An enduring Allure
Sponsored Content
The Allures 51.9 has been designed to ensure you can undertake blue water voyages in total comfort and safety…
Most sailors in their idle moments have sketched out their dream boat and generally it remains just that – a sketch. Yet, as T E Lawrence once famously wrote, there are dreamers of the night and dreamers of the day.
Stephan Constance and Xavier Desmaret, who founded the Allures shipyard back in 2003, fall into the latter category. They wanted to build the boat of their dreams and they realised their ambition.
20 years later, the two friends’ dream is well and truly alive. The Allures brand of ‘go anywhere’ blue water cruisers that they created has flourished and expanded beyond recognition.
In the meantime, the pair have expanded and diversified the business and are now at the head of the Grand Large Yachting group, which includes Allures Yachting, Outremer, Garcia Yachts, Gunboat, RM Yachts and ORC.
Yet Allures was their first love; the yachts are designed for ocean cruising and includes three models: 40.9, 45.9 and 51.9, all of which feature rugged aluminium hulls, twin rudders, centreboard and seaworthy lines meaning that they are just as at home in the high latitudes or the tropics. These are yachts you can trust.
The 51.9 is their latest model, and flagship of the fleet. Like her predecessors, she is designed by Berret-Racoupeau Yacht Design and features Allures’ trademark mixed construction with an aluminium hull and composite deck.
Years of perfecting this method of construction has made Allures the experts in this method of construction and ensures a strong and versatile yacht; the aluminium hull ensures toughness, while the composite deck makes for better weight distribution and plays a key role in providing the cabin with thermal insulation and soundproofing.
A safe, comfortable and secure cockpit
The concept of the Allures brand is very simple; this has to be a boat that is tough enough to be trusted in the harshest of conditions and be capable of taking its crew everywhere in complete safety and maximum comfort.
Thus, on the 51.9, the cockpit area is set forward and is well protected as the sides, with twin helm stations, whose binnacles are equipped with handrails to facilitate movement, and the winches easily to hand of the helm which can take care of all sail handling even when short handed.
The stern remains a free zone, with storage lockers, and overhangs the transom, which opens out to provide a bathing platform with a tender garage tucked behind.
The front of the cockpit, under the protection of a solid bimini with opening windscreen, is occupied by benches to either side and a pair of tables which leave a central passage through to the companionway when folded out.
Access to the foredeck and mast step, for example for reefing, is made extra secure due to the solid guardrails around the boat and the handrails on the deckhouse.
The deckhouse and davits are fitted with solar panels, as energy production is an essential element for autonomy and long crossings.
Interior comfort
Yet the exterior is only half the beauty of the Allures 51.9. Descend down below via the steps, curved for ergonomic heeling, and you’re in the saloon.
The floor of the saloon is set at such a height that it provides a good view of the outside, through the deckhouse and hull portholes, with numerous openings making this space light and bright.
The zones of the interior are well defined according to their use. On the starboard side, a table accommodates five people with ease.
Opposite, the chart table is located between the navigator’s comfortable swivel chair, with its back to the road, and a small sofa that allows a crew member to consult with the navigator.
Forward of this, still on the port side, the galley is ergonomically designed in a U-shape, making it comfortable and safe at sea, whatever the weather or direction of heel.
The galley is generously equipped with a sink, cooker, microwave oven, fridge and freezer, dishwasher and a large worktop with ledges and fiddles.
Forward is a beautiful guest cabin with double bed and plenty of natural light with deck and hull portholes. Next to it is a smaller cabin with two bunk beds.
At the rear, the owner’s cabin takes up the entire width of the boat with a double bed in a central island, a sofa, storage and hanging space. The bathroom is pleasant with a washbasin, toilet and shower cubicle.
In the passageway leading to this cabin, there is plenty of storage space and a long work surface that can be transformed into a workshop if required. The decoration plays on a certain simplicity without ever being spartan.
Careful finishing, refined indirect lighting and interesting contrasts of colours and materials make this a real soothing cocoon when the conditions are tough outside.
A yacht you can trust
Blend all of these design features together and you have a supremely comfortable yacht that you can truly trust. This is a boat that is just as at home running before the trade winds of the Atlantic or Pacific as it is to threading the ice of the North West Passage or drying out in a tidal Creek in the West Country.
The boat can easily be handled by a cruising couple and features a plethora of clever touches to ensure sail handling is a breeze. All that and at the end of your watch you can retreat below to a space that provides true comfort and a touch of class.
Learn more about the Allures 51.9 on allures.com
The post An enduring Allure appeared first on Sailing Today.