A stalwart of Exmouth’s Exe Sailing Club, Rick Newcombe has now owned three separate yachts, all of which have borne the name eXehibitionist. The first was a Beneteau First 31.7. Its successor was an X-Yacht from Denmark: an X-34. Newcombe’s latest, the X-Yachts XC38 featured here, was purchased new in 2018 direct from X-Yachts GB. ‘At this point,’ he explains, ‘I had a good relationship with X-Yachts GB… They were keen, no surprise, to offer me a new yacht and offered [me] a pretty good deal.’

Brand loyalty notwithstanding, Newcombe’s decision to upgrade from X-34 to Xc38 was based on his perception that the Danish manufacturer’s products have a ‘good balance of performance and practicality’. Newcombe pushed the X-34 into challenging races, such as Fastnet 2017, but he wanted more.

The X-Yachts XC38 needed to be a good performance cruiser with the potential to travel long distances offshore. What’s more, it needed to be able to do those offshore miles at speed. Racing –
with a mixed crew drawn mostly from a Facebook group membership – was a key ambition. Two Xc38s are on cruising circumnavigations, Rick notes. In his six years of ownership, Rick hasn’t been disappointed. ‘It’s a great boat that suits my style of sailing perfectly,’ he says.

Built for long-distance voyaging, the Xc38 is a powerful yacht. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

Albeit a full day’s drive from home, Rick has chosen for eXehibitionist a swinging mooring off the placid, mountain-encircled Kerrera Marina. Here in Oban Bay, it’s a long way from the clay-red sands of Exmouth. It’s here that I and photographer Ed Smith have come to see for ourselves how his Xc38’s big rig performs and how her modest draught allows her to skirt the Oban ferry channel if she pleases.

Time doesn’t allow us to test Rick’s claims about how eXehibitionist might shimmy into the smaller loch anchorages between the Outer Hebrides, say, nor can we fully appreciate the Xc38’s range for offshore passagemaking.

Given weeks of virtually non-stop summer rain in this well-watered district, it’s a promising morning for a sail out into the Firth of Lorne. Sunshine and showers with maximum Force 3 wind strength supply enough, but perhaps not all, that a test-sailor could wish for, at least if they’re in the market for ‘taking things to the edge’. His Code Zero was not used on this outing though Rick isn’t alone, I should add, in espousing the delights of this most versatile of top-down furling asymmetric sails.

All lines are led aft under the deck to the clutches inside the fixed windscreen. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

EXehibitionist encounters little in the way of tide at the back of Lismore island. Reaching back and forth it’s easy to forget how easily we could have slipped into the Sound of Mull and its round-island anticlockwise tidal flow.

These are conditions the X-Yachts XC38 takes in its stride; though not a race boat per se, speed is a key attribute for a good performance cruiser, and her owner still enjoys the occasional race.

With creditable boatspeed, eXehibitionist passes cleanly through some bumpy water south of Lismore light. In cruisers’ eyes, fuel and water tanks have decent volume. They’re well-placed, being low down and amidships.

With the mainsheet clear of the cockpit, the space feels deep and secure, helped by the closed aft end. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

Under sail

X-Yachts boast that their Xc38 ‘offers superb performance in an easily handled package’, and nothing from our day’s sailing would let me disagree with that. Its excellence in the doublehanded racing stakes attracted Newcombe when he considered moving up from an X-34.

As responsive as it is smooth, the yacht skates through the tacks. Although between five and 10 degrees lower than a pure race boat, the Xc38 is still close-winded in comparison to most cruising boats thanks to the towable jib cars mounted alongside the coachroof.

‘It’s a big rig,’ Rick says. ‘An efficient one, though. Easily handled.’ Indeed it’s apparent how you can break the sail areas down to manage the ‘drive plan’. A 110% genoa can be comfortably carried up to 18 knots of true wind. Beyond that there will be some twitchiness and weather helm if the main isn’t depowered.

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An efficient, easy-to-use traveller helps with that task. The next stage of depowering is illustrated by Rick’s staysail arrangement. The non-standard addition on an X-Yachts XC38 was an attachment point for an inner forestay.

