Plenty of sporty forty-something-footers already exist, such as the First 44.7, the Grand Soleil 43 and 46.3, the X 43 and 46, the Dufour 44 and Jeanneau’s Sun Fast 43. Between them, they cover everything from the mass-produced to the semi-custom, so the Salona 45 is up against some stiff and well-established competition. As she doesn’t appear to be radically different, the question is why should anyone buy her rather than one of the alternatives.

That’s what I wanted to find out, not that the wind in Trieste let me learn a great deal about her sailing qualities. That chance came later, in Split. In Italy, we ghosted around in little more than a zephyr, establishing that boat speed was only marginally less than true wind speed and wondering whether she had what it takes to succeed in the waters of north-west Europe.

Many of the essentials are there, for sure. The deck and cockpit layout make for easy movement, the hardware – from Lewmar as standard – is where you want it, and the standard of finish, from the mouldings to the traditionally laid teak decks, is hard to fault.

My reservations were centred around the cockpit. Wide, relatively shallow, uncluttered and easy to work, it comes with a removable pod moulding that acts as a helmsman’s seat and provides a couple of small lockers. Leave it ashore, and you have a beautifully wide open transom that’s perfect for boarding from the stern; drop it in, and the boat returns to cruiser mode.

The trouble is that even with the pod in position, stowage in the cockpit is limited. You have two smallish lockers right aft, each big enough for a few fenders, but nowhere to keep an inflatable dinghy, an outboard and all the kit that cruising sailors need to carry. Neither did our test model have any cubby lockers in the coamings. That question is one of several to be addressed on boats built for the UK.

Given the twin after cabins beneath the cockpit sole, the lack of stowage was perhaps understandable. When the single after-cabin version becomes available, stowage should no longer be a problem.

Something else I’d like to see is a rubbing strake. Clean though the lines are without one, a teak or stainless steel strip just below the gunwale would help preserve them and is promised for the British market, as are fairleads for the bow and stern cleats and protective caps for the teak toerail amidships to protect against chafe from the springs.

A more substantial change on the boat being shown at Southampton is the installation of a shaft-driving 56hp Yanmar 4JH3 rather than the standard saildrive unit. That’s just one example of how A D Boats are prepared to accommodate owners’ preferences as far as possible.

As you would expect on a boat of this nature, the 45 exhibited no flaws under power, achieving a maximum of 8.2 knots at 3,500rpm, spinning on a sixpence and proving precise in tight manoeuvres. The only real area for improvement would be in the stopping power. Bite in astern was rather lacking with the standard two-bladed fixed prop and should be appreciably better with one of Volvo’s three-bladed folders.

Simpler modifications would include the fitting of a larger wheel – there’s enough space in the recess for one up to 60in (152cm) – or, like an Italian owner, you can have two. The winch and mainsheet arrangement can also be varied. Our test boat had the mainsheet led forward along the boom from the floor-mounted traveller in the cockpit, and then aft both sides to winches immediately forward of the wheel. It’s a well-proven system that works on the race course and lets the helmsman do some trimming when sailing short-handed. As standard, you have the mainsheet led to the starboard coachroof winch, saving a little cash but putting the helmsman a cockpit’s-length away from the tail.

I was reminded of my objections to the standard arrangement when I took the opportunity to go for a sail on one of the charter boats in Split. Having driven down to see the factory, we found ourselves greeted by grey skies and a near gale – just the conditions for a proper test of the boat’s sailing abilities.

A D were concerned that the boat had just come back from a charter and had well-used sails. Still, it was an opportunity not to be missed, so I jumped aboard with the company’s chief designer and had a quick blast around the bay in a breeze that had moderated overnight to between 23 and 28 knots. We threw up the full main, left a few rolls of headsail around the foil, and stormed off on a reach at 9.5 knots.

The helm was beautifully light and the rudder only lost grip as the stanchion bases started getting wet, at around 35° of heel. That’s when the ability to dump the mainsheet from the helm would have been useful, though the boat didn’t broach in any dramatic fashion; she merely rounded up a little before dutifully coming back on course.

Upwind, we logged 6.2 to 6.5 knots in the flattish water and short chop – a reasonable speed given the state of the sails, the rolled genoa, the shallow fin keel and the fixed propeller. In racing trim, with North 3DL sails and a full crew on the rail, I’m told that a 45 has been clocked at 8.5 knots.

Our short sail was great fun and showed the boat to be precise, responsive and easy to handle. It was only when we got back that someone made a comment about two people who had never met before taking a 45-footer out into a Force 6 to 7 and throwing it around like a dinghy. Just 10 or 15 years ago, that would have been difficult, if not impossible; changes in boat design, rig and hardware technology have made larger yachts easier to handle by smaller crews than ever before, even if there are still plenty of similar size that call for substantially more grunt.

If anything on the deck of the 45 isn’t as you like it, within reason it can be changed, because offering a degree of customisation is one of the ways in which A D are trying to distance themselves from the competition. An attractive price tag adds to the appeal: afloat in the UK and including VAT, a Salona 45 will cost just over £170,000 before you start adding the extras.

One important aspect of the Salona is that she’s built in with a minimum of interior mouldings and all the joinery bonded directly to the hull. That creates a pleasantly woody feel, maximises stowage space and allows easy access to most of the systems. Similarly, most of the headlinings are in vinyl-covered plywood and can easily be removed.

If there’s one aspect of the 45 that doesn’t appear to match the care with which she’s been engineered, moulded and fitted out on deck, it’s the standard of joinery down below. In many respects, this boat appears to equal, if not better, many that cost substantially more, but the interior woodwork (in a choice of cherry or mahogany) is still of the modular, pre-assembled variety that makes her feel like a production-line boat – which she’s not.

To be fair, the finish is generally neat and not too much sealant is visible. Nonetheless, when Salona start making their own woodwork instead of buying it from the Slovenian company that supplies a number of European builders, they will have an opportunity to lift the boat into another class.

Even now, A D offer customisation down below and have made improvements since the test boat was launched. For example, the switch panel hinges down, the hinge on the chart table has been made flush, and details like the mounting of the log transducer immediately beneath one of the floor girders (making it difficult to retract) have been seen to.

Throughout the interior, hard-to-reach corners harbour no unpleasant surprises and I found nothing to cause concern except for a rather small swan-neck on the heads inlet pipe, a shortage of ventilators and a little unsealed timber where limber holes had been cut through the substantial plywood transverse floor members. Engine access was good (on new boats the companionway steps will hinge up on a gas strut) and a well-insulated tunnel between the two after cabins keeps engine noise to a minimum. A bonus is extra privacy for the cabins’ occupants.

UK Distributor:
Wittey Marine Ltd
Unit 17, Haddenham Business Park,
Thame Road,
Haddenham,
Bucks
HP17 8LJ

Tel: 01844 290890.
Fax: 01844 292431
Email: sales@witteymarine.com
Website: www.witteymarine.com

Builder:
A D Boats
Matoseva 8,
21210 Solin,
Croatia.

Tel: +385 21 260 984
Fax: +385 21 260 986
Website: www.adboats.hr