Visit to Boot Düsseldorf

Liz and I left the relatively mild winter of Valencia to brave the cold of Germany for a visit to Boot Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf Germany. This is the world’s largest indoor boat show, and there were 17 halls full of boats and gear. As we get ready for the launch in April, there were a few things I wanted to look at, and maybe purchase. We also got to see the new Dragonfly 36, which won the European Boat of the Year this year at this show.

This boat has gotten some amazing reviews, and was crowded with visitors most of the days at the show. It was the only large trimaran at the show, and so it really stood out. The DF36 has introduced some new design innovations since the 40 won the boat of the year 5 years ago, but being on the 36 reinforced my decision to go with the larger DF40. It is always surprising to me how a difference of only 4 feet on a yacht can mean so much difference in interior volume and livability, but the 40 ft Dragonfly is a much larger boat, both inside and in the cockpit. The galley, and salon have more space, the head is in a better place and a little larger. The cockpit benches are longer and there’s room behind the helm to relax a bit. I also noticed that there’s more room in the engine room to get in with the engine for maintenance. Anyway, I committed to the 40 before I even knew there was a 36, so it’s a moot point!

We also looked at a new tender. Because Orizuru is much smaller than Sage, we have a very different set of needs for our tender; the limiting factor is now “can it fold up small enough to fit into the hatch on the float?” So we looked for the smallest inflatable boat that could carry 2-3 people. We eventually settled on 2 candidates, one from 3D tenders in France and one from TrueKit in New Zealand. Because the TrueKit Navigator 250 has a catamaran style hull it should be able to go a little more efficiently through the water with less power, we settled on that one.

We were looking for an electric outboard for the new tender. There were a lot of these on display at the show, including quite a few new brands from China that I hadn’t heard of. In the end I settled on a German brand, a Torqeedo. Torqeedo was recently purchased by Yamaha, and redesigned their Travel line for 2025 to get rid of some of the things that I didn’t like about their original design. I have high hopes that the new model, the Travel XP, will be a robust, and easy to use electric outboard. Having an electric outboard means I don’t have to have gasoline on the boat. Combined with the induction cooker and electric oven, this makes relatively safe Diesel the only combustible fuel on the boat.

We treated ourselves to new Spinlock PFDs and got free tethers as a “boat show special,” and Liz got a new foul weather jacket. We worked out some logistical details with the Dragonfly team around launching in the Baltic, and later transporting the boat to the med. All in all a productive visit to the boat show, and it was great to see the Dragonfly team there at the show. They made us feel like family.

Besides the show, we had a good visit to Düsseldorf. More on that in the next post!

Boot Düsseldorf, east entrance, near the sail areas.

There’s 17 buildings of boat show, mostly power, but two large buildings for sailboats and several for accessories. Scuba and board and paddle sports also have large areas.

Sailing Optis

The show is big enough to have several large pools for demo of boards, kayaks, etc. Here they are letting the kids sail around in optimist class dinghys, and the wind is provided by the large fans on the left.

F33R

There were a couple of pretty cool trimarans at the show besides the Dragonfly. Here’s a home built Farrier F33R Carbon racing tri which has won many races in Northern Europe.

New PFDs!

We each are getting new Spinlock 6D PFDs for the new boat.

Electric outboard

Torqeedo makes this handy little outboard, which they state is equivalent to a 5HP Gasoline outboard in power. Of course there are limits, but I think this is going to work well for us.

TrueKit tender

This is the TrueKit Navigator 250. It’s small, and packs down into two bags which will fit through the hatch and into the float.

Astus 26.5

Another cool Trimaran at the show was the French-built Astus 26.5. The largest of the Astus line, it is compact and trailerable. Probably good for day sailing, some racing, and occasional overnights.

Dragonfly 36 cockpit

In pictures the Dragonfly 36 appears to be almost as big as the Dragonfly 40, but standing in the cockpit of the 36, it felt considerably smaller. They didn’t have a 40 at the show, though, so I took a picture of the 36.