Classic Boat – The ride to the great classics of the 1980s

We told you about
Classic Boat
and presented you with the most significant ones, brilliant projects that deserve to be celebrated and considered for their value(HERE). To explore the topic as it deserves, Contextualizing each project and each boat to its time, here is now a series of in-depth articles, brief analyses of design canons, their evolutions and the Classic Boats themselves, period by period. On the heels of the previous episode (HERE), devoted to the mid-1970s, we now see the transformations that took hold from ’77 onward, increasingly launched toward the extremes of the 1980s.

Classic Boat – The ride to the great 80s classics

With the 1970s, sailing experienced a golden age, a period destined to advance technologically and design-wise, leading to the super designs of the following decade: the great classics such as the
Brava
and the great America’s Cup experiences , with the resounding victory of Australia II in 1983. But before we get to these periods, it is imperative to understand the developments in the three-year period prior to 1980, starting with the efforts that from 1977 began to appear to “get around” the limits imposed by the ratings IOR, moving into gray areas of the rulebook, then reflected in lessons applied to series projects-and thus to the largest Classic Boats of this triennium.

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Indeed, with the ’77 One Ton Cup, the first major design changes in the volume layout begin to be seen. The more “classic” designs, even in the series design, are thus flanked by quite different solutions, sterns profoundly different from previous years, truncated and open in some cases-optimal example is the Farr 31 of the eponymous Bruce Farr-rather than broad and increasingly prolonged-as in the case of the Polaris 33 Holland’s. Simultaneously, the water lines also vary, with increasingly recessed maximum beams and different bow profiles, recessed at times on the starboard side(raked), to promote hydrodynamic drag, or with concave lines(spoon bows), to reduce pitching by increasing the buoyant surface area and upwind waterline length.

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Classic Boat 1976-80 – A market that opens wide

In such an evolving landscape, however, there is no shortage of innovations also appearing on the pure cruise front, where design aesthetics also seek particularly novel solutions, as in the case of Comar, which, strengthened by the iconoclastic hand of Jean Marie Finot, launched in ’77 the Comet 11, a boat much discussed among purists, mainly because of its hollow, step stern, but even more so because of the particular design of the deckhouse, marked in black by a glass window that wraps around it all in a U-shape.

Also from the Comar-Finot pairing, the same year saw the launch of a huge success of the shipyard, the

Comet 850

, a purely rational design devoted to a single purpose: to expand the market share by creating a boat for everyone. The result is a small cruiser with a particularly small transom, with the deckhouse running all the way over the forward cabin, highlighted by large smoked windows. It will be a success, officially opening the doors of sailing to wider and wider markets.

On the same principle as the 850, but shifting the openness to the public on the racing front, it was during these years that some of the greatest half-tonners and one-timers of the decade popped up. If the
Ziggurat 916
of ’76 was a milestone, J-Boats is now going much further, launching the

J/24

, the monotype, to this day, most famous in the world (5400 examples). On its wave, it is then joined by the

Surprise

by Archambault and the small

Rivet

, the latter winner of the ’78 Mini Ton Cup.

1976-80 – The Great Classics

Shifting the focus instead to much larger dimensions-without, however, forgetting the excellent middle ground offered by hulls such as the

Miller 31

, the

Balanzone

or the

Rush 31

– it is always during this period that the great shipyards give birth to some of their most significant creations. Baltic for one, a major competitor of Nautor’s Swan, within two years churned out two small masterpieces, the

Baltic 39

signed by C&C, of impeccable construction, and the

Baltic 37

, by the same, equally good in quality, but even better as a performer.

At the same time, Sparkman & Stephens sign, however, one of the great cruiser racers of the season, the Swan 411, a 12-footer mindful of every lesson learned so far, strong with a wide and high stern, and voluminous in maximum beam, balanced by a narrow bow to which it is connected by the classic flush deck swan.

1976-80 – Toward the extremes of the 1980s

In 1979, perhaps the last year of this still-quiet transition, devoid of the excesses of the following decade, another series of large boats finally made their appearance, seminal projects such as theX-79, a stone on which the foundation of the X-Yachts myth rests, or the mythical Canados 37, fast cruiser that once again consecrates Vallicelli’s racers, here translating into series the splendid Twist Wire, world champion at the One Ton Cup.

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Also in ’79 an important hand also pops up, a protagonist perhaps most of all in the following decade. Indeed, a very young German Frers works in the studio of the ‘elders’ Sparkman & Stephens and, as chance would have it, is involved in the creation of a small masterpiece, the

Solaris 47

from the Se.Ri.Gi (now Solaris) shipyard. The result is excellent and Frers’ innovative hand can already be glimpsed. The result is a boat still unusual for the times, characterized by a distinctive deckhouse that becomes its hallmark, along with a spectacular stern.

However, 1979 is also the year marked by tragedy. In fact, during the terrible Fastnet race, which was disrupted by a force 11 wind, 15 racers lost their lives, a drama to which 75 boats capsized and 20 sank. A tragedy that, while it begins to underscore the great limitations of certain designs and/or certain approaches to racing, simultaneously enshrines certain designs that emerged unscathed from that delirium: the Condor of Bermuda, with Sir Peter Blake aboard, and another Peterson masterpiece, the

Contessa 39

.

A hard lesson that will go on to influence the parameters for all subsequent design, which will now include increased standards related to safety, ability to cope with extreme conditions, and will place limits on overly stretched and skimpy designs. Limits, however, that the 1980s would address at their best, mindful of the lesson and able to take every solution to extremes, offering, in hindsight, some of the greatest boats of the century.

Three “tidbits” about Classic Boats

• Want to learn more about the world of Classic Boats (1967-1998), the iconic boats of the period, the legendary designers, the stories and races of the “golden age” of sailing? Check out our section dedicated to Classic Boats!
• Want to find out what Classic Boats of Historical Value by Journal of Sailing are? Find them all HERE!
• Do you have a Classic Boat to sell? Put it (for free) on our classifieds market!
• Do you have a Classic Boat? Participate in the SAIL CUP with your boat. There is a special ranking for you! Find out which stage is right for you!