Hanse 540E

Individuality is lacking in many of today's toys: jump into most modern sports sedans and you need to check the badge on the steering wheel to find out what brand you're driving. It's getting that way with many boats, too. Market research steers most vehicle and boat makers down similar paths and it's often difficult to differentiate between products. Not so with a Hanse yacht.

Hanse's design company, Judel/Vrolijk, which incidentally penned the America's Cup holder Alinghi, has a clear understanding with Hanse Yachts owner Michael Schmidt. Hanse yachts must perform well but be easy to handle. The key component in this formula is a high aspect-ratio 9/10 rig, with a self-tacking, furling headsail.

When you take the helm of one of these boats and look along sidedecks devoid of jib sheets, blocks, cars and adjusting lines it's immediately obvious you're on a Hanse. Instead of the usual ropefest is a simple, curved sail track across the foredeck and car, to which the jib is sheeted.

In the case of the 540e the jib clew has a crow's foot arrangement to spread sheet loads through the sail and position the foot of the sail as close as possible to the car. The jib sheet is spliced to the car, runs through a clew block, back to the car block and up to a sheave in the mast, just below the first spreader. The sheet runs over the mast sheave, down inside the stick to a deck turning block and aft to a powered sheet/halyard winch.

This may seem a rather convoluted way of sheeting a self-tacker, but the geometry works. By taking the sheet up the mast the angle into the sheave is narrow, regardless of the car position on the track, so sheet friction and sheave loading are limited.

KEEPING IT CLEAN
The mainsheet system also contributes to the Hanse 'clean deck' philosophy. Triangulated mid-boom sheeting runs forward along the boom to turning blocks and then aft to the winch (optionally powered). Port and starboard halyard and sheet tails drop into purpose-designed, square-mouthed bags in front of each wheel pedestal, so there's none of the usual rope clutter in the cockpit.

Speaking of the cockpit, the 540e's working and relaxing space is in the large powerboat or catamaran class. You could comfortably seat 12 in the 540e's cockpit and on aft seats for day sailing, without anyone having to move or duck during tacks and gybes. The pushpit perches seat four and they're cantilevered over the stern, increasing effective deck space.

The transom can be an optional garage door, with a teak-faced swim platform on the inside. The garage has ample space for a tender and other water toys.
The 54AST primary winches (starboard one powered as standard) are positioned just ahead of the wheels, so steering and sail control can be done at the same time -- even more easily if an autopilot and optional second powered winch are installed. The 46AST secondaries are located well aft, for optimum gennaker control.

The uncluttered deck extends right to the bow, where a flush-hatch opens to reveal the chain locker; but not any ordinary chain locker. The Hanse 540e has its anchor mounted on a swinging davit that raises and lowers through 180° with gas strut assistance. When not required, the anchor and davit fold out of sight under the deck.

There's also no need to have the gennaker bag cluttering the deck, because it can be hoisted from and stowed into a huge sail locker that's just aft of the chain locker. The test boat's gennaker was fitted with a sock that made the job even easier. The sail locker has a ladder and doubles as the access point for the bowthruster.

In a final clean-deck touch, the mooring cleats are invisible, recessed into the gunwales on spring-loaded mounts until they're needed. Another invisible departure from most production building practices is Hanse's epoxy resin option that's available on boats from the 370 to the 630 and denoted by the suffix ‘e' in the model number -- our test boat was a 540e.

Epoxy resin is up to four times more expensive than polyester resin and around twice the price of vinylester, but offers lighter weight, greater mechanical strength and improved resistance to impact damage and water ingress.

"It's a fantastic feeling for us to win and for the seven crew on board — two of whom had never sailed with us before," Rowe said. "We just ploughed through it and had a good time racing up the coast."

On the test boat there was a pair of lounge chairs to starboard, complete with recliners and a dinette to port. The galley would do most houses proud, with black quartz tops, a 130lt fridge and 80lt freezer, a three-burner gimballed stove with oven, a microwave, optional wine cooler and stacks of cupboard space. Accommodation in the test boat consisted of a pair of double cabins aft, each with its own head and shower, and a full-beam stateroom with island bed for'ard. All the cabins had ample hanging and stowage space.

The teak-finished cabin floor was interesting in being set out like large parquetry panels. Each one is removable for access to tanks, wiring and plumbing, but there are no unsightly finger holes in the panels: they lift by using a small suction cup that's provided for the purpose. Clever.

The test boat was fitted out in optional cherrywood trim and I didn't think the colour matching was ideal. Other jarring notes in the otherwise beautiful interior were conflicting curves in the wide beading on the saloon bulkheads and deliberately wide gaps in the doorframe mitres.

