Buizen 48 Pilothouse Motorsailer

Forget Dale Carnegie, coffee is the way to make friends and influence people. For years we have known as much, as we've sat around like Bedouins in a desert tent. Sipping, bonding... sipping, chatting... sipping, reconciling... sipping and planning our futures over endless cups of coffee.

But what does coffee have to do with the wonderful Buizen 48? Well, it's not altogether immaterial. In fact, freshly brewed coffee and its evocative aroma greeted me the moment I stepped aboard.

The coffee was waiting to be plunged, poured and sipped around a varnished-teak table set for four. This table was surrounded by a big lounge inside a cosy cabin from which stretched glorious water views through the big wraparound saloon windows.

Indeed, I figured I had found the place to be on this bitter morning in Sydney's Pittwater - inside a pilothouse yacht. In a warm room with water views and, well, piping hot coffee.

What more could I want? Cakes! And, yes, we had plenty of them, too - as good as any cake I've ever had before (though maybe that's the coffee talking).

And so the scene was set for a great few hours aboard the Buizen 48.

HISTORY MAKER
First built in 1990 and launched the following year, the Buizen 48 is one of the world's most charming cruising yachts. Designed and built in Australia, each vessel is the product of five months' labour by Mastercraft Marine. They are also a showcase of the skill of two fine shipwrights - Eddy and Fritz Buizen - who with their Midas touch turn fibreglass and teak into a floating home with glorious handmade furniture.

And rather than coffee, it's the craftsmanship, comfort and performance - and plainly good investment sense - that are the real attractions of a Buizen 48.

The agent for these boats, Club Yacht Sales at Newport's Prince Alfred Yacht Club, has sold 12 Buizen 48s over the past eight years. Mind you, that comes after selling 21 Zeston 40s (a cruising yacht also built by the Buizen brothers). All in all, Club Yacht Sales has been involved in a total of 43 transactions.

So what's the appeal of a Buizen-made boat to those who sell them?

"Straight off it's the quality of the construction and build. And the fact that they aren't a motor-sailer - they're more a performance pilothouse vessel," says Mark Rowell, who runs Club Yacht Sales with his father, Bill.

But there's also something called resale value to consider. This dealer recently took a deposit for a Zeston 40 that sold for 30 percent more than its original purchase price a decade or more ago.

"We consistently do that... Mastercraft Marine's yachts have great resale value," Mark says.

Naturally, that goes for the Buizen 48 as well, though not too many owners are interested in selling them at this stage. They seem more intent on discovering the world...

As for quality, you can see it for yourself or you can seek out an endorsement if you like. The first Buizen 48 to be exported was sailed by Mark Rowell and his father, Bill, to New Zealand recently.

The boat was bought by relatives of the Kiwi yachting family, the Salthouse clan. There was also a representative from the Brookes family (another big boating name in the land of the long white cloud) and both arrived to sign off the boat as it arrived in Auckland.

The delivery trip across the Tasman took less than six days averaging 7.5kt under a mix of sail and power.

Mark says the two boating buffs in New Zealand were impressed by the boat when they arrived. They also told Mark that they couldn't build a Buizen 48 for the price we sell it for here!

THE CRUISING FORMULA
Good cruising boats aren't made just for going places any old how. They're built so you can enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Or, as was the case on the day I tested the Buizen 48, enjoying the comforts aboard so much that you end up going nowhere much at all.

So I guess you shouldn't take it from me about this boat's potential. Just look at what it's already achieved.

For instance, there's a Hobart-based 48 called Eclipse which has been across Bass Strait 14 times. Nearly all the 48s the Buizen boys have crafted have been to the Great Barrier Reef and back, and one sailed to Noumea. This year, four 48s sailed in convoy from Pittwater to Lord Howe Island.

But most impressive is the fact that a 48 was, at the time of writing, on a ship headed for Tel Aviv to take part in the Millennium Cruise - an 18 month trip with 50 other boats around the world. The Buizen 48 will be a proud - and fitting - Australian flag-bearer.

