Owner's Comments

In 2008, with 2 years to go before my retirement, my wife and I decided it was time to give up racing, sell our Swan 42, (after 12 happy years,) and look for a comfortable fast cruising boat for the next stage of our sailing life. After two Swans over 19 years and a Swede 38 before that, we really appreciate quality, performance and good manners in a yacht. We decided that 45 - 46ft was the right size for our needs - big enough to be fast and comfortable, with plenty of stowage and good water and fuel reserves, but small enough to be sailed short-handed in any conditions.

X-Yachts Xc 45 seemed to fit the bill, so after an impressive sail-trial and two visits to the factory in Denmark, we placed our order and had the pleasure of choosing everything to make her just as we wanted. Since we were planning more long-distance cruising, we opted for a generator, water-maker and washing-machine, deep-freeze and hot-air heating. We went for a high-quality sail wardrobe from Doyle Sails American loft using their Stratis sail-cloth, (just as good as North's 3DL).

To help with being short-handed, we also specified a retractable bow-thruster which works well and makes manoeuvring safe and simple. The 75hp engine, with saildrive and three-bladed Flexifold prop allows cruising at 7.8 - 8.0kts all day with 8.5kts flat-out with a clean bottom.

A modern 45ft yacht these days has the space down below of a 50 footer just a few years ago, so we have lots of room - perfect for the two of us with " his and her's" heads and plenty of storage, and when we have friends or family joining us, there are two respectable guest cabins.

The owners' cabin is huge, and forward of it is a large locker accessed from the deck which happily swallows up our 3.2m dinghy and all the fenders. The Xc45 is a very good sailing boat, with a big easily-handled rig and excellent fittings and gear. Rod-rigging and hydraulics come as standard and all running rigging is Dyneema, ensuring sparkling performance that will satisfy owners who are more used to racing yachts.

She is built to a very high standard and makes an outstanding fast cruising boat.

We have cruised extensively in Perseverance, covering the Channel and Northern France, South Brittany down to La Rochelle, Ireland and Scotland up to the Western Isles as far as Skye, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. In 2014 we sailed to the Baltic and cruised from Haderslev in Denmark all the way to the Stockholm Archipelago and back. Perseverance spent the winter at the XYachts factory stored under cover, and in 2015 we cruised North to the West coast of Sweden and the Gotenburg Archipelago, before bringing her Back to the UK. Since then, we have kept Perseverance in Plymouth and have cruised mainly between Brixham and The Scillies. We no longer need a yacht for long distance cruising, so have decided to sell Perseverance and replace her with something smaller.