If you could own any boat, what would it be? And just one? Does it exist, or would you have to create your own? What follows is no ordinary review, of no ordinary yacht nor owner, but a story about a particularly unique new vessel and the visionary owner behind it.

This 60ft daysailer is the latest commission by French businessman and serial boat owner Jack Setton. Those familiar with Setton’s yachts over the last few decades will know he is a pioneer who has owned a fleet of vessels ranging from a catboat to an ice-breaking tug. This latest carbon creation is the pinnacle of the purist ‘upwinder’ daysailers he has long been passionate about.

Setton has arguably done more for the innovation of boat design than any other individual enthusiast of our generation. He opened my eyes to the efficiency of certain craft when I sailed with him 12 years ago on his converted maxi catamaran Swift. So when he invited me out to Sardinia to sail his latest custom project, not only was it a chance to sail a finely tuned one-off yacht but also to learn from someone who has probably had a hand in designing or influencing most types of vessels we see today.

I could also witness how he typically daysails from his home, which very much affects his boat choices.

I came to appreciate that the more you understand the man and his mindset, the more you understand and respect the logic of the design. Setton long ago lost count of the number of boats he’s owned – some he keeps for years, some only days, as he is quick to realise their merits or weaknesses.

His business life started with marketing Pioneer car stereos, and grew to include real estate and one of the world’s most prized racing car collections. From this you may deduce he’s a perfectionist, but first let’s, meet his latest ‘daysailer’, the Judel Vrolijk-designed Jaro.

A punchy introduction

Flying in over Sardinia’s ‘emerald coast’, you could tell it was seriously windy. Superyachts were hugging the coves, tucked into the cyan shallows to escape the worst of the Mistral which was tearing the sea to white caps offshore.

Walking down Porto Cervo’s dock further confirmed this, as sunbathing cushions were upended from monstrously large RIBs. Yet, as Setton greeted us, there was no question of whether or not we should go sailing – just how much to reef down by and how best to stay in contact with the photographer’s chase boat.

Here was a man who had complete faith in the design and ability of his yacht, and for good reason. He has spoken before about wanting a design capable of handling such lively conditions and the sharp Bonifacio chop typical of these waters.

Article continues below…

Jaro is the culmination of many of his previous daysailers, including his most recent 30ft Puja and 37ft Roljack (combinations of the designer’s name and Jack Setton). These descend from perhaps his most influential project, the 2010 Frers-designed Ciao Gianni, a stunning white 60ft daysailer much admired and imitated.

Jaro is the same length because Setton wanted her to compare to, and even improve upon, Ciao Gianni. She is also heavier with extra ballast, higher freeboard, and a classic sheerline to sail offshore. Setton’s custom daysailers all share this feature of a formidable ballast ratio (typically over 60%), to help power to weather without needing crew on the rail. And as he sails solo he keeps it simple with white sails including a self-tacking jib. The narrow hull shape equates to less wetted surface so if built light it should plane easily without needing larger headsails.

Within minutes we were out of the marina, the reefed sails set at the push of two buttons and we were into 25 knot winds, gusting to 40 over the deck.

Wow… what a missile! After being handed the helm immediately, it took only a couple of minutes to familiarise myself with the captive winch controls to quickly and confidently trim and sail solo. Under Setton’s calm instruction, I was soon filled with confidence in the boat as it’s remarkably stiff and reassuring.

Jaro boasts a unique combination of a light carbon hull but with excellent manners. We didn’t slam once, she just sliced through the waves, even when beating into 30-plus knots of true wind. The double-digit consistency of speed stuns: we clocked 15 knots reaching and maintained 12-14 knots for long periods. Cutting back upwind through a narrow pass between islands at 20-25° to the apparent wind, the dial didn’t drop below 9 knots!

We had both reefs in the main and put some furls in the jib when sailing upwind. While it didn’t feel near to being overpowered, I really appreciated how quickly you can dump the mainsheet via the captive remote switch, a critical feature in such conditions.

