Yachting Monthly visits Boot 16 in Düsseldorf, Europe’s largest boat show, to see the new Solaris 47
Solaris 47
Built a short Lambretta ride from the lagoon of Venice, this is the Gucci bag of Bermudan sloops, the Bugatti of boats, each semi-custom yacht handcrafted for her owner by a team of artisans assembled since the 1970s in the ancient hamlet of Aquileia. The Solaris range runs from 37-60ft and this, the new 47, premiered at Boot 16 in Dusseldorf, nestles in the middle of the range.
A simple, uncluttered cockpit designed for shorthanded sailing
Instruments and controls lie readily to hand on the binnacles
Above the carbon wheel, B&G instruments and autopilot controls lie on the starboard binnacle
The design is stylish yet muted, modern classical one might say, and the craftsmanship is exquisite. The deck is beautifully laid and the china clay-coloured caulking gives her a lighter look. The binnacles at her twin wheels house instruments and controls, including the drop-down transom that opens hydraulically to launch a 2.4m RIB from the dinghy dock below the cockpit. Roller fairleads and pop-up cleats give her a bespoke look and next to the port wheel is the Harken hydraulic head that operates the vang, backstay and outhaul (optional, standard spec offers a hand-pumped hydraulic backstay). The German mainsheet runs aft, ducted below the coachroof and coamings to emerge at the winches just forward of the wheels.
Liferaft and gas lockers lie beneath the port cockpit seating
Beneath the port cockpit seating are liferaft and gas lockers, and there is a cockpit sole-depth locker to starboard. Extra deck stowage is in the lazarette, in the space around the RIB, and in a sail locker forward. Space there was limited in this example, hull No.1, as she has a retractable bow thruster. The Harken furler is recessed and forward of that is a windlass in the anchor locker and a large bow roller. A padeye on the stem holds the tack of offwind sails and there is a fixed bowsprit option, with Code Zero sails tacked halfway along and a gennaker tacked at its end.
The attention to detail is infinite but if I had to pick out a detail it would be the folding cover for the sprayhood
Light grey veneers create a smooth, easy ambiance below
Looking aft towards the L-shaped galley to port
Handholds see you safely below, into a light grey café culture saloon. To port is the galley, with a front-opening freezer below the sink and a top-loading fridge outboard. To starboard, forward of the heads with shower, is the nav station and, of the twin aft cabins, the port one is expendable should you want a technical or utlility room.
Wonderful indirect lighting enhances the feeling in this elegant cabin
The owner’s suite, the only en suite cabin, is exquisite. Subtle mood lighting emerges from panels on the hull, framing large hull ports, and there is abundant stowage outboard and in a drawer beneath the island double berth. All is elegance.
Who would she suit?
She befits a stylish, successful owner who likes to entertain friends or business acquaintances with weekends away, or wants to spend a long summer sailing shorthanded over the horizon.
Price as seen €672,000 inc VAT (Around £512,400 inc VAT)
LOA 14.35m 47ft 1in
LWL 13.4m 44ft
Cabins 3
Beam 4.36m 14ft 4in
Draught 2.85m 9ft 4in
Displacement 12,600kg 27,778lbs
Contact Richard Baldwin Yachts
Tel 07971 405236
Website www.richardbaldwinyachts.com/