Envisage a flow chart for choosing a new cruising yacht. As well as establishing fundamental decisions – such as monohull or catamaran? Glassfibre or aluminium? – it also asks if you want to be able to sail from a fully protected cockpit. So, presumably this yacht is for sailing in North Atlantic/Baltic waters. If the answer is ‘yes’, you’d likely arrive at models from Moody, Amel, perhaps Allures. But what if a builder dared to fuse such features with additional volume, a deck layout that better suits Mediterranean cruising, and potentially some additional performance under sail? It might tear up your conventional flow chart, and lead instead to something quite different… like this. The Wauquiez 55 is definitely a unique-looking vessel. It’s a brave design, one that could only be conjured up in the current day, with a market demanding more and more space and comfort. Why the Wauquiez 55 is extraordinary This 55-footer can almost rival a catamaran in this respect. It can be controlled by one person from a fully protected cockpit, features a walk-in engine room with optional twin engines, a lift keel option, and is unique at this size for offering a vast master suite with private access onto an aft terrace. While the yacht’s aesthetic will have mixed appeal and presents some compromises, which we will discuss, it is undeniably an extraordinary craft. The design draws inspiration from successful ideas of the past, while incorporating its own novel thinking, moulding these into a shape which will challenge preconceptions about its performance at sea. A centre cockpit pilot saloon is nothing new for Wauquiez; it is something this 60-year-old yard has specialised in for decades. Nevertheless, the Wauquiez 55 is something very different. It clearly borrows elements and inspiration from market leaders Amel – consider the central pilothouse set-up with offset single wheel, the fixed guardrails and faux teak decks integrated into the mould. Yet such comparisons rapidly pale when you look at the radically different lines, in particular, the very full bow sections with dreadnought stem and dry forefoot, the pregnant midsections – let’s call this a modern day chined version of tumblehome – and the prominent reverse sheer which slopes aft to meet an ultra wide and tiered stern. We’ve never seen anything quite like it, and it caused quite the stir when it was unveiled at the Düsseldorf boat show last year. How the design works To get to the how, let’s consider the why first. Wauquiez CEO Cyril Ballu initiated a design competition to help create his vision for a modern, covered centre cockpit cruiser. The Marc Lombard Yacht Design group deemed this an opportunity to realise a shape they’d been discussing for a decade or so – a pilothouse cruiser with double passageways below decks. Lombard’s Eric Levet explains that not only would this require a yacht with enough volume for that interior format, but they’d need to make it safe and roomy enough on deck to move along the side … Continue reading It shouldn’t work – but it does! Why sailing the Wauquiez 55 changes things