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Charlotte’s sails were cut in Sydney at North Sails, using a carbon-
taffeta laminate code named Marathon and looked in peak condition
despite about 6,000nm during the delivery cruise. The carbon Park
Avenue boom is a monster with an equally beefy vang. Conventional
two-line slab reefing is used with three tucks available, and professional
Skipper Harley Florence says the first tuck is taken at 20 knots true.
Reflecting that a vessel as large as the CNB 76 will be a crewed yacht,
there are clear areas of demarcation on deck and below. So the sail
controls are all aft, away from the cockpit lounge that on Charlotte was
fitted with a McConaghy custom-made bimini.
Sail controls are all electric and include a centralised Harken
mainsheet winch and a pair of secondary sheet winches on the coamings
beside the outboard located helms; which
have stylish gunwale seating that opens up
lots of deck space for access to the transom. I
particularly liked the feel of the carbon-teak
composite wheels that changed to a lovely
burnished colour when the rain poured on us
as we sped up Sydney Harbour.
Raymarine instrumentation is the standard
factory-fitted option and the binnacles have
plenty space for a plotter on each, along with
wind instruments, to give all the information
needed when sailing. Alongside these are twin
levers for the Sidepower thrusters that drop
down fore and aft.Wa t e r To y s
The wide stern houses a tender garage
for a 3.85m dinghy. Charlotte had one of thepowerful Williams Jet Tenders that scare the life out of me (doing 50
knots one time, I realised turning was not its best feature!). The large
hydraulic swimming platform worked well as a launching ramp after
we anchored.
Motoring into the anchorage showed the ample power of the 220hp
engine, which I pushed to over 10 knots before easing back to a more
economical 7 knots (1,800RPM) that the Skipper advised – using
a meagre 10 litres per hour, giving the CNB 76 a substantial range.
Handling under power also was predictable when going aft, with the
twin rudders obediently following a straight line without complaint as
the anchor dug in.
Swinging at the anchor was an ideal time to study this pocket