MOBILE HOME
Called Show Me, our stylish testboat is owned by Tom Wykoff, a gentleman who has worked his way through powerboats and yachts and settled on the something which he says delivers the best of both worlds.

Though the ex-pat American began with little working knowledge of sailing, he has since sailed this boat to Lord Howe Island and back.

My time aboard the 48 was less adventurous. I didn't experience the high seas, but instead enjoyed the Buizen 48 as a prestigious mobile home with a moveable feast and plenty of shelter from the weather.

And far from dreading being couped up, this gave me enough time to enjoy the handiwork of the brothers Buizen, for though the 48 looks great on the outside, it's even better on the inside.

Everywhere you look there is teak joinery and teak and holly flooring, each finished in a blend of semi or full gloss finishes. The headliner is a buff, suede-like material and you have the option of leather upholstery (as on Tom's boat), and fitted blinds for the windows.

The 48's pilothouse has full headroom and is surrounded by laminated 13mm safety-glass windows which keep you cosy but connected to the outside world. This glass alone costs around $14,000 installed and helps create the Buizen's innovative open plan layout.

Features of the pilothouse include an L-shaped lounge with seating for four, a lounge and cocktail cabinet on the portside, and a lower, enclosed helm station with a seat from which you can steer or motor-sail - with coffee in hand.

There's also a windscreen wiper just in case it's raining outside - not that you'd care.

GALLEY GOURMET
The galley is designed so the cook isn't shut-off from the crew. There's a sense of airiness about it, and the whole living area, which you won't get onboard flush-deck yachts. What's more, its ventilation is better than many boats (good enough to get away with a fry-up, I reckon).

The galley itself is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, with an abundance of teak cabinets and lockers. Tellingly, every door you open, close, slide or lift up does so with aplomb and snaps tight as though made by the finest hands and eyes in the carpentry business.

Features include a life-sized eutectic fridge, deep freezer, microwave, gimballed oven and stove (with a big stainless splash-board), lots of bench space and a deep, circular sink where you can neatly stack the plates for washing up some other time.

Opposite the galley is the dayhead, a generous bathroom with easy-clean moulded liner, shower, vanity and toilet. These days, Eddy Buizen prefers to fit the Lectra-San toilet rather than the Vacu-flush model because... How do I put this politely... He reckons they pong less.

LIVING ABOARD
The 48's sleeping arrangements are highly desirable. To starboard and amidships is a guest cabin with upper and lower single bunks which boast 125mm thick mattresses.

Though they have more hiproom than many bunks I've seen, they are still the best sea berths on the boat.

As with all cabins, there are teak hanging lockers, reading lights, camel-coloured carpets and opening portholes and hatches.

The master cabin in the bow is fully teak-lined (think warm wood tones) and available with an island or full-width double berth. There is both dressing space around the bed and plenty of privacy from the rest of the boat.

You even get your own en suite, a generously sized affair which should appease those sailors who complain about having to share.

Back aft of the saloon are port and starboard cabins. The former comes fitted with a double bunk. The latter has a single bunk, but also boasts a rather useful nav station.

The ability to customise the interior is available with one of Mastercraft's optional interior layout plans including an office to be built-in amidships or a workshop... Think floating garage.

GREAT OUTDOORS
When the weather fines up, the 48's cockpit is no less accommodating than its commodious interior. Teak laid, it's moulded and fitted up with an array of seats to comfortably take up to 12 sunlovers. Fitted with a dodger, the pick of the seats on a winter's day - or when at sea - is back under the pilothouse overhang alongside the aluminium-framed companionway door. The pick of the forward-facing seats are the pushpit benches at the stern, just an arm's stretch from the drink holders on the pedestal.

From the pedestal, not only can you steer but you can also drop or weigh anchor (a 27.5kg plough anchor comes with rode and chain) and tend all the sheets using the matching electric/hydraulic genoa winches and the two manual mainsheet winches. To reduce clutter, there are three storage lockers built into the teak-laid self-draining cockpit. No excuses...

A wide platform moulded in the transom beckons for warmer days and better bodies than the author's (Ed: ain't that the truth, whitey), while there is a freshwater transom shower that will be popular when you anchor in the Whitsundays during that first adventurous year of yacht ownership.

The sense of spaciousness flows on through to the bow thanks to wide bulwarks backed by high stanchions and safety lines.

Front to back, up or down, you can clamber over the Buizen 48 like a kid in a cubby house. But it's really your floating home away from home - one from which you won't be called away from your dinner.

Like all good cruising boats, the Buizen's mast is a sturdy keel-stepped unit with a double-spreader rig. Unlike many pretend husband-and-wife cruising boats, the rig features a hydraulic mast furling system. Future 48s will be fitted with an in-boom system called Furl Boom.

Either way, both the big overlapping genoa and the mainsail can be unfurled by a simple push of a button and a tug on a few lines back in the cockpit. Setting sail really is a single-handed job which any halfway salty sailor and partner can do.

The suggestion of performance comes with Harken deck gear. There's hydraulic steering, a solid boom vang and preventer, and Autohelm tridata self-steering gauges as standard.

SAIL AWAY, SAIL AWAY
With the coffee and cakes out of the way, we started the motor - a four-cylinder, freshwater-cooled 100hp Volvo - and set about looking for some wind.

It was not to be - the wind was maybe 8kt in a narrow corridor pushing down from the hills around Church Point.

Typically, the rest of the waterway was a hotch-potch of zephyrs, headers, holes and frustration.

In the corridor of wind, the Buizen 48, a moderate displacement yacht drawing just 1.85m, showed signs of how well it can sail.

Though we clocked only 4-5kt, experience says you can expect to maintain about 7kt on most long-distance passages.

The ability of the vessel was in evidence in the 1994 Sydney-to-Hobart race when David Gough's Eclipse, the Buizen 48 Boat No. 3, finished in second place overall on handicap.

The same boat has now put almost 40,000nm under its keel and at the time of writing was on its way to the Great Barrier Reef from its home port of Hobart.

With credentials such as these, it is clear that no matter what the wind or weather conditions, the Buizen 48 rates as an ideal cruising yacht - complete with a pilothouse in which to enjoy coffee and cakes.

The Buizen 48 is a terrific tribute to world-class craftsmanship and something you can honestly stake your house on getting you back home.

Little bro' Buizen

The Buizen brothers' most recent production project is the Buizen 40 - a compact version of the stunning 48.

Designed by naval architect Paul Stanyon, the 40 features the same trademark pilothouse design with aft cockpit and wheelhouse helm stations.

More affordable than the 48, the craft is no less accomplished and offers a similar blend of comfort and practicality - not to mention excellent dynamics under sail or power.

The 40 is unashamedly aimed at cruising couples. Of the 40, Buizen states: "It is the ultimate yacht for those who cherish their independence and freedom to cruise wherever they please, unencumbered by crew availability or lack of wind."

Nonetheless, it boasts a spacious three cabin layout with 'proper' berths for up to three couples and the self-draining cockpit can comfortably accommodate eight to 10 people.

The 40's medium displacement hull has a waterline length of 10.7m and is 12.20m overall. The beam measures 3.97m and it has a 1.94m draft.

Sailing specifications include a 36sqm mainsail and 45sqm genoa. The masthead rig features a roller furling headsail and an in-boom electric furler for the main.

Powered by a four-cylinder 60hp Volvo diesel (sail or shaft drive) the Buizen 40 cruises at 7kt and will cover 500nm under power.

The Buizen 40 is priced from $445,000, around $200,000 less than its big brother. And, if you really want something to crow about, Buizen also has a 60ft design available by special order.