I admit to being a little sceptical on seeing the designs and renders while Jaro was in build, as it has a quirky look, particularly the deck. However, within minutes of sailing it completely clicked – this is the culmination of a lifetime of design thinking and experience.

“The whole idea was how I could sail alone – and really sail alone – tack and gybe around the bay,” Setton explains. “My quest from the start was to find any boat in production that does that. The answer was no, so I was obliged to design them.” Ergonomics and safety always come first, he adds.

Setton has a skipper who maintains his fleet and readies his boats for him. Jaro and two more of his daysailers are berthed on the hammerheads of Porto Cervo, the prize positions in a billionaires’ carpark. His boats are the least ‘showy’, just efficient and fit for purpose. But he has shared his life between Sardinia and Virgin Gorda for decades, and really uses these boats, often two or three different vessels a day, his skipper Jimmy handing him the helm and disembarking as they exit the marina.

Wow again!

If our first sail was a clear proof of concept, our second outing, an early morning sail, with just Jimmy and I aboard in utterly perfect conditions, was an exhibition of the purity of its design. Jaro’s simplicity makes her inviting: hoist sails, square away line tails in deep bins aside two central winches, then it’s just you, the wheels and the winch remote controls.

The Harken winches are deliberately large so you can hoist the mainsail quickly in a breeze, while the lazyjacks are rigged wide through the centre of the spreaders to prevent the leech snagging.

“It’s a train!” the softly-spoken skipper remarked with a knowing smile as we headed upwind. He was spot on, Jaro is just so easily driven. In the lighter breeze, we matched the true wind speed to the decimal in the late single figures. Further north, we felt more of the Bonifacio breeze barrelling down from the north-west, where it rose up to the mid- to late-teens.

Typically these days you might work your way uphill in such conditions, probably not all that comfortably, to earn yourself an offwind ride. Not so aboard Jaro. There’s as much pleasure going to windward, slicing up to weather like a knife at 20° to the apparent wind – thanks to having the equivalent of an army stacked on your rail in bulb ballast (minus the testosterone or race crew wage bill).

With full sail up it remained super light on the helm. The only movement needed here is to adjust the angle of the helmsman’s footplate on the camcleat, or the occasional nudge of the remote switches controlling the sheet captive winches.

Goes like a train

We then cracked off onto a fetch and the JV60 hit locomotive mode, spray flying off that leeward bow. Again we clocked over 15 knots, and again it was the consistency of high speeds that really hit home as we averaged around 13 knots for mile after mile. Remember, this is with white sails only and one of these is a self-tacking jib! Bear off another 30-40°, Jaro’s heel flattens off and you may feel like you’ve parked the boat… until you look at the speedo and notice she’s still doing over 10 knots. The waterline length just keeps doing its thing.

This is such an addictively playful yacht. Sailing it was a privilege and highlight of my career. It could arguably benefit from a sprinkling more weather helm, but Setton wanted ‘the lightest helm in the world’. The ease with which you can trim from the wheel also makes you more active, attentive, and engaged, playing the angles more, trimming to the shifts. It’s all about pure helmsman’s fun.

Jaro is one of many of Setton’s custom creations by Multiplast, built like the yard’s renowned race boats using a vacuum-infused carbon hull and prepreg deck. The stainless steel keel fin, which submerges nearly 4m to carry that whopping 6.9 tonnes of ballast, goes right up through the hull to join at the deck for rigidity and ease of construction. There’s nothing below decks, no toilet even, it’s just structure.

The design is so slender, so minimalist, with no-frills, no gimmicks, just a low freeboard and very narrow beam.

Setton originally wanted an open hull like his previous 30-footer Puja, but the low single-level deck is more practical and helps provide the stiffness needed.

The deck features a novel T-shape cockpit with two canvas stowage bags and that’s it – no swim platform, no benches, not even an anchor roller. Jaro’s purpose is to sail in and out of the marina – Setton has other boats for anchoring. There is a fairlead on the straight stemhead so an aluminium Fortress can be secured on a cleat there, but the minimalism shows his design mindset: this is how he uses his boat, so neither needs nor wants anything extra.