The companionway lifted to provide front access to the engine, with additional side access panels in the aft cabins. The engine sat deep in the boat, allowing space for a genset on top. Engine and genset noise was well muffled above and below deck.

SAIL TIME
The proud new owner, Rob Salteri, his son Ian and some of the regular crew picked us up at RMYC in Pittwater for our day-long test. It was Pittwater Hanse Regatta day, so the fuel wharf was crowded but the big 540e slid sideways neatly under bowthruster power and we clambered aboard through the rail gate. Salteri and his family took delivery of their new Hanse 540e One O Nine in late March, following an inspection of the 540 at last year's Sydney International Boat Show.

Starting his sailing at Northbridge Sailing Club in Flying Ants, Salteri later moved up to Cherubs, 18-foot skiffs and 12m America's Cup Yachts. Rob reckons the arrival of the 540e is a dream come true, because the boat will suit all his family members. One of his sons and daughter are keen racers, while his wife and other son are more interested in the cruising lifestyle.

Salteri plans to moor the new yacht at Bayview and to cruise and compete locally. He's also looking forward to sailing the 540e to the Whitsundays and competing in Hamilton Island Race Week. The big Hanse 540e is quite high-wooded, so a helping hand was welcome boarding for the test. The Yanmar pushed the 540e along at a brisk seven knots and it was obvious the engine had enough grunt to do better if required.

Once clear of the moorings the optional North carbon main went up quickly, courtesy of the powered halyard winch. Once the luff was tensioned, the main halyard came off the winch and the jib sheet went on to pull out the matching headsail. The sheet was tightened for upwind trim and that was it for the jib. The main trimmed easily on the optional powered port winch.

Reefing the big main has been made as easy as possible, with a one-line system that has large blocks at the cringles. I found the helm beautifully light and balanced, with no friction points in its range. In the sub-10-knot breeze it was comfortable to sit to leeward and sight the jib tufts, with only two fingers on the wheel rim.

With our test coinciding with the annual Pittwater Hanse Regatta, we had plenty of Hanse company for our sail. Using the 540e's 26m mast height, it was easy to steer around the back of the fleet and climb out from under them. The big Hanse pointed well and made around half wind speed sheeted in hard. Helm feel and a rudder position indicator made it easy to trim the sails for optimum upwind work.

The second race was held in brisker 10 to 15-knot breezes that showed the potential power of the big boat. With the hydraulic backstay pumped on a tad the 540e cut through chop against tide like the water was dead flat. Fat gunwales made hiking out quite comfortable for the rail sitters. From the windward mark to the finish was a reach and out of its deck hatch emerged the big red gennaker. It went up swiftly on the powered winch and set instantly once the jib was furled. Boat speed hovered around nine knots in this trim and I swapped the sweet helm for the mainsheet. Constant trimming for the fluctuating breeze was a series of electric button pushes to sheet in and manual releases from the drum to ease out. It couldn't have been easier.

After we crossed the line the snuffer slid over the eased gennaker and it went back to its hole in the deck, so flaking and stowing the big main in its zipper bag was the only tidying-up chore needed. Hanse doesn't fit furling mains but there must be pressure on the company to provide an option for some cruising couples. The Hanse 540e presents as a powerful, short-handed passagemaker, a harbour home afloat and a club racer, with ample cruising and entertaining space. It's one of the easiest large boats I've ever sailed, with less rope and gear clutter than any of them.

WHAT WE LIKED
• Epoxy resin hull
• Clean, uncluttered deck and cockpit
• Home-like accommodation
• Easily handled sail plan
• Vast cockpit and aft deck space

NOT SO MUCH
• Cabin handholds too high for shorties
• Quirky wood finish in saloon

HANSE 540E

HOW MUCH?
$980,000

GENERAL
Material:              Epoxy sandwich hull
Type:                   Monohull
Length overall:     16.08m
Hull length:           16.08m
Waterline length:  14.60m
Beam:                  4.91m
Draft:                   2.8m (2.43m & 1.95m opt.)
Weight:                18,700kg

CAPACITIES
Berths:  Three doubles (four layouts optional)
Fuel:     395lt
Water:  710lt

SAILS
Mainsail:    85.1m²
Headsail:    58.0m² (self tacking)
Gennaker:  195.0m²

ENGINE
Make/model:    Yanmar 4JH4-HTE (Volvo MD-3 diesel optional)
Type:                Shaft drive
Rated HP/kW:  110/80.9kW
Prop:                Fixed three-blade (folding optional)

SUPPLIED BY
Windcraft,
Bayview Anchorage Marina,
1714 Pittwater Road,
Bayview, NSW, 2104
Phone: (02) 9979 1709
Fax: (02) 9979 2027
Email: boats@windcraft.com.au
Website: http://www.windcraft.com.au/