Ever since
Hanse Yachts
announced a new version of its entry-level 315 sailing boat with an electric motor embedded in the rudder, I'd wanted to get my hands on a demo boat.
Instinctively, I like the idea of electric-powered boats - they are quiet, produce no smelly diesel fumes, suffer no oily bilges and are cleaner and cheaper to run.
But this was the first mass production boat with an electric option that I had come across. Not only that, but the electric motor was actually
built into the rudder of the boat
- definitely a first in the leisure market.
So when the chance came up for a test motor/sail, I didn't let the fact that the boat was 250 miles away from home, on the edge Holland's IJsselmeer, dissuade me.
After a four-hour drive, nearly running out of fuel, definitely running out of fuel money and getting lost in an industrial estate miles from anywhere, taking the boat out was a tonic.
A small boat,
the Hanse 315
handles very comfortably - something between a quick-witted dinghy and a proper cruiser. Under sail, we were soon scudding over the chop of the IJsselmeer at 7 knots - ideal for unwinding after the drive. There was rain on the horizon, but the sun seemed to follow us back and forth across the greenish-brown waves.
The e-motion rudder drive itself was a revelation. Quiet, if not silent, it shoves the boat along at a good pace, and the rudder mounting means that the boat will literally turn on the spot. We danced figure-of-eights around the marina, backed into tight berths just for the fun of it and enjoyed driving around backwards at full speed.
There'll be much more detail in an upcoming issue of
Sailing Today
magazine, but for now, take my word for it: electric boats are the future.
