Hunter Marine’s Legend HC50 (a development of Hunters Child) has made her British debut at the Southampton Boat Show. Although she has been around for some time now, and been written about in yachting World on numerous occasions it was interesting to see the sort of impact she was making at Southampton, particularly with a £400,000 price tag. According to Steve Pettengill only six boats have been built so far but rumour has it the boat on show was snapped up last night.

Developed by the design team at Luhrs Marine for fast, ocean cruising, this water-ballasted 50-footer is a definite eye-catcher with her racy-looking lines and interesting layout. Designed for double-handed cruising she has plenty of cockpit space, an open transom, a spacious, light dog house and some nifty curved, slated teak seats so you don’t have to sit in puddles of water when it’s raining.

All the control lines are led aft and although the boat on show has a tiller arrangement, there is an option for a wheel. Also, to ensure weight is centred in the middle of the boat, the designers have come up with an idea to position the anchor chain in the keel sump. To achieve this, a standard electric windlass is located just forward of the mast foot – although it does mean the chain has to run across the deck, on a protection pad, before going through the deck to the keel.

This space frame-style tripod holding the rig was designed to spread and reduce the compression loads from the hull and decks. Since this system was designed however, it’s been developed and many boats now have this sort of system included within the boat’s construction, but hidden away below the deck line.

Performance wise, Steve Pettengill, who sailed her over doublehanded, from Newport Rhode Island for the show reckons she’s a top class, long distance cruiser/racer, commenting: “I’ve sailed her a lot now and she really is one of the most comfortable ocean, passage boats, and incredibly fast. We did the 3,200-mile passage from Newport Rhode Island in 15 days. We encountered all sorts of conditions from 10-40kts of breeze and left her on autopilot most of the way.”

Whether this sort of ocean-going cruiser will ever take off in the UK is yet to be seen but for distance racing and cruising she’s definitely one to add to the ‘must see’ list.

For details contact Opal Marine at opalmarine.com, or visit the boat at the show on berth 93 (outer pontoons).