It’s bolted through the deck to the forward bulkhead. Rolling up the genoa with its furler – facilitated by attachments that pull the line neatly parallel with the drum – is swift work (say five strong heaves) for a single crew member.

Rick ordered his Westaway sails from fellow Devon resident John Pollard with what’s unarguably a very deep initial reef. The cringles for the single-line slab reef match the staysail head. The second reef for the mainsail is comparatively close to the first, hence the effort to slip down from one to two is substantially reduced.

Boarding the dinghy is easy from the bathing platform and the walkthrough into the cockpit. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

Adjustments such as this help Newcombe manage the sail area to suit the conditions. The inner forestay, when rigged, demands, however, that the genoa be at least partially wound in before tacking.

X-Yachts XC38 hull

Belying her smooth hull lines is eXehibitionist’s girder frame. The steel matrix (‘immensely strong,’ Rick assures me) transfers loads between the keel, keel-stepped mast and rig, making the boat exceptionally stiff. A 200-litre fuel tank, hot water and fresh water tankage and lithium batteries make use of the space around the matrix and keeps the centre of gravity low.

Fully loaded, the boat amounts to 10 tonnes. Cruising displacement is compensated for with a heavier keel, composed of a lead bulb on a cast iron fin keel faired with an epoxy shell. Below the water line, skin fittings are set flush, commensurate with the three-blade Flexofold propeller, to minimise drag.

A large single spade rudder delivers good grip, lovely feel and precise manoeuvring. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

Rick, whose latest cruise was around Ireland in the summer of 2024, affirms that the X-Yachts XC38 is ‘not skittish in any way’. The Xc38 has a deeper ‘v’-shaped cross section forward; the Xc range comprises deeper hull sections than the Xperformance range in order to give a more seakindly motion.

Retaining the slippery hull of X-Yachts’ out-and-out racing hulls, the X-Yachts XC38 has more beam and more draught to make her into a more cruising-orientated boat. With the beaminess comes stability, which adds to Rick’s confidence in the strength of the subframe. He doesn’t feel that this might be over-engineered in any way.

‘It’s a heavy boat but it’s not overly heavy,’ says Rick. ‘The other side of that is that while it goes very well in light winds, it really goes very well for a 10-tonne yacht.’ Our reaching across the beautiful Firth of Lorne reveals both that the boat goes perfectly well upwind but also when you bear off the wind, the heavier ballast ratio makes this boat rock solid.

A flat-mounted clutch on the foredeck allows the inner forestay to be tensioned with minimum stretch stretch. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

It’s plain then, if not obvious to the helm before, that you’ve got a really well-balanced yacht on your hands. ‘We’re definitely happiest close to a broad reach,’ Rick adds. ‘It’s a real mile-muncher… an extremely well-balanced, solid boat.’

Steering

The carbon-fibre wheels provide marvellous haptic feedback for the helmsperson, a bit like the fingertip buzz from a smartphone touchscreen. It’s not exactly twitchiness, but the material communicates quietly to both hands that you’re in control of what Rick admits is a ‘very big rudder’.

Conditions on the test didn’t allow me to tell whether the boat had an inclination to slam, though I doubt it, but I could clearly sense the slipperiness of all of the boat’s power converting straight into forward drive, while the spade rudder remained grippy and precise in the turns. If this were a car, I’d have felt the stones crunching under the tyres on a fast corner.

Composite wheels help deliver a light and precise helming experience. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

X-Yachts’ rudders are built from an aluminium stock sandwiched in GRP. The company did issue a warning in response to concerns that copper in some anti-fouling reacted with the rudder stock, resulting in corrosion. Treatments containing copper, they said, ought not be applied around the top of the rudder post. Rick says he dropped the rudder on one occasion to look for this but nothing was found.

X-Yachts XC38 Cockpit

The helm looks through what seems a low sprayhood, itself sat on a stainless frame for a strengthened glass windshield. I did notice the helmsperson was occasionally tempted to stand on the cockpit seat at times to see better forward, though dropping the sprayhood would also make this easier. Admittedly a stylish, ergonomic cockpit, it has Andersen stainless winches, an upgrade Rick made.

