Sailing Magazine

Contest 60CS
Bluewater cruiser

The Contest 60CS is the design work of Georg Nissen and the boat is built by Contest Yachts in Holland. The promotional material says this boat “offers easy sailing for two people.” The very complete specs include as standard a 15-horsepower bow thruster, so I suppose a competent couple could handle this boat. With the help of that powerful bow thruster you could snug this big boat right up to the dock. I do wonder about the leap to the dock though, considering the freeboard. This is a very good-looking boat with conservative styling. There is nothing I see here that I would call daring or exciting, but it is a clean and well-proportioned design.

The overall hull shape is very typical of today’s production boats. The ends are short to take advantage of waterline length and beam is carried well aft. The D/L is 165, and that is on the light side for a fully found cruiser of this size. The L/B is 3.45, which puts it right at textbook “medium” beam. The prop shaft exits the hull through a nacelle just forward of a small skeg that fairs into the spade rudder. Draft is 8 feet, 2 inches. The bow looks to be on the fine side for a cruiser and I would suspect this boat would perform well on the wind.

There are four interior layouts available for this design. Ranging from a four-stateroom layout to a layout with accommodations for two couples plus crew. All four layouts share a near identical middle section of accommodations with a small change to the port settee and galley in some layouts to make more room for forward accommodations. The layouts all look fine. The galley is large. The owner’s stateroom aft is very spacious and has its own head with shower stall. Layouts A and B feature a small stateroom forward with stacked upper and lower berths. In layout B it appears that you walk through this stateroom to access the forward stateroom. In layout C this area is turned into an “office” with a large desk and swivel chair.

The saloon is wonderful with big settees and a centerline seat for the starboard dinette area. The centerline seat houses the television, so you can view it while sitting on the port settee. The problem is that this means only three people could watch television. But I’m not sure that is really a problem. The aft stateroom stops short enough in the stern to allow room for a dinghy garage. Regardless of the layout you might choose comfort will not be an issue in this yacht.

Look back over the years at all the rigs that have been touted as revolutionary and the absolute ticket to “ease of handling.” And what do we have today? You’d have to look hard to find a current production model that does not have a rig near identical to that of the Contest 60CS. This is a simple sloop rig with a provision for a heavy air staysail. The tack fitting for this staysail folds down so it is not in the way when the staysail is stowed. I don’t have any rig dimensions but I would guess the SA/D for this design is around 18.20. Note the headstay stops just short of the masthead and is pulled back about 14 inches off the stem to leave room to fly an asymmetrical chute. The mainsheet is conveniently aft of the cockpit area but I see no provision or room for a traveler. If there is a traveler it is a very short one. If you have a strong boom vang you can do without a traveler. But I still like them because they offer more control of mainsail shape, even though they do get in the way.

The deck layout features twin wheels in an aft cockpit raised slightly above a guest cockpit forward with a fixed dining table. The table includes a refrigerated beverage box. Sheet winches are electric and easily reached from the helms. All hatches aft that access deck storage areas are flush. The anchor launching system folds back to stow in a well. The decks are very clear of obstructions and pad eyes on deck are folding to make them less obtrusive. The “bathing platform” aft is operated hydraulically.

There is tankage for 450 gallons of fuel and 436 gallons of water. The Perkins 148-horsepower diesel should push you along briskly when the wind dies.