It’s evident how carefully this cockpit has been considered, from the ideal bimini height and perfect sitting-out positions, to the central winch and clutch set-up between the wheels. Everything points to how ergonomics and practicality always come first for Setton.

The robust sliding bimini structure is cleverly designed and built to offer shade in all conditions and winds – it slides fore and aft on Harken cars to protect the helm, or offer a full view of the main as it is raised or lowered.

The design borders on a utilitarian mentality in some instances, such as with the engine throttle control, which looks like it belongs on a dory from the 1990s and is at odds with the minimalist deck. Setton wanted it to be simple to use and easy to reach – a case in point being when we returned to the berth at full revs in reverse, only just making enough way against the gale to make the dock. The throttle and thruster controls need to be to hand at such times, he maintains.

A central hatch opens to reveal steps into the ‘interior’. This midships section houses the engine and battery boxes, LED strip lights illuminating the carbon carcass while fabric satchels hanging on the hull sides are the only superfluities. No-one will spend any time down here, it’s too loud and spartan. The rest is bare hull only, including the mighty structural framework around the keel trunk and mast step.

“It looks like a simple boat but it was a very intense, very special project,” Rolf Vrolijk told me. He added that it had much owner input, combined with Setton’s “particular upwind-oriented way of using the boat”.

Distilled enjoyment

We were off the dock at 0745 and back for brunch late morning having had a more rewarding experience than I would normally get in days of sailing. It’s all about concentrating the pleasure for one person, really efficiently using any time afloat, something Setton has got down to a fine art. It’s a focussed approach, narrow-minded even, but the result is close to perfection for him.

Later, Setton and I took his 10-year old JV36 Roljack out for a spin, which really helped me to understand Jaro’s evolution. It’s a similar style (albeit with flatter aft ends), with low freeboard and a flush deck with just a central well.

Again, Roljack lets its performance speak louder than its looks. It’s another rocket to sail, especially upwind and fetching in the bay, where we weaved around the megayachts, touching double figures with just the main and self-tacking jib hoisted. And with a similar uber high ballast ratio as Jaro, it slices to weather, giving a similarly intoxicating helming experience, but this time on a lighter tiller-steered daysailer with less complexity. Sensational.

“It gives the feeling of a pure race boat but without needing the crew,” Setton pointed out in response to my beaming grin. The helm position is also about the best I’ve come across. Using simple canvas backrests (Setton designed), you sit with your legs fully extended over the deck to the foot brace, as if perched in a dune chair. Combined with remotely operated reversible winches each side you can adjust trim with one hand while helming.

Loving the process

One of the reasons Setton has had so many custom yachts is the enjoyment he gets from the design process, working with a naval architect to tailor-make a vessel to his exact requirements. The reward is when they come alive.

Helming Jaro is a money-can’t-buy experience and yet, ironically, Setton’s custom creations are hard to sell. He admits they aren’t always attractive, and knows he’ll lose big money on them, which is a frustration.

Jaro is a purist helmsman’s daysailer – built for a driver, it’s all about the ergonomics and driving experience. Being light on the helm and seakindly is crucial. “It’s like cars – if the steering is heavy, the pleasure goes away,” Setton comments.

So which was the best racing car he drove? “The 1975 Niki Lauda Ferrari,” he answers without hesitation – “that’s the only one I wanted to drive on my race track, for its perfect ergonomics. And it’s the same here. Ergonomics are so important.”

Yes, Jaro is a crazy amount of money for a toy kept in one of boating’s glamour capitals. But for someone with Setton’s means and lifestyle, someone who absolutely lives and breathes for the joy of helming and daysailing, you can appreciate how he reached this purity of paired back design through decades of trial and error.

There’s perhaps no other yacht in existence that sails upwind so easily, so efficiently, so ruthlessly in the hands of a single pilot. For a boat testing nerd, this was my version of driving a classic F1 Ferrari on a private race track!

---

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

---