NewBoats07
The IRC Rule, slowly gaining a broader international foothold, seems to encourage roomy, stable boats with comfortable interiors, and builders are responding with many iterations of the racer/cruiser. Several new dual-purpose designs have been successful on the racecourse this year, hinting that the rule, thus far, is working as intended. Even a few of the new sportboats and multihulls give at least a small nod to sailors who desire accommodations. Many of the 21 new designs featured here entered our Boat of the Year competion, the winners of which will be announced in the January ’07 issue of Sailing World.The Sydney 36CR is a racer/cruiser with emphasis on the racer. A development of the IMS-designed Sydney 36, this iteration sports non-overlapping headsails on a powerful fractional rig with swept-back spreaders that eliminate the need for running backstays. The Australian builders have taken advantage of its large interior to provide comfortable, if minimalist, accommodations. www.sydneyyachts.orgDanish builder X-Yachts is promoting its X-35 One Design as a new one-design class. The hull has an integral galvanized steel grid that provides keel and rig support while increasing stiffness. The X-35 has a powerful 9/10 rig and non-overlapping headsails over a high-aspect rudder and bulb keel, a large open-transom cockpit, and accommodations for up to eight. www.x-yachts.comThe New York YC’s Club Swan 42 was designed by German Frers and intended to be a strict one design. With a provisional IRC rating of 1.182, we expect it will be a boat to be reckoned with in IRC fleets as well. Class rules require an all-amateur crew with the exception of one Category 3 sailor. A racing-oriented deck layout has few concessions to cruising. Two interior layouts are available. www.nautorgroup.comThe Beneteau First 10R, a 33-footer designed by Farr Yacht Design is Beneteau’s first sprit boat in the United States. With a carbon mast, a 63″ wheel, and a racing-oriented deck layout, it’s aimed at competitive sailors, but down below it has comfortable accommodations (with standing headroom), including a pair of settees in the saloon that can double as sea berths. A head/shower combination takes up the forepeak under the forward hatch. www.beneteauusa.comUpdate the J/92 (1993 SW Boat of the Year) with a slightly deeper, more efficient keel and rudder, a larger cockpit, a sail plan that features non-overlapping headsails, and a masthead asymmetric flown from a carbon sprit, and you get the J/92S. This 30-footer has four berths, an enclosed head, and a galley with a sink and a one-burner stove. www.jboats.comThe J/124 is designed as a fast coastal cruiser and daysailer. The carbon wheel, clean lines, and powerful sail plan will have owners bombing around the racecourse. Its high-backed cockpit with 6’11” seats and accommodations for up to six will make this a boat the crew can inhabit at regattas, and the family can comfortably cruise for a weekend or longer. www.jboats.comDesigners Alex Simonis and Maarten Voogd have given the Dehler 44 a modern hull shape; fairly narrow with a fine entry forward and high aspect foils. On deck, a cockpit table folds and stows flush in the twin-wheeled cockpit and the dodger stows sports-car style on the cabin top. This boat is all about looking suave at the dock and on the racecourse. www.dehler.comThe Grand Soleil 37, from the design team of IMS and IRC wizards Marcelino Botin and Shaun Carkeek, may be a wolf in sheep’s clothing when it comes to racing. It won its IRC Class at Cowes Week 2005. Below, satin-finished mahogany sheathes a roomy, comfortable layout. The cored hull features a galvanized steel grid structure to keep it stiff and lightweight and to support the keel and rig. www.grandsoleil.netThe Maestro 40 is a Finnish-built cruiser/racer that places a premium on performance. The hull is built using vacuum-injection lamination. Joiner-work below is cored wood veneers for lightness and strength; the keel is a hollow steel fin with a lead bulb. there’s a double berth forward, an L-shaped galley, and a choice of one or two double-cabins aft. www.maestroboats.fiJeanneau has updated its charter-based 49-footer to appeal to the racing owner. The Sun Odyssey 49 Performance has more sail area, Dyform standing rigging, feathering prop, and a 7’8″ performance keel. This boat should be quick and responsive, with plenty of comfort for cruising. jeanneauamerica.comThe largest boat in