How fast can a Dufour sailboat go?

Medskipper

Medskipper

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Someone I met last week says he has a 45 foot Dufour sailboat boat and reckons he can achieve 18 knots with a good wind! I found this hard to believe as I thought only racing yachts can go this fast!
is it possible?
 
He must know '50 knot Bob' (named changed to protect innocent).

His tubby cruiser has been out in more force 10 winds and easily reaches those sort of speeds under furled genoa!

Top speed surfing a wave in 30 knots of breeze was 15 knots in our 36 footer.
 
Medskipper said:
Someone I met last week says he has a 45 foot Dufour sailboat boat and reckons he can achieve 18 knots with a good wind! I found this hard to believe as I thought only racing yachts can go this fast!
is it possible?
Click to expand...

Here's a brochure with the Polars for a Dufour 45.

http://boats.hamnen.se/files/files/Press_Release_Dufour_45_performace.pdf

It does show 14Kts under spinnaker in 30 Kts of wind, so add a bit more wind, a crew & helm who can handle it, a bit of surfing and maybe 18 Kts is achievable for a few seconds. Would need a good crew to handle the boat and spinnaker in 35 - 40 Kts of wind though.

I've not sailed on a 45, but I was impressed by the slick hull form of the Dufour 34 that I sailed on about 8 years ago. The Dufours with a two digit number seem to be a bit faster than the ones with three digit numbers.

That said, I suspect it more likely an innaccurate log and a bit of apres-sail inflation as XYachtDave suggests.
 
Medskipper said:
Someone I met last week says he has a 45 foot Dufour sailboat boat and reckons he can achieve 18 knots with a good wind! I found this hard to believe as I thought only racing yachts can go this fast!
is it possible?
Click to expand...

Instantaneous speed, surfing a big wave with the kite up... Possible.

Sustained speed in flat water? Not a chance.
 
Ask about actual passage times, Portsmouth to Cherbourg for example, a sustained eighteen knots would be four hours. Not a chance. Eight hours would be fast. The vast majority of sailing boats could not do Portsmouth to Cherbourg it ten hours and average seven knots. A lot of boats may reach freak speeds for a very short time, but that is not the same as real sustained boat speed. To me, boat speed is how far you can go in one hour in average conditions. Through the water not SOG.
 
So on a minor fred drift.....what's the forums stance on a Macgregor 65-70 and the speeds they has reportedly reached?(30kts+) (been looking at them for a few weeks) ??
 
Back in the 1970's I can remember a race from Harwich to Ostend in my father's Nicholson 30 - the transom hung one. We started with 15 knots true wind speed from the north west with full spinnaker and full main. So it was a dead run across, but the wind kept increasing until we were about half way across. The log had a stop at 10 knots and the needle never wavered off the stop and the wind speed indicator was hard on 48 knots permanently. Other boats we passed, like a Nicholson 43 that started 15 minutes ahead of us, estimated we were averaging between 14 and 16 knots. It was difficult keeping the boat sailing in a straight line and required 3 out the crew of 5 on the helm! Eventually we had a knockdown, putting the mast in the water and about 6" in the cabin. After we sorted out the mess, we continued under main and genoa - but we still came second.

So a 29½ footer from the 1970's must have been peaking in the range of 16 to 18 knots. Could a 45 footer, of some 40 year newer design, hit 18 knots, if sailed well in extreme conditions I would say definitely yes. In fact I would have suggested in excess of 22 knots for a boat of that length would be quite easy for a racing crew. But this is a cruising forum, so I doubt if many of you have ever pushed your boat to anywhere near maximum speed in extreme conditions. It can be very hairy, but great fun.

Racing has made me a much better sailor as so many things that people worry about happening to them, I have probably done at some time - except sink a yacht. Been close a few times including standing on a keel of my 22 footer to bring it upright with the rest of the crew in the water, breaking a mast and sailed home with a jury rig, broken a rudder and sailed home. I will never forget taking the Nich 30 on to the plane for the first time, the spray almost reached the cross trees and we passed a Scampi from about 6 boat lengths astern to about 8 boat lengths ahead in about 30 seconds. Now days the Nich 30 is considered a moderately safe cruising yacht, but most cruising yachts are lucky if they ever get sailed to close to 75% of their potential.

I am not condoning caution, it can be a good thing - but you have to try an extreme performance sail to realise how cautious many cruising people are. Today I am a lot more cautious than I used to be, but I still love to make sure I sail my boat well and love catching and passing larger yachts.
 
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Concerto said:
...The log had a stop at 10 knots and the needle never wavered off the stop and the wind speed indicator was hard on 48 knots permanently. ...I will never forget taking the Nich 30 on to the plane for the first time...
Click to expand...

Gosh, any faster and you'd have needed to log your trip with west Drayton Air Traffic Control!
 
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