Every once in a while, something comes a long the changes the game. Sliced bread changed how we eat, penicillin changed our health, Arnold changed how we viewed fitness and gym life, Michael Jordan changed how we played basketball and viewed footwear, the iPod changed music, the Toyota Prius change how we drive, the iPhone changed the world, Barack Obama changed race relations forever, Breaking Bad changed television, and Facebook changed how we perceive each other. Okay, so not everything that comes around is all gingerbread and lollipops, but regardless of positive or negative, it seems that when something comes along and shakes us out of our rut, we perk up and pay attention.
Now, all of that is a preface to introduce the incredibly innovative Jeannaeau NC11. This boat stormed onto the scene in 2014, and has continued to impress for the last four years and counting. You see, Jeanneau had a vision for what a boat could be. It wasn’t about being just a cruiser, or just a sporting boat, or a trawler, or a moving house, or even an entertainment hub for friends and family to gather. No, it wasn’t about being any one of those things. It was about being all of them at the same time. Oh, and it was also supposed to be about being able to embody all of those boats, but without costing as much as all of them put together, or in some cases, less than most of them individually.
How you ask? Well, for one, the NC11 can be bought with either a single stern drive or twin motors, so spend if you want to spend, or don’t if you don’t. The other big money saver, and very innovative idea is to have the furniture be able to support different uses with minimal effort. Move the bench seat up forward and suddenly you have a large platform on the stern to enjoy that can make a great sunning deck, or launch side for diving, or even a casting base to do some fishing from. Move that same bench seat into the aft position and now there is peace to set up chairs for a leisurely social gathering, or some good food to be presented. Inside the main salon is a settee that is so versatile it may qualify as having multiple personality syndrome. The booth-stye seating is centered around a table that pivots and moves with a few simple turns of the hand knobs. The table can be extended to allow two extra guests to face the port, while the extra stools under the starboard bulkhead make it easy to seat up to six people for dinner. The galley equipment is hidden away under what looks like a run-of-the-mill wood counter, but just lends optional space when no one is cooking.
That settee has a forward seat that flips 90-degrees and transforms into a forward-facing companion seat instead of a rear-facing dinette seat. And speaking of seats, the helm seat is actually located port side, which may seem odd at first but actually is incredibly useful. The elevated height makes standing completely unnecessary. Push open the sliding glass door to let the cool sea air in and you’ll instantly feel connected to the water, mostly because it’s right next to you. That same seating position is also incredibly useful when trying to operate the Volvo Penta sterndrive joystick. Narrow maneuverability isn’t much good if you can’t see where you’re going, but with the NC11, you can pull up to the dock with ease and utilize the cleat right next to you, tying up the NC11 with about as much effort as slicing bread.
With a length overall of 35’ 7” a beam of 12’2” and a dry weight just over 12,300 pounds, the NC11 is the perfect size, to do lots of things. Optioned with twin Volvo Penta D3 200 horsepower motors, the Jeanneau can get to plane in 11.0 seconds, 0-30 mph in 15.4 seconds and only experiences a bow rise of about 10 degrees, which is mostly mitigated to the high seating position in terms of visability.
The Jeanneau NC11 has tons of storage and compartments to make it able to morph in to whatever you need it to be. The one thing it can’t be however, is unoriginal. And while many competitors have been trying to emulate the successful principles that make the NC11 so special, but much like the Zune, the Blackberry, MySpace, and the New York Knicks, there’s nothing like the original.
