Ronautica RO 400

If someone were to ask if you'd like to fly to Barcelona to crew on a yacht delivery to Palma on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, and you'd never heard of the yacht brand before, would that stop you? No, me neither.

It did cross my mind, though, somewhere on the flight to Spain, that if this Ronautica RO 400 turned out to be a slug I'd have a long day's voyage in which to regret my eagerness to step aboard.

In that case, I thought I'd blame James Mark Anthony of Pathfinder Marine for being so enthusiastic about his new role as the Australian representative for the Ronautica range.

I love travelling to Spain, and I could chose this moment to dwell on the exhilerating pulse of Barcelona and how my luggage didn't arrive.

But let's cut to the chase: the 120nm delivery passage took 19 hours, from 6pm until 1pm the following afternoon. It involved motorsailing at around 7kt under full main and roller-furling genoa into a 10–20kt headwind throughout the night, which gave way to a glassy calm morning, when the headsail was furled, but we kept trundling along under motor, a 40hp Yanmar saildrive. The passage was enough to convince me that the boat is not a slug; quite the opposite, in fact.

As the first boat produced to a new design by a new manufacturing yard in southern Italy, the Ronautica RO 400 I sailed on had a number of annoying details which the builder had already identified during earlier sea trials. With the input of the Australian agent, many changes are being made to overcome these defects on the next hulls built, one of which is scheduled to arrive in Australia in time for the Sydney International Boat Show.

Most of these changes are cosmetic, or involve the addition of equipment. Overall, the boat handled and performed very well as a cruiser/racer with the emphasis on cruiser, and displayed a number of features - most particularly the spacious cockpit and bright and roomy interior - which will appeal to Australian sailing enthusiasts.

Given the cluster of new boats in this size range coming onto the local market, both from established brands and new entrants, I imagine that Pathfinder Marine will have quite a challenge on its hands to establish the Ronautica brand here. However that's not a criticism of the boat, which is certainly worthy of consideration by buyers.

MADE IN SPAIN...
Rodrigo Andrade started Ronautica after completing an economics degree, and racing at top level in the international Vaurien class (he and his brother won two world titles) and the Olympic 470 class, in which he was on the Spanish team reserve at two Olympics.

Andrade's initial marine industry experience involved importing US powerboats onto the Spanish market before founding Ronautica with his four brothers (whose names all begin with the letters 'Ro'; their five sisters escaped the same name game, says Susanna Andrade, who works in the business).

The family base is Vigo on the northwest coast of Spain, and that's where the Ronautica production facilities were established. The company's marketing base is closer to the action on the opposite coast, at the Olympic marina in Barcelona.

Ronautica first acquired the moulds for an established small racer/cruiser, which it renamed the Ronautica RO 300. The success it enjoyed with this boat (still in the range, with more than 100 built) paved the way towards the introduction of new designs, in collaboration with the Madrid-based yacht designer Iñigo Toledo (Barracuda Yacht Design).

The company's stated aim was "to develop a new range of boats with Ronautica's own style and design, taking advantage of the temperate Mediterranean climate with spacious decks and designer timber interiors. Performance has not been forgotten with the range optimised for competitive sailing."

The expansion has occurred rapidly, with the RO 330 launched in late 1999 (more than 70 built), followed by the RO 260 in late 2000 (more than 50 built) and the RO 400 in late 2002.

The company also builds floating marina pontoons.

... AND ITALY
While the smaller models continue to be built in Vigo, Ronautica decided to move production of the new RO 400 offshore, settling on southern Italy (near Crotone) because, says Rodrigo, the labour force there is highly skilled in boatbuilding while relatively cheap, and the people are similar in outlook to those of his home province of Galicia in Spain, making dealings straightforward.

Scheduled for release within the next couple of years, as part of the company's ambitious business plans, is an even bigger cruiser/racer.

Ronautica's annual turnover has grown to about 10 million euro, making it an important player on the Spanish marine scene. But its marketing plans don't stop at the Pyrenees; the company is establishing an international dealer network that includes Holland, Italy, England, Japan, Portugal, Belgium and Germany.

Believing that the open-cockpit philosophy of the boats would be particularly well suited to conditions Down Under, and with the encouragement of his partner Christine Hart, who has worked in Australia and knows her way around these parts, Rodrigo Andrade visited Sydney and Auckland with Christine at the start of the year to investigate the market and establish sales agents here. Which is how the link to James Mark Anthony of Pathfinder Marine - a leading Sydney dealer of Mustang Cruisers - came about.

CONSTRUCTION
The Ronautica RO400 is built under strict quality controls, we're told, with Germanischer Lloyd certification to Category A Oceanic and 94/25CE standards.