The German mainsheet is kept clear of the cockpit on a coachroof-top traveller, from where it is taken to the mast, then aft through ducting below the side decks to port and starboard, ending at two winches each within a hand’s breadth of the wheel. With the cockpit edge neatly recessed to accommodate an inch or two of wheel rim, the helm is easily able to sit, steer and trim mainsail without having to stretch.

With galley, chart table, and heads aft, the saloon offers a practical layout and plenty of space. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

The steering position on the coaming feels even more secure sitting ahead of the wheel with both feet placed on the high cockpit table with its generous leaves folded in. The table’s central stowage (a lifting lid box) houses unused sail ties, as drinks holders are already abundant and accessible. Immediately aft of the captive washboard, which rises up to close, is a rope bin accommodating halyards.

The transom folds down with a purchase block system (although electric options were available) to reveal the liferaft under the cockpit sole. The drop-down is for bathing – but, as shown on our test, it’s superb as a micro-pontoon for Rick’s tender.

On deck

With sheets routed under the deck, the question arises about what you do if you let go of an end. A figure of eight or stopper knot is essential. It’s never jammed up with weed or plastic though. ‘If you do lose an end,’ Rick concedes, ‘it’s a bit of a “mare”.’ He’s only accidentally lost a line once, using an electrical cable grabber to fish the end out.

The side decks afford comfortable space for moving around, while the coachroof’s breadth is inviting, the more so with its flush hatches. Teak is an option for the coachroof but Rick chose to place his solar panels there. Although the recessed blocks around the mast collar are fetching, I imagine in any sea this is a well of salt water, with corrosive potential for the collar, though this area does drain onto the side decks.

Port side aft, the guest cabin isn’t vast, but still offers plenty of room for two. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

The X-Yachts XC38 stainless steel bowsprit incorporates an anchor roller. While newer X-Yachts’ models have moved to moulded bowsprits, teak panels ensure there is sufficient width to step off via the bow, as is usual in the Baltic.

Interior

Descending to the saloon, what I was immediately struck by was not the excellent carpentry in Nordic Oak on almost every surface and sole board; nor was it the quality upholstery. It was the brilliant galley countertop.

Corian-branded quartz composite makes up a hard-wearing, easy-to-clean surface. The glass splashback has the clean lines of a designer kitchen. How many times have you gone below on a yacht to be met by an angle of scuffed or even splintered wood? Often a tether or lifejacket chest D-ring is the culprit.

Rick has space to hang lifejackets and tethers on grabrails below the huge portlights on either side. These might festoon your entry to what X-Yachts term the ‘Owner’s Cabin’, a large forepeak double bed. While there’s only one aft cabin, however, on the starboard side aft of the nav station is one of the largest heads compartments I’ve seen in a yacht of any size.

Exceptional power transfer yields a fast-cruising potential. Photo: Ed Smith / edsmithphotography.com

Engine

A Volvo Penta D2-40 saildrive supplies the Xc38’s auxiliary thrust. The power is arguably well concealed. Noise from this compartment need hardly provide any perceptible disturbance to occupants of the ‘Owner’s Cabin’. Our inspection revealed Rick’s thorough maintenance plan left nothing to be desired, as well as a rubber gaiter in date and unbesmirched by any issues commonly affecting saildrive legs.

X-Yachts XC38 specifications

MAKE AND MODEL: X-Yachts Xc38
DESIGNER: Niels Jeppesen
YEARS BUILT: 2010-18
LOA: 38ft / 11.58m
LWL: 34.1ft / 10.38m
BEAM: 12ft6in / 3.81m
DRAUGHT: 6ft6in / 1.98m
DISPL: 19,180 lbs / 8,700kg
BALLAST: 8,322 lbs / 3,775kg
SAIL AREA: 873 sq ft / 80.3m2
PRICE: (standard build, 2017) £365,000

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