It’s an excellent location when a hurry-up launching is required, and does not compromise overall storage space.Ĭockpit seats covered with teak are 15″ deep, 18″ wide, and 64″ long so they will be comfortable on a daysail or for a full crew on an extended passage. A neat design feature is that when the helm seat is elevated upward to allow access to a swim platform, it also reveals a storage area large enough to accommodate a life raft. The width of the cockpit aft of the wheel is 76″, leaving room for three people to sit behind the 62″ diameter wheel, the bottom of which travels through a trough in the cockpit sole. Except for the need to step over the traveler to access the helm or exit via the stern, its location is of no consequence, especially when the ability to improve mainsail trim is factored into the equation. The fine tune is anchored to the cockpit sole, so it can be removed when sailing in light air venues. With the mainsheet placed on a 6:1 block and tackle augmented by a 36:1 fine tuner, trimming the sail is an easy operation, even on a big boat in 20-plus-knot winds. The cockpit is a T–shaped space that is broader aft than at the companionway, but large enough to allow a performance crew of racers to move about, and the cruiser space to entertain guests.Ĭompared to production builders that locate mainsail controls atop the cabin, the Centurion 40S’s mainsail controls-at knee height on a traveler forward of the binnacle-is a fairly gutsy move. Her length measurements-41′ 2″ LOA and 36′ 5″ LWL-coupled with ample sail area figures and moderate displacement numbers, give her a SA/D of 21 and a D/L of 131 certainly an above-average performer. However, from her stern quarter her large cockpit gives the appearance of a daysailer. When underway and viewed from abeam, the 40S presents a stylish, almost brutish, profile defined by a fine bow entry, downward sloping sheerline that leads to a healthy beam amidships, and one long, dark port on the cabinside that looks racy, especially when compared to rounder cabin sides interrupted by several ports. The Centurion 40S was designed by Jean Berret and Olivier Racoupeau Yacht Design, a well-known European firm with established credentials. The Pilot Saloon line seeks to combine sailing performance with raised coachroof profiles designed to increase viewing area from below decks. Having the resources of Groupe Beneteau should enhance the company’s reputation and offset whatever negative press it had to endure as a result of previous financial shortcomings.Īs with most of Beneteau’s subsidiaries, Wauquiez designates product lines by their intended use: the Centurion combines performance and comfort with traditionally shaped sloops. Even during hard times, Wauquiez produced sailboats that have an excellent reputation as being durable blue-water sailors, the cost of which may have contributed to its downfall. ]As with other acquisitions made by this new owner, the foundering builder now has access to Beneteau’s deep pockets, mass purchasing power, and state-of-the-art production techniques. Then, in 1997, Prouvost sold it to Beneteau. With financial difficulties continuing, Wauquiez brought in a financial partner, Olivier Prouvost, who eventually took over the firm. It re-emerged in 1983 and produced 200 boats in the ensuing five years. Like many one-man operations, the company endured financial ups and downs typical of the boatbuilding industry of the 1980s, and was placed in receivership in 1982. Once established, Wauquiez introduced designs ranging in size from 28 to 47 feet, including the Chance 37 and Wauquiez Hood designed by Ted Hood, which was later produced in the US as the Ted Hood Little Harbor 38. That decision put the company on the map in the French sailing community, and established its reputation for producing fast, solid cruising boats. The Wauquiez enterprise was founded in the 1960s when Henri Wauquiez decided to form a boatbuilding company that would produce copies of his own yacht, a Pye-designed Elizabethan 29. That changed when Beneteau acquired the company in 1997. were purchased on the used market from owners who bought them in Europe. As a consequence, many of the company’s boats sailing in the U.S. Wauquiez, the French boatbuilding firm, has existed on the fringes of the American sailing community for two decades, but throughout the majority of that time the company hasn’t enjoyed the benefit of top-drawer representation with a nationwide dealer network.
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