The hull, deck and internal mouldings are hand-laid using polyester resin and glass fibre. Osmosis-resistant resins are used for the gelcoat and the first laminate.

The hull is solid GRP, while the deck contains areas of PVC foam sandwich construction for its favourable weight/strength ratio and insulation properties.

The hull and deck are mechanically fastened and bonded together with a structural epoxy adhesive. The hull is strengthened by hand-laid longitudinal stringers and transverse ribs and marine plywood bulkheads, which are bonded and laminated into the hull by hand.

There are two keel options: both the cruising and racing versions are attached to the hull with stainless steel keel bolts and also laminated with a structural epoxy for added strength and a watertight seal.

The 12mm stainless steel chainplates are fastened to the hull by 20mm stainless steel tie-rods.

The rudder is supported by a stainless steel internal frame and the steering utilises a self-aligning ball bearing system to minimise friction.

Through-hull fittings are of marine bronze and valves are chrome-plated brass. Deck hardware, hatches/ports are from leading brands such as Lewmar and Harken.

The prototype does not have the interior cieling mould and was built over the design weight.

ON DECK
Pepe, the owner of the test boat, said he wants a yacht he can cruise with his wife and young family without frightening them. This is the second sailboat yacht he's owned, most of his previous craft being powerboats. Like many Barcelona-based businessmen, Pepe has a holiday home up the coast from the Catalan capital, and plans to spend weekends sailing there and back, as well as three weeks in the summer holidays cruising with his family around the Balearic islands.

The yacht's rig and deck set-up reflect the owner's cruising orientation. The keel-stepped aluminium mast is set up with swept-back spreaders, roller-furling headsail and fully-battened mainsail with boom bag and lazyjacks.

The headsail roller/furler is recessed within the anchor well, which is very big and will be decreased in size for the next boats to allow more room for a longer double berth in the forward cabin.

A further slight modification will raise the floor at the aft end of the cockpit to allow more headroom in the two double cabins.

BELOW DECKS
The interior layout on this boat has three double cabins and two bathrooms, one of them an ensuite to the forward cabin and the other to the starboard side of the companionway, at the aft end of the saloon. Opposite this bathroom is the galley, an-L-shaped arrangement with plenty of features (single sink, stove and oven, refrigerated icebox, storage lockers) and a few sharp edges that will be rounded off on future RO 400s.

Headroom is 2.0m in the saloon and 1.90m in the cabins.

The interior craftsmanship using cherrywood veneers is generally high quality, and the combination of the wood with black and white backgrounds and light upholstery looks great, but the off-white cloth furnishings are beginning to show use and would not be my choice of fabric. The floors are teak-and-holly veneer.

The navigation station is a small table in the middle of the starboard side settee (see modifications below). The boat was well set up with a Furuno radar and a Toshiba laptop computer with Nobeltec navigation software, which worked well on this passage.

There was a Sharp Aquos flat screen TV and DVD (running through the laptop computer), connected to a large TV antenna at the top of the mast.

On the port side of the saloon is the U-shaped settee and dinette, with additional seating on a centreline-mounted twin seat. This has a stainless steel rail which comes in handy when moving around the saloon in a bumpy seaway.

MODIFICATIONS
Pathfinder Marine has made a long list of requests for modifications and additions to the boat headed for the Sydney Boat Show. These range from extra and larger mooring cleats, and relocation of the shorepower connection to the transom, to a more complex interior lighting plan giving mood lighting/red night lights/chart light and flusher ceiling lights, and the provision of extra storage by cutting in removable tops behind the settee.

A significant request is for a more conventional chart table rather than the inadequate and rather vulnerable table of the prototype yacht. In any case, the interior will have the new mouldings, giving it a more finished look than on the first boat.

"No off-white upholstery for saloon - make it a nice European blue fabric," reads another instruction. It will be fun to see the outcome of all this constructive criticism when the first boat arrives in Australia.

PERFORMANCE
Half of our passage was into the teeth of a moderate (and bitterly cold) headwind, which kicked up a short seaway sharp enough to make life on a 40-footer a bit uncomfortable. We had the sails setting well at 30º apparent wind angle, the engine on for extra grunt to keep the pace at a steady seven knots, and the Silva NX2 autopilot doing all the work.

I thought the boat handled the conditions very well; put it this way, I managed to sleep in the forward double berth, although the aft ones were a far better choice, and I wore wet weather gear on deck only to beat the cold as there was no spray into the cockpit at all. We did have the dodger up, a sturdy number that worked well at cutting the wind chill factor, but what water that did splash aboard was up on the foredeck.

