Our sun is the fire and energy of life. That’s why, with the new Hanse 388, Hanse have created a cruiser that lets in more sunlight below deck than any other yacht in its class. A record number of portholes in the hull and on deck – and even alongside the companionway – flood the saloon with natural sunlight the whole day through. The well-structured, large cockpit and the generously designed deck spaces invite you to relax under the sun.
The trademark fast hull line and the impressive sail plan come from the pen of judel/vrolijk & co, the world’s best and most experienced yacht construction engineers.
Hanse 385 wins section and places second overall in Chicago Waukegan race 2017.
For well over 50 years Great Lakes sailors have been racing in the annual Chicago to Waukegan race. This year just over 100 boats enjoyed the beautiful weather (Mid 70’s on the lake) and nice wind (4 to 12 knots) with big shifts that kept competitors on their toes.
The race started with south east breeze that was supposed to shift to southwest. The race is north up the lake just over 30 miles at about 340 degrees. Nearly all the boats started on Starboard and with spinnakers flying headed out into the lake. Over an hour later the wind shifted to the Southwest and most of the fleet jibed in shore. Chaika lead the section from the start. The Hanse was able to sail the asymmetric spinnaker tacked to the anchor roller nearly as low as the boats with regular spinnakers with poles, and Chaika was just fast!
Jibing inshore proved to be the winning tactic. The air got lighter but boats offshore had even lighter winds. Then just over half way through the race the wind shifted to the north and Chaika was able to crack out the new Code 0. What a game changer. With the code 0 Chaika sailed over 4 knots in 3 knots of wind while the boats offshore struggled to find wind and had a slow spinnaker angle to get back to shore. With just a few miles left in the race Chaika was still in sight of the Andrews 70, TP52 and ahead of the Nelson Marek 68!
With the spinnaker, back up and the wind back to the Southeast Chaika jibed her way to the finish, beating the next boat in the section by nearly an hour and finishing second overall!!!!!!!
Chaika a brand-new Hanse 385 finished first in Spinnaker PHRF section 4 and was 2nd overall!. Chaika is set up to do the Cruising Mackinac race so she is allowed a main, 2 jibs and two spinnakers only. Owner Gene Kovalsky was able to use a used J/111 jib which just happens to fit the boat nearly perfectly. We put tracks on the deck and the sail fills the foretriangle nicely. Cruising Mackinac boats are also allowed 2 Spinnakers, one was from his old boat, plus a new Code Zero from North Sails.
