FIRST GLIMPSE

Excess 11 — Croatia The Excess 11 was drawn for sailors who never quite warmed to the conventions of the classic cruising sailboat. Her lines are deliberately assertive, modern and sporty in intent, and that character carries through from the deck plan to the way she is meant to be sailed — engaged, responsive, genuinely enjoyable to helm rather than simply comfortable to sit on. Below, she sleeps ten guests across six cabins: four with a double bed and two with a single bed. It is an unusually generous layout for a yacht of this type, and one that suits the way Croatia is best explored — two or three families or a group of friends aboard together, each with a private space to retreat to at the end of the day. The Dalmatian coast plays to her strengths. Short hops between islands, reliable summer breezes, and anchorages you reach under sail rather than under engine: Hvar, Vis, the Kornati, the quieter bays of Brač and Šolta. Shallow draft opens up coves that deeper-keeled yachts simply pass by, and the wide deck spaces make the hours in between — swimming, lunch at anchor, late afternoons doing very little — the real point of the week. A straightforward, well-conceived yacht for a sailing holiday in Croatia, with the space to bring everyone along.