78 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com NOVEMBER 2017

A

s soon as you lay eyes on

the Jeanneau Sunfast 42

you are thinking of extra

hands. But fear not, the

owner of this boat regularly

sails her single-handed. Her tall

rig, extended beam and minimal

wetted surface leave nothing to the

imagination: this is a racing machine,

albeit one marketed back in the mid-

1990s, as a ‘cruiser-racer’, so as not

to lose out to the family market, but

one, which, in all honesty, should have

been branded as a racer-cruiser.

Of the 25 built between 1996

and 1998, the option was given for

the master cabin to be sacrifi ced to

accommodate four crew cabins as it is

acknowledged that this 42-footer can

only be sailed to her full potential with

a strong crew.

She has performance written all over her, but

would the Sunfast 42 make a good cruising boat?

Dick Durham sails one to find out

Jeanneau

Sunfast 42

USED BOAT TEST THE UK’S MOST COMPREHENSIVE YACHT TESTS

A racer-cruiser, rather than a
cruiser-racer, her sporty hull
conceals a well laid out
cruising interior