Beneteau’s First series of boats is now a 50-footer. Designed by Philippe Briand, the First 50 has twin wheels, carbon cockpit fittings, a 9’1″ T-bulb keel, and a three-cabin, two-head layout. Options include a carbon rig and a shallow-draft keel. This boat is aimed straight at the 50-foot racer/cruiser market and is made in France. www.beneteauusa.comThe Croatian-built Salona 37 comes down solidly on the cruiser side of the equation, with three choices of layout, including two or three double-cabins, and one or two heads. But with a modern underbody and 900 sq. ft. of sail area, it should be fast enough around the buoys on a Wednesday night and still give the family a comfortable platform for the weekend. www.salonayachts.comThe Flying Tiger 10 Meter originated when designer Bob Perry posed a question in the forum section of the Sailing Anarchy website. Deposits have been received for the first 100 of these Chinese-built, one-design, trailerable sportboats and five boats are already sailing. The rig and retractable sprit are carbon and are designed to fit in a 40-foot container along with the boat. The interior is rudimentary. www1.ft10class.infoThe Annapolis 30 is designed to be a flat-out one-design racer. The boat is built with extensive use of carbon fiber and E-glass, keeping the overall weight to less than 3,900 lbs., which should make the boat lively on the racecourse. The rudder retracts while still allowing the boat to be maneuvered, and the keel retracts enough so the boat may be ramp launched. www.annapolisperformanceyachts.comThe 28-foot, Swiss-built Esse 850 is an over-canvassed, trailerable sportboat with a plumb stem, a narrow beam, and a 6’7″ lifting keel that makes up 60 percent of the boat’s total weight. The builder wanted an easily handled daysailer that didn’t require a huge crew. www.esse850.comBilled as a luxurious daysailer, and designed to be raced hard, too, Synergy Yachts’ 35-foot 350 RL features a carbon rig and 7’7″ bulb keel. The pole for the asymmetric spinnaker is fixed on deck and is easily removable as are the carbon cockpit seats. The interior has 5’6″ headroom, and has a simple four-berth layout with a large icebox and an enclosed head. www.synergyachts.comDesigned to the Formula 18 Rule, the Nacra F18 Infusion is a production boat in a development class. It capitalizes on the experience the builder gained in manufacturing the current A Class Catamaran world champion, the Nacra A2. Its wave-piercing hulls are canted outboard 4 degrees, and flatter sections aft are designed to promote planing. The hulls are built with infusion technology, making them stiffer and lighter than those built using conventional layup process. The rig setup features a wing mast with a fat-head main, a self-tacking jib, and a high-aspect asymmetric spinnaker. www.nacra.usCorsair Marine’s 24-foot Sprint 750 is a trailerable one-design trimaran and camper. The attraction of this boat is its performance; it features a large sail plan that includes a square-top mainsail, a sprit-mounted screecher, and a spinnaker, over narrow hulls with an overall beam of 18-feet. A large, easily stowed boom tent is available for the cockpit, and there’s a double berth below. www.corsairmarine.comIn the strict sense of the word, the Raptor 16 is not a proa but an outrigger. An adjustable hydrofoil in the ama provides righting moment by pulling down when it’s to weather and generating lift when to leeward. The Raptor hulls are molded carbon fiber and epoxy over a foam core; all up weight is 95 pounds, including rig. www.hydrovisions.comThe O’pen Bic is a planing dinghy with a hull made of thermoformed polyethylene, a carbon and fiberglass two-piece mast, and an aluminum boom. The target audience for the O’pen is kids who need a transition boat between the Optimist and a 420. www.openbic.comThe design brief for the carbon Lightspeed 32 One-Design called for “a simple, lightweight, offshore-capable rocket ship with the emphasis on performance, fun, and safety.” The boat features high freeboard to avoid slamming the cross beams into rough seas. There’s 175 sq. ft. of deck and trampoline area, and high-backed seats on each hull. www.lightspeedboats.comDesigned by Bruce Kirby as a transitional boat for junior sailors graduating from the Optimist, the Pixel is aimed at crews too light for powered-up dinghies. It’s built in China and has an epoxy hull, carbon rig, and an asymmetric spinnaker. www.brucekirbymarine.com
