Sailing Magazine

X-41
One-design racer-cruiser

The four boats we have this month are all about boat speed. I’ll line them up in the reverse order I think they would finish if they all sailed a 20-mile windward-leeward course in a steady 12-knot breeze. There may be room for argument here but I don’t have polars for all the boats so I have made an educated guess. Obviously, as the wind and course change the outcome could also change.

X-Yachts has always produced fast boats. Design credit is given to the X-Yachts Design Group and to date they have done an excellent job, both in terms of performance and aesthetics. With the X-35 already a success, the new 41 also goes after the one-design golden apple. With a one-design fleet there is more guarantee that the boat will maintain its value, and close boat-for-boat racing is ensured while various handicap rules continue to twist in the wind. It’s fun to cross the staring line and race boat for boat. Nothing hones sailing skills like one-design racing. Boats “out of the box” will meet strict one-design tolerances.

This is a medium displacement boat by today’s standards. The D/L is 146. Thirty years ago it would have been light but today “light” boats have D/Ls well below 100. Modern materials are primarily responsible for this trend. Bow overhang is there but it’s minimal. There is some overhang aft and the LOA/DWL ratio is 86.5 percent. The deepest part of the canoe body is right amidships and the artist renderings I have almost make it appear that there is more hull depth aft than forward. There is a pronounced hollow to the DWL forward. The keel is a T-bulb with 8 feet, 2 inches of “standard class draft.” Maybe this means that a shoal-draft version is in the works. I wish I had two-dimensional design drawings to work from in addition to these beautiful renderings.

The builder is not ignoring cruising needs with this one-design. It’s basic “Layout A.” There is a nice layout with mirror-image double quarterberths. There is a small galley across from the nav station. There is a single head and a double V-berth. This layout has always worked well. I would not call it a roomy layout. I’d call it adequate. But remember, this boat only weighs 14,109 pounds.

The sailplan shows a very handsome yacht. Styling is very subdued from the minimal sheer spring to the ultra-clean lines of the cabintrunk. The side decks are wide to allow for close sheeting angles of the non-overlapping jib. Chainplates are at the deck edge and there is an ORC-rule minimum toerail forward. There are four hatches not including the companionway. The transom is wide open and the helmsman sits on the side decks. The wheel is carbon molded, 5 feet, 6 inches in diameter and recessed into a cockpit sole well. This large diameter wheel will make it very comfortable for the helmsman sitting on the side deck. There are long cockpit benches with low backrests forward of the wheel.
The rig is a double-spreader fractional type, with a tapered carbon mast and boom. The SA/D is 25.64. I would not consider this “high-powered”—not this month. It is certainly enough rig to keep the 41 aggressively moving in light air. The backstay goes to a tackle that leads below to a 1:60 “Magic Wheel” for adjustment. The backstay control line is mounted on the forward side of the steering pedestal. All deck gear is Harken. For me, the greatest appeal of a rig like this is getting rid of overlapping headsails.

A 40-horsepower saildrive diesel will push the X-41 along when the wind dies to nothing. There is tankage for 48 gallons of water and 24 gallons of fuel.