Classic Boats – The great projects of the period 1980-1984

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), dedicated to the late 1970s, we now come to the legendary 1980s, a period of extremes and radical solutions.

Classic Boats – The Masterpieces of 1980-1985

With the advent of the 1980s, the sailing world entered an increasingly “bipolar” design period. On the one hand, the regatta, popularized by pantheons of millionaire budgets (such as the America’s Cup or the Admiral’s Cup) and from the many mass-produced designs intended to meet hybrid needs, fast cruisers, but on the other there is also a different need, that of departing from these worlds, seeking pure sailing and cruising pleasure.

• Discover all Classic Boats of Historical Value by Giornale della Vela

Thus, the obsession with the regatta is also opposed by a great many series projects that, on the contrary, completely deviate from the logic of the IOR. In short, a season of “extremes” opens, populated by some of the best serial performers as much as by some of the greatest bluewater of the decade. An exceptional combination of projects that, by exploring different solutions, will offer key design responses to the rest of the decade.

Do you have a Classic Boat to report? Are you a Classic Boat owner? Place it in our archive at
this link
! Entering your boat of historical value is super easy. Just enter data and description of the boat. The editors will publish it in a very short time.

1980-1985 – Small forerunners.

The first half of the 1980s, however, is also the time of “small” and monotypes, a trend already inaugurated in the late 1970s by such successes as the

J/24

, and here taken further, with projects such as the

Farr 740

or the

Fun 23

. Boats under 8 meters, designed for fleet racing and for those who, above all, want to go fast, all the time. The aesthetic component is lost, and sometimes the limitations of the IOR as well. They are simple boats, launched, and founded on an almost foolproof basic recipe: planing hull, three sails, and guaranteed speed. A winning formula right from the start, so much so that many are still depopulating on lakes throughout Europe.

Small, however, did not mean only regatta. In fact, speed is often hybridized with the desire to offer a versatile product that is not only fast but also habitable, if, voluntarily, small. This is the case with the

Trident 80

, designed for small cruising but very fast, strong with a very abundant waterline length in relation to its LOA. A case also reflected in the

Stag 29

and, even more so, in the

Comet 28 Race

of 1985, a boat that, by contrast, set out to make anyone go racing, making itself accessible, but becoming prized by those who sought the middle ground instead. A trend also echoed by some “midsize tonnages,” such as the

Duck 31

and the

Ziggurat 995

.

• Discover all Classic Boats of Historical Value by Giornale della Vela

Classic Boats 1980-1985 – Regatta Fever.

Needless to say, however, the regatta market, the “real” one, was moving on quite different numbers, translating to the “big one.” Numbers that can be translated in terms of lengths and a “big” that can be interpreted not only as volume, but also as signatures and designs. Indeed, this is the period of exceptional fast cruisers, designs so fundamental that they were, of necessity, translated into the great Classic Boats so in vogue even today.

In 1980 there are many large fast cruisers meeting the market, boats that are also key to the reflections they import directly from the world of IOR. Beautiful 1980s cruiser-racer, precisely deeply influenced by the rating rules, are for example the

Polaris 37

by Holland and theOyster 41 designed by Jones, the latter already the “ambassador” of a wide stern, a trend that became increasingly present as the decade went on, and also taken up by other major contemporaries, such as the Show 42 and the Baltic 42 DP, respectively derived from the Blue Show by Vallicelli the one, and Peterson’s first design for the site the other, followed two years later by the Baltic 38 DP, not dissimilar in conception.

Experimenting in the “cruise-fast” segment, medium-sized boats such as l’Elan 31 (first major success of the yard of the same name) or the DB2 Of Van de Stadt, not only world champion Three Quarter Ton, but also among the first specimens to show a large open stern, clearly in contrast to designs such as contemporary Baltic or the Morgant 45 of Sciomachen, where the stern is still wide and long.

Classic Boat 1980-1985 – The Rise of Frers

Great turning point of 1980 is, undoubtedly, the rise of Frers to the Olympus of Archistars. Although already established as a designer, it was starting in 1980 that the Argentinean began signing major projects, starting with the legendary

Swan 51

, the yard’s first hull to be produced post-Sparkman & Stephens. The hull is very elegant, the stern wide and so is the beam, now however more set back than previous standards, creating an exceptional hull, capable of being competitive even decades later, so much so that it won the 1991 IOR Championship…

In 81 Frers signed a second great Classic Boat, the

First 42

from the French company Beneteau. The line retrieves that of the previous design, drawing inspiration from the lines of the Gitana II. The boat is a moderate success, followed in 1982 by the other major French shipyard, Dufour, which now lacking the founder’s flair, turned to Frers to relaunch itself. A pure cruiser is born, a marine boat and very rich in volume and interior: the

Dufour 39

. A designer’s first step into the cruising world, crowned by the collaboration with Hallberg Rassy in ’89, here still far from coming.

Classic Boat 1980-1985 – The great cruise and bluewater

At the same time as Frers’ first steps into the cruising world, another archistar is about to do the same thing. Alain Jezequel collaborates with Cantiere del Pardo on the design of a fast, marine cruiser, a boat voluntarily removed from IOR logic. The

Grand Soleil 35

, an 11.1-meter with fine lines and clever solutions, enclosed within a deep bow and an unimpressive stern. It was immediately a cult hit, replicated in ’83 by another premium cruiser from the Italian-French pairing, the

Grand Soleil 39

, the “Spaghetti Swan” par excellence.

In parallel, the other major Italian shipyard produces its cruisers. It is Se.Ri.Gi (now Solaris), which launches its legendary

Solaris 37

e

Solaris 39

-well-built boats, solid and not dissimilar in volume from the Pardo hulls- followed by the

Solaris One

by Peterson in ’84. In France, meanwhile, the

Selection 37

by Nivelt.

At the same time, in the colder seas of northern Europe, the blue water concept is being formed on a completely different basis, especially in deck lines and volumes, which are much more imposing, but virtually safer, more marine, and definitely more spacious. In 1981 Enderlein designed Hallberg’s flagship Rassy, the cruising yard by definition. Designed to take to the sea with no worries and no compromises, highly protected, the

Hallberg Rassy 41

will indeed be a trendsetter for the Scandinavian large-cruise market, replicated on smaller bases three years later with the

Hallberg Rassy 382

competitor of the other Nordic, the

Najad 390

.

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!