If you’re on the look out for a genuine cruiser/racer, it may be worth heading for the Elan stand at this week’s London Boat Show to view the Rob Humphreys-designed Elan 40.

New at last year’s Southampton Boat Show, this boat is proving popular with those who want to cruise as well as compete on the racing circuit. The boat on the stand this week, owned by Jim Macgregor, is fitted out to full personalised racing spec ready for the start of the season at the Warsash Spring Series.

As well as cruising with his family, Macgregor intends to compete in all the major big boat series events this year including the Cowes Red Funnel regatta, the Scottish Series, Millennium regatta at Poole plus Cork Week and Cowes. Macgregor, who’s just traded up from the his successful, event-winning Elan 333, commented: ‘It was the natural progression for us, we won a lot of regattas in that boat but just wanted something slightly bigger. On the new boat we have a furling headsail and lazy jacks for cruising but all that will come off and on will go the Kevlar racing-cut sails including a carbon no.3 for racing.’

At just 40ft this boat is deceptively spacious, particularly below with three double cabins (on with an en-suite) plus another double berth in the large main cabin. There’s also a larger than average galley with a freezer, a comfortable navigation station and plenty of storage space for cruising.

And the price? The standard boat is £95,500 but for the racing version, with a deeper keel, taller rig and all the extras including sails, expect to pay in the region of £140/150,000.

For details, contact Marine Sales UK in Portsmouth on 44 (0)23 9220 1150.