Drawing Board: Sabre 51 Salon Express
It’s a need expressed from our owners to want to expand the adaptability of their boats and their investments into how they want to use the boat, even if how they want to use it changes,” Sabre Yachts Vice President of Design and Product Development Kevin Burns says, half-jokingly describing the impetus for the Maine boatbuilder’s newest model as “boring:” the Sabre 51 Salon Express itself is anything but.
Sabre is keying in on three main focuses with the 51: entertaining, weekending and long-distance cruising after taking extensive feedback from its nearly 200 Sabre 48 owners. As a result, they’ve conceived a versatile, all-weather yacht with some in-house toys to boot.
It’s readily apparent why the 51 can, at first glance, be painted as a capable entertainer. Across 314 square feet of real estate between the cockpit and the main deck’s interior, there is seating for upward of 20 guests. The cockpit alone could comfortably fit eight, with the centerpiece being a forward-facing, L-shaped settee and a teak table in the aft, portside corner.
Burns says a grill can be placed at the settee opposite too, conveniently connecting with the portside wet bar. The cockpit can be shaded by a retractable, automated awning from SureShade or a manually-assembled Makefast awning system (each with its own pros and cons).
This ability to host is made possible by the 51’s galley-down layout, which is also seen in the builder’s 45 and 48. Here, the galley’s two-burner cooktop and pantry combine for 66 square feet.
Two en suite staterooms with island queens make up the 51’s accommodations. The master stateroom is amidships and to starboard; the forepeak guest stateroom is 76 square feet. There is also an aft, 58-square-foot utility area with stowage, a workbench and washer/dryer, which, alternatively, can be made into crew quarters.
“This space in particular is really driven by each individual owner and how they want to fit that space out,” Burns says of the crew/utility area. “And so the reality is that we expect a lot of customization to happen within this volume here, and we’ve designed this space in a way that allows for that customization.”
Sabre likes to hone in on what it calls “owner’s authority” over their yacht. Following the 51’s theme of flexibility, Sabre owners have access to the company’s Switching system and Sabre Connect app. The former is a digital system that allows owners to manage all their boat’s onboard systems, while the latter lets them access this system, even when not aboard.
This allows owners to maximize their time on the water by activating the Seakeeper and turning on the air conditioning, for example. Burns says these features turn the relatively complex 51 into “a very simple and easy machine to have complete authority over.”
At time of writing, Sabre says the projected cruise speed is 27 knots with a 30-knot top hop from twin Volvo Penta IPS. The builder says the first several deposits have already been placed by current Sabre owners. The 51 is expected to debut at the 2025 Newport boat show.
Says Burns: “Our customers that come on to this boat that are familiar with us, that have owned our boats over the years, immediately recognize that this is a very different boat.”
Sabre 51 Salon Express Specifications:
LOA: 57’5”
Beam: 15’11”
Draft: 4’1”
Displ.: 45,300 lb.
Fuel: 600 gal.
Water: 190 gal.
Cruising speed: 27 knots
Top speed: 30 knots
Power: 2/600-hp Volva Penta IPS 800
This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/down-east/drawing-board-sabre-51-salon-express
