Kaštela, near Split, has recently gotten a new addition to its charter offer. What makes this new boat special, are its three hulls built to form a modern design. NEEL 45 is a trimaran model created by the entrepreneur Eric Bruneel. This trimaran is an excellent vessel choice for your holiday adventure; it offers high comfort due to its spacious and contemporary accommodations, as well as smooth sailing it provides.
The boat also prides itself with an interesting, futuristic, modern design. NEEL 45 model is 13.4 m long, 8.5m wide with a 1.2 m draught which enables it to securely sail along more shallow areas than monohulls. The ship’s weight is 6.5 T and it can be loaded up to 9 T. With regard to sails, it has a battened gaff mainsail, furling genoa and a self-tacking staysail. This model is equipped with one Volvo 55 hp sail drive inboard engine, a 605 liter water tank and a 302 liter fuel tank.
Sail Like the Wind
We recently had the opportunity to test NEEL 45, off the coast of Portorož and we can confirm that it sails like the wind, which is not surprising, since it has the same concept as a race trimaran. Due to its narrow main body and amas, as well as its optimized weight, we found that this vessel can reach impressive speed. According to the owner, it can go up to 10-12 knots upwind and 17 knots downwind which makes for a fun and smooth sailing. Official performances of the model note an average cruising speed of 10 knots rising to 15 – 18 knots when the breeze freshens. In addition to its speed, what makes NEEL 45 so worthy is its high maneuverability.
The boat has a simple setup equipped for single handed sailing, with the sails fixed to the central hull which assures stability. It doesn’t have any stern thrusters but, according to the owner, its bow thrusters are sufficient for a good backwards maneuverability. The boat navigates very well, both forwards and backwards, from an adeptly designed cockpit that provides a 360°view. Finally, NEEL 45 also assures safe sailing since it handles the waves very well and it doesn’t broach easily thanks to its three hulls. The owner of the boat in the charter offer, Jurgen Epple, sailed it along the Gulf of Biscay on 4-5m waves and he assured us that the boat handled it easily.
Contemporary Comfort
NEEL 45 trimaran offers a spacious and comfortable accommodation. On one platform it has three double cabins and two bathrooms. In one ama it has a spacious storage place for spare sails and equipment, as well as anything else you need to store. The boat interior has a unique contemporary appearance and its modern design is emboldened by numerous windows which make the whole space bright and accommodating. The solar panels and a desalination system on board enable you to be self-sufficient during your trip.
We are proud to include NEEL 45 trimaran to our charter offer. We encourage you to try out many appealing characteristics of this boat, it is sure to grant you a comfortable, fun and smooth sailing!
Photos: Yacht Rent
