good wind. They (RMYC Race Committee) gave us a long course around Malta, the wind was 25-30 knots; it was fantastic. To be honest, we didn't hoist all of our sails, keeping safe, but we hoisted a large 330 sq m gennaker and our maximum speed was 22 knots."

This will be Zubkov's third Rolex Middle Sea Race on Coral; in 2008 they were 11th on elapsed time, but corrected out to 56th place as the boats' handicap reflects the carbon boom and rigging.  In the strong winds of the 2009 race, they ripped the main and jib and broke the furling system and had to retire. This year, with some improvements to deck hardware and new sails, Zubkov said, "Now we have three professionals from Synergy, the Russian team...we grew up together. It's a little better, now we have 50/50 pros and amateurs (six + six).

"This is one of the top regattas for me, I can't go to Rolex Sydney Hobart, and no chance to go to Rolex Fastnet, so this is the most high-rated regatta and it's the end of the season. We try very hard to be here, and we put a lot of effort into it. I like this race, it's very interesting: there's no wind, and then there's strong wind."

Quite a few boats and competitors are still enroute to Malta, while many of those already here spent the day dockside running through a punch list of tasks to complete over the next three days.  The 606-nautical mile offshore race begins on Saturday from Grand Harbour, with a start at 11.00am.

Tomorrow, Thursday, is a Crew Party at the Royal Malta Yacht Club, and on Friday there will be a skipper's race and weather briefing. The Rolex Middle Sea Race commences on Saturday, 23 October 2010. The final prize giving is on Saturday, 30 October. George David's Rambler (USA) established the current Course Record of 47 hours, 55 minutes, and 3 seconds in 2007.