The Sun Fast 43 will satisfy your sailing requirements

The Sun Fast 43 offers a choice of two, three, or four cabin layouts. The two-cab setup with one cabin aft leaves room for what looks like, on the drawings, a big lazarette in the cockpit. The boat shown in f “Yacht & Boat” magazine sea trial had three cabins, but there is a surprise – the divider between the two aft cabins can be removed, creating a full-width stateroom of massive dimensions (and immense possibilities). All configurations have two bathrooms. The bow cabin is intended for the owner as it has the en suite bathroom. The bunk is on the centreline and there is also a seat, a desk/vanity table with mirror, and a fullheight hanging locker. Not a big room, but big enough and well appointed. The aft cabins have big, almost square double beds and good lockers with hanging space on one side, shelves on the other. The portside cabin is en suite with the main bathroom, which also serves as the head for the boat as there is a second door opening onto the saloon. This main bathroom is a big space and features a shower curtain, a yachts most important feature if you plan to spend much time aboard, because wet bathrooms cause fights. The nav area is a good size, on the port side.

The galley of the Sun Fast 43 is excellent, an L-shape which enables the cook to get support from the companionway structure when the boat is on starboard tack. The companionway steps should be carefully copied by every naval architect; the steps are heavily-radiused so they work when the boat is heeled and there is a wide step halfway for reassurance. The mast has three sets of spreaders and is supported by discontinuous Dyform diagonals and single lowers. The backstay is hydraulic, the vang is a gas strut. The Sun Fast 43 of “Yacht & Boat” magazine sea trial had the optional Furlex headsail furler.

There are twin wheels, both with greenhidecovered rims, and both helm positions have nicely-cambered floors for support. Later I was to discover I needed to lean outboard a few inches to see the headsail tufts (I am short, but that is usually an advantage on boats though if you are short and light it means you are the one sent up the mast most frequently). Ron Jacobs suggested a strategically-placed teak block on the floor each side would help my cause. The mainsheet traveller is mounted low ahead of the helm positions, but is easy to step over and I do not remember that it ever got in the way and it certainly did not compromise the cockpit for recreational sailing.

The mainsheet of the Sun Fast 43 is split and led back to winches mounted immediately in front of the helm stations so the skipper can control the sheet when sailing short-handed or if chaos has broken out on deck in a race (that never happens, does it?). The primary winches are Harken 50s; it seems to me that Harken is getting a lot of new-boat business these days. We had 14 knots of breeze, which was perfect, because the owner had left the No.2 headsail on the furler and with less than 14 knots the No.1 would have been a better choice. Hard on the wind we got 7.5 knots or so. The breeze was moving all over the place, faster than I – on the helm – could follow it, and when it lifted a few degrees the Sun Fast would accelerate immediately to 7.9 until I brought her nose up again. The steering was well weighted and well geared. The breeze was quite solid and we had no human ballast onboard, but the big hull tracked straight under the pressure of a sudden gust, the very deep rudder doing its work well.

This modern IRC yacht is a remarkable thing. Jeanneau’s range of cruising boats are grouped under the Sun Odyssey banner; the racer/cruisers are the Sun Fasts. The Sun Odyssey 43 and the Sun Fast 43 share the same hull and interior. Obviously the Sun Fast 43 has a taller rig, deeper keel and different gear layout on deck to make it go faster.