Sailing Magazine

PERRY ON DESIGN
By Robert H. Perry

View The Perry Library »

Current Issue

LOA 35’5”; LWL 29’4”; Beam 11’10”; Draft 6’ (Standard) 4’9” (Shoal); Displacement 11,460 lbs.; Ballast 4,190 lbs.; Sail area 554 sq. ft.; SA/D 17.4; D/L 202; L/B 2.99; Auxiliary Volvo 2003; Fuel 23 gals.; Water 80 gals.
Beneteau USA, 1313 West Hwy 76, Marion SC 29571, (843) 629-5300, www.beneteauusa.com.

November 2006

Beneteau First 35s5
Euro influence

Ten years later we had the first of the French boats making an impact on the American market. These boats were marketed as cruiser-racers and were distinct from their American competitors in that they broke new ground for squeezing in interior accommodations for a given LOA. Of course, Beneteau led the way and its First 35s5 is an excellent example of the breed. The 35s5 was designed by Jean Berret with an interior designed by Philippe Stark, an internationally renowned interior designer. From a cost and value perspective these Stark interiors were impossible to beat.

The 35s5 came in at the tail end of the IOR era. The hull form shows IOR earmarks. The pinched stern had been designed out of favor by the New Zealand designers, who proved that it was better to take the aft girth penalty and to give the boat a more effective stern shape with more volume and beam aft. This additional volume and beam aft helped cure the IOR boats of their tendency to do the “IOR death roll” and gave them a shape more suitable to super hull speed performance in a breeze off the wind. In profile you can easily see the designer’s attempt to still put a “notch” in the run to move the aft girth station forward. This notch lines up precisely with the corner of the transom.

The D/L of the 35s5 is 202. The L/B is 2.99 and that’s where the French boats made their mark. They were very beamy and this beam was carried aft to give the boats a lot of usable interior volume. The sectional shape to this design was pure “connect the dots” IOR. The bottom is dead flat and this flat carries forward to pick up the forward depth station point giving the hull shape a very angular look when viewed from ahead.

U.S.-built 35-footers from the 1970s had one quarterberth or maybe two single quarterberths but now with the French models the single quarterberth was expanded to a double quarterberth that wrapped under the cockpit sole and tucked in behind the engine box. This double quarterberth is enclosed in what we call a “stateroom” but that might be stretching the definition of stateroom. It does, however, offer privacy for the couple sleeping aft and that was a new feature. This forced the galley to be contracted but this was typical of most European designs. Philippe Stark did the interior layout and décor touches. I liked his work. The boats had a definite contemporary look to them with their metal trim details but with veneers and solid trim finished in a dark stained mahogany I always felt they had a comfortable feel.

The 35s5 also sees the beginning of the dominance of the fractional rig. This came with the last changes to the IOR and has today become the standard rig for just about all boats. Ironically, the fractional rig predates the masthead rig by many years. The beauty of the fractional rig over the masthead rig was that the headsails are so much smaller. The big sail is on the boom, making it easier to handle. With the mast shoved forward the fractional boats were easier to balance than the old IOR large foretriangle rig that essentially had the mast at Station 4, where you would put it for a two-headsail cutter.

Along with fractional rigs and fat hulls the French introduced the American production boat market to Euro styling. The rules for cabintrunks were thrown out. Portlights became windows of amazing shapes and sizes. Cockpits stretched to take up every available linear inch of the deck length. These boats were distinctly different in appearance from the Tartans, Ericsons and the Sabre lines. You either liked this look or you preferred the more conventional look. But over time the advantages the French models offered in their layouts began to win converts and today you can see the strong influence this type of styling has had on many American models. Look at a modern Hunter for example.

The French boats soon dropped their IOR influenced hull form as IOR died. Freed from girth considerations and the IOR LBG (Length Between Girths), the French boats got beamier and wider aft. This made even more elaborate accommodation plans possible. Today it’s not uncommon to see French designs in the 28-foot range that have layouts that would put the Cal 40 to shame. Has this been a trend that is healthy for yacht design? I suppose you can answer that by looking at numbers of boats sold. By those criteria it has been healthy. Skinny boats can be nice too but if you are trying to pack the maximum accommodations into the smallest LOA then the beamy French approach is the most effective.

800.895.2596

View the Archives »