There were five of us onboard, but the delivery could have been easily accomplished by two. There was plenty of room for all of us in the cockpit, where you could probably seat 10 or 11 people including those two little teak pushpit perches if you really needed to. (The boat's CE certification is for a maximum of 12 persons, or 1200kg total people and their bags.)

And using the two aft cabins and the saloon settee, there was ample space for three to sleep at a time.

The very large moulded GRP cockpit table was a useful place for all our paraphernalia including gloves, beanies, coffee mugs and wine bottles. It had an internal icebox, drinkholder cutouts and dropleaves either side to deal with a more comprehensive banquet than our salads, pasta and sandwiches. The table transformed the cockpit into a veritable floating cafe. It also served as a handy grabrail.

The aft section of the cockpit is roomy and open thanks to the twin wheels, set up on this boat with a Danish Jefa steering system. The wheels allow easy access to the stern of the boat and good visibility for the skipper when steering.

Between the wheels at the aft end of the cockpit table were the instruments, including a Urania binnacle compass, Garmin GPS Map 182, Silva analog wind indicator and NX2 autopilot and digital multicontrol unit with speed, navigation and wind functions. The instrument panel for the engine was mounted here too, and included a rev meter and engine hour counter.

BOATS ON SHOW
The purpose of the voyage wasn't just to put the RO 400 through its paces for the benefit of an Australian journalist, but to deliver the boat to Palma for a floating boatshow, where Ronautica would also exhibit its smaller models.

Originally we were going to sail the three boats across from Barcelona, but it all came unstuck at the last minute when the truck carrying the RO 260 and RO 330 from Vigo was delayed thanks to festivities in a small city that closed the road for a day. If I thought I had problems with lost luggage, they were nothing compared to the dramas Rodrigo and his team had in getting those two boats to Palma.

Ultimately they did sail across - still on the truck which drove onto a ferry - while we enjoyed our voyage on the RO 400's own bottom.

Then followed the rush to launch and rig the two smaller boats and prepare all three for the show.

By nightfall, the three boats were lined up in a row and Rodrigo Andrade said with pride: "See all the family together".

They're a good-looking trio, no slugs amongst them, and it's likely there'll be a bigger sibling sometime soon. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for adventurous family members carrying the Ronautica flag into the South Pacific.

Vanessa Dudley travelled to Spain as a guest of Pathfinder Marine and Ronautica Yachts.

Designer's Coments
aÍñigo Toledo, Barracuda Yacht Design Barracuda Yacht Design is busy in the development of a 46ft production sailing yacht, a new range of 79–92ft classic Sailing Yachts for JFA boatyard in France, a new 52ft classic design and a high tech runabout as well as some other significant proposals.

Having been in charge of project management for the Fortuna 42m Spanish royal motoyacht (awarded Most Innovative MotorYacht of 2002), an 82ft J/V and a new Frers 100-footer, this office has proved to be versatile and strong in many of the most demanding fields of the nautical industry.

The new RO 400 is designed with different interior configurations and rig plans to suit the family market as well as the charter market and the racing world.

Barracuda Yacht Design provides all engineering, performance studies, structural calculations and interior design, as well as helping in the organisation of the production and construction sequence.

The RO 400 features optimised hull lines for IMS/IRC racing, with reasonably conservative parameters for those using the boat for cruising. There are two different options available for keels, one being a low centre of gravity bulb keel built in cast iron and the other a deep blade keel built in cast lead. The rudder is a high aspect ratio fin with adequate sections for all-round use.

The rig plan also adapts to the different uses of the yacht, with a conventional two spreader mast and a carbon mast option for top racing. Both are reasonably easy to use with swept back spreaders and no runners.

Hull lines have been kept soft, with a very regular transom that keeps the shape of the waterplane area quite constant when heeling, providing continuous behaviour of the yacht and improving control and safety.

Internal accommodation provides three independent cabins and two bathrooms in the standard version, with a fold-away chart table in the central area. The owner's version provides a bigger forward cabin, keeping only the aft bathroom, and the racing version provides a more open plan with no aft bathroom, keeping the forward one, and a full size chart table.

Cabin shape and overall ergonomics allow for a very roomy interior. Interior design creates a high contrast atmosphere with light timbers, dark lacquer panels and exposed parts of the structural internal moulding. But the strength of this design is in the cockpit. With two steering wheels, a central table with ice-box, the largest seating area within its size and a same-level access to the water for swimming thanks to the transom closing mechanism, the RO 400 offers pure enjoyment in good weather, charter use and relaxing in general.

The large cockpit lockers provide storage in a very practical arrangement and ease of handling has been kept in mind throughout the design process. Thus, the mainsheet stays on top of the cockpit and genoa tracks are located on the cabin edge, keeping side walks clean of hardware and providing a wide cabin that is appreciated inside.