Is a Contessa 32 basically a man cave for Boomers longing for the halcyon days of the 70s?

Blue Seas said:
I , they openly stated that the design would not be compromised for either class rules, fashion or accommodation needs
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They may not be compromised by class rules but they are certainly terribly compromised by the need to achieve a decent rating. Both hull shape and sail plan.

...and compromise for accommodation is a good thing if you want accommodation.

Aesthetically very nice to look at, though.
 
Its all very interesting how such a feted vessel does appear to polarise those in the know. Yes she's a pretty ship and if you like sailing dinghys (re how wet it can get) then why not. I'd prefer to split the difference and go HR29. More room, classic lines and a looker if there ever was.
 
winch2 said:
Its all very interesting how such a feted vessel does appear to polarise those in the know. Yes she's a pretty ship and if you like sailing dinghys (re how wet it can get) then why not. I'd prefer to split the difference and go HR29. More room, classic lines and a looker if there ever was.
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Theres one on our pontoon. Never sailed one, but they look right.
 
doris said:
How on earth can you spend that amount on a 32ft boat, unless you just give Berthons a free hand ???????
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Thats the cost (at very least) of a ‘back to new’ hardware refit on a boat like a Contessa. Every fitting, block, line and sail, some folks doo. New winches? Replacing the rope set in Dyneema, for racing, is going to be 6 grand.
 
dunedin said:
I haven’t sailed a CO32 but for me at that LOA size and price band the Fulmar would be massively higher up my list. Sails excellently, the 3/4 rig means easier to handle without the huge genoa (a design distortion on the CO 32 caused by IOR rule at the time), massively bigger and very practical interior, higher freeboard with much drier sail as a result.

The looks / “row away factor” is a very personal thing - and probably age related as well. Nobody would say the looks were the strongest point of the Fulmar, but it is a practical and honest look. There is nothing wrong with a decent CO32 either, but I don’t see it as particularly stunning - another plastic boat of its era.

The long overhangs and pinched sterns were again a quirk of the racing rules and the measurement points. Many would have argued back in the day that a “proper boat” had a plumb bow, bowsprit and probably a transom stern. The ”I didn't mean to go to sea” type boat! Which many modern boats are closer to nowadