Hallberg-Rassy 34

The first thing worth knowing about the Swedish Hallberg-Rassy yachts is that if you want to buy a new one, you'll need to be prepared for a long wait.

The company takes pride in its track record of delivering on time every one of its 8000 boats built to date, but such is the demand for its range of cruising yachts that a 14-18 month lead time is normal. And this is in spite of the fact that the company has the facilities and workforce at its premises north of Gothenberg to produce more than 200 boats per annum, with around 45 under construction at any one time.

If you're thinking that you'd sooner try the second-hand market for one of these boats than spend all that time waiting for a new one, be prepared for difficulties there, too. The English magazine Yachting Monthly points out that the Hallberg-Rassys "make an excellent small bluewater cruiser, the only problem being that many other people think so too, so prices are high".

According to Peter Hrones of Windcraft Australia, the local representative for the Swedish craft, pre-loved Hallberg-Rassys do come onto the Australian market from time to time but tend to maintain their value and sell quickly. "When people ring up they already know about these boats," Hrones said. "People come to them after they've owned a few boats and they know what they want."

So what is it about the Hallberg-Rassy yachts that make them so much in demand? Reading the reviews and testimonials, it seems that their reputation as bluewater cruisers is built on quality construction and finish, seaworthiness and comfort offered by medium-to-heavy displacement designs from German Frers, decent sailing performance and an impressive fitout and list of standard inclusions.

The company explains its approach this way: "...we have specialized, from the earliest days, in comfortable sailing boats suitable for longer voyages. We have stayed true to the concept of sturdy craft, well protected cockpits, high endurance and good sailing qualities with a high degree of comfort."

Spending the best part of a day aboard a new Hallberg-Rassy 34, the first one imported into Australia by Windcraft, enabled me to see what all the fuss is about. The next opportunity will be the Sydney International Boat Show, where the boat will be on display on the marina and is sure to attract a lot of interest.

SWEDISH-GERMAN MATCH
According to the company's publicity materials, the Hallberg-Rassy heritage began with wooden boatbuilding in both Sweden and Germany. Harry Hallberg built a successful boatbuilding company near Gothenberg which was a pioneer in the serial production of sailboats using GRP. Christophe Rassy, meanwhile, moved from Bavaria to Sweden to further his career in boatbuilding, and from 1965-1972 was a competitor to Hallberg, ultimately buying the Hallberg yard and incorporating the two businesses under one name (and involving his son Magnus) when his rival retired.

Rassy had introduced a yacht called the Rasmus, a 35ft long-distance cruiser with a centre cockpit protected by a windscreen. This yacht was highly successful in its time and some of those design features have become enduring signatures of the Hallberg-Rassy range.

In 1988 the company formed a collaboration with the well-known Argentinian yacht designer German Frers, and since then has gradually phased out its older designs while Frers has developed a range of new models for the company.

The current range consists of eight yachts from 31-62ft, all from the Frer drawing board. All are centre cockpit yachts, except the smallest two in the range, the HR 31 and the HR 34. Without exception, they have the characteristic windscreens at the front of the cockpit, along with a blue gelcoat stripe around the topsides.

EVOLUTION OF THE HR 34
The third Frers design to be introduced by Hallberg-Rassy, the HR 34 can hardly be called a new model, having been first launched back in 1991. The boat featured in this review is in fact hull number 356 from the moulds.

No surprise then that the boat does not look ultra-modern, but nor does it look dated. With its moderately raked stem and transom, full-bodied hull lines and tucked-in aft section, there is more than a memory of the days when Frers-designed racing yachts featured so prominently under the International Offshore Rule. We're talking the end of the IOR era, though, when the International Measurement System was already influencing raceboat design and some of the extremes like tumblehome, fostered by the IOR, had already become outmoded.

Frers also had ample cruising yacht design experience to draw on - and just about every element of the HR 34's look says cruiser, or even little ship - the raised bulwarks around the gunwales, the brass rubbing strakes moulded into the topsides each side, the protected cockpit, teak decks and the substantial standing rigging.

And while the model dates back to the early '90s, according to the company's records there have been on-going updates ever since to meet the changing requirements of customers. For example, the saloon was lengthened and the cockpit shortened marginally to provide more living space below, a lengthwise galley was converted into a more traditional L-shaped version, saildrive replaced the original shaftdrive engine propeller and in 1996 the CE certification, category A (unlimited ocean voyages), was introduced. Each boat is CE certified by Germanischer Lloyd, which is a valuable stamp of approval for potential buyers.

CONSTRUCTION
Like all the Hallberg-Rassy range, the HR 34 hulls are produced from two-piece female moulds, using isopthalic resin in the gelcoat and outer laminate for resistance to osmosis, and hand-laid laminates incorporating Divinycell closed cell PVC foam for strength and insulation in the hull above the waterline and the deck.

A grid structure is laminated into the bottom of the hull to increase stiffness and support the keel and rig loads. The lead keel is bolted on with 10 stainless keel bolts. Positioned above the keel are the large stainless steel fuel and freshwater tanks.

The rudder is suspended on roller bearings, behind the protection of a skeg. The rudder post is made of solid stainless steel.

ON DECK
Laid teak is used to great effect around the deck, toerail, handrails, cockpit seats, transom boarding platform with folding ladder, and cockpit floor.

The cockpit is protected by high coamings and the windscreen, which has a sprayhood which can be folded forward when the weather is friendly. The windscreen has an opening window in the middle for ventilation when needed and also serves as a grabrail to assist people moving from the cockpit to the sidedecks and vice versa. There are plenty more grabrails around the deck as well as the down below.

The mast is deck-stepped, supported below the coachhouse by a solid mahogany support. The rig is fractional, with anodised aluminium spars by Selden, two sets of in-line spreaders and forward and aft lower shrouds. The sidestays and lowers are 8mm stainless steel wire which looks very solid, and there are large aluminium protective tubes around the rigging screws at the shroud bases.

Halyards and lines are lead back from the mast to the cockpit through eight jammers to two winches under the windshield. These lines include a single line reefing system for the two sets of reef points in the mainsail. There is a solid Selden Rodkick boom vang and a track on the front face of the mast for stowing the spinnaker pole vertically.

The backstay has a Swedish Hasselfors tensioning system which is adjusted using a standard winch handle. There are no running backstays.

The sails supplied with the boat are a mainsail and overlapping headsail from the Danish Elvström loft, made of heavy- duty dacron with leather reinforcements. Oh, and a mainsail cover is supplied as standard issue, too.

The headsail is set up on a Furlex 200S roller-furler and is sheeted through Lewmar genoa tracks with floating blocks and return pulleys to the primary winches on the cockpit coamings, two Lewmar 44 CST self-tailers.

Fredricksen battcars and lazy jacks make mainsail handling that much easier and less loaded. Mainsail sheeting is via blocks at the end of the boom; a nice touch is the Rutgerson mainsheet traveller system, which is fitted low in the cockpit between the seats. This can be unpinned and removed to provide a more open space for entertaining up to eight people in the cockpit.

The engine controls are on the starboard side of the cockpit while the Raymarine autohelm controls are on the port side. The three Raymarine wind/log instrumentation units and a compass are well-positioned above the companionway.

Forward, the chain locker is arranged for self-stowing, while the electric windlass has its motor mounted below deck to avoid corrosion. This space also provides an area with drainage grill, for stowing 'wet' items such as fenders. (The standard equipment supplied with the boat includes four fenders, plus pre-spliced mooring lines, a boathook, light anchor tackle and a flagstaff.)

Peter Hrones has a theory, based on his involvement importing several Scandinavian yacht brands, that the Swedes are obsessed with stainless steel, and there is a lot of it about on the HR 34, including the nav lights, the two gas bottles in a dedicated storage compartment in the aft port quarter, the cockpit drains and deck fillers, and the two anchor rollers at the bow.

Two Dorade ventilators - part of the HR 34's extensive ventilation provisions - are immediately forward of the windscreen on the coachroof, where there is also space for liferaft stowage.

The bulwarks are teak-capped, and in another of those thoughtful touches that can be found all around the HR 34, are additionally protected by bronze rubbing strips adjacent to the bollards forward, aft and centre, where mooring lines could chafe against the gunwales.

An unusual feature is the provision of several drainage tubes from the deck adjacent to the bulwarks to the waterline, presumably to allow water running along the deck to drain away. The only explanation I could find for these in the detailed specifications was "Deck scupper drains to avoid hull marking".

COSY INTERIOR
The interior is beautifully fitted out using mahogany which has been lightened in colour and finished in 'matt silk' varnish. There is no GRP to be seen anywhere down below, with cream headliner and mahogany inlays and handrails covering the coachroof, and a handsomely moulded timber frame around the opening hatch above the saloon.

The cabin floors are teak and holly, protected by carpet which is secured in position by press studs to stop it sliding about. There are inspection openings in the floorboards to provide direct access to the bilge, thru-hull valves, and so on.

The saloon headroom of 1.86m is carried throughout most of the boat. Lighting throughout is very good, with nice touches including a remote switch just inside the companionway for the saloon lights, and the fact that the boat comes with its own little kit of spare lightbulbs.

The saloon houses two comfy settees, which convert to sea berths (the starboard side one measures 2.16m and the port side one with its L-shaped aft end is 1.84m). Rarely seen as standard inclusions are the leecloths on the saloon berths, which are ready for an ocean passage with their attachment points in place.

Hallberg-Rassy says the mattresses in the saloon are made of three layers of foam, while those in the sleeping cabins are made of two layers of foam, from hard at the bottom to softer at the top to improve comfort. The mattress boards underneath are well ventilated with airholes.

The plush cream corduroy material used on the settees is very attractive and is sure to be fully washable, although my mind always leaps towards coffee and red wine disasters when confronted with light-coloured yacht furnishing fabrics.

There is a sturdy saloon table with dropleaf sides and bottle storage within. Louvred cupboards and bookshelfs are outboard of the settees.

Immediately aft is the galley to port and the navigation station to starboard. The L-shaped galley houses an Eno two-burner stove with oven, a double sink (one large, the other small) with pressurised hot/cold water supply and foot pump, garbage bin frame under the sink, a top-opening icebox with Isotherm refrigeration system, lots of cupboards and drawers.

I did wonder if the fridge might be a little on the small side for long-range passagemaking.

A neat feature is the dropleaf table on the centreline side of the galley, which has a simple and effective locking strut underneath and provides that little extra bench space when required.

Opposite is the chart table, which should please traditionalists who believe there must be space to spread out and store paper charts as well as wall space for chartplotters, radios, the electrics switch panel and so on.

The forward cabin houses a big double berth (2.03m long x 2.04m wide), with lockers above and generous stowage below, plus a hanging locker.

Aft of the galley is a second double cabin, with a berth measuring 2.13m long x 1.66m wide) There is a big hanging locker, cupboards above the berth and stowage below.

On the opposite side, aft of the nav station, is the bathroom, housing a shower stall with teak grating, manual pump toilet, china wash basin and vanity unit with storage cupboards above and below, plus a mirror. Two opening portholes provide ventilation.

The auxiliary engine, a three-cylinder Volvo Penta MD 2030 saildrive, can be accessed readily under the companionway and is set up with an engine hours counter. There are three 12V, 62amp/hr batteries: one for engine starting and the other two for general house use. Charging is by 60amp alternator from the engine.

The standard specification includes a Webasto diesel heating unit which has four outlets for warming up the interior. This is a Swedish yacht, after all. Besides which, South Australian waters do get a touch chilly from time to time. And that saloon could be one of the most popular spots on the marina at the Sydney Boat Show if it's anywhere near as cold as last year.

PERFORMANCE
We were fortunate to sail the HR 34 within the first fortnight of its arrival in Australia. The new owner is based in South Australia and previously had a Swanson 38. He plans to keep his new boat on Sydney's Pittwater for some time before sailing to more southern waters.

So it was on the protected waters of Pittwater that we sailed the HR 34, in a winter westerly that progressively died throughout the morning.

We sailed two-up, and the boat was easily manageable and well set up for two.

It was fun to sail with a tiller; wheel steering is available as an optional extra.

The HR 34 was enjoyable to steer, because it responded directly to the helm and displayed a liveliness and willingness to accelerate that belied its 5.3t displacement.

When the breeze died completely we were glad of that iron topsail; the 30hp Volvo Penta ran very quietly and should provide enough muscle to deal with tough situations.

I came away from my first meeting with the HR 34 highly impressed. Not by any sweeping innovation - this is an essentially traditional cruising yacht - but by the intense attention to detail which is evident in every corner of this boat, as well as the quality of the fitout and finish.

I believe this is a well-found yacht which offers a high degree of comfort and sturdiness, along with good all-round sailing capabilities. It's not a speed machine, but that's not what most cruising folk are looking for, anyway. At 10.28m it's on the small side for long-range cruising, by today's standards, but because every millimetre of available space is put to good use, it feels like a bigger boat. Like a little ship, in fact.

The only trouble is that 14-18 month waiting period before delivery... Peter Hrones suggests that a viable way for buyers to get the most from their boat, following the wait, is to take delivery in Europe and sail for an extended period of say three to six months there first, before shipping the boat out to Australia. The only additional expense, besides those entailed by the European cruise, is the cost of de-rigging the boat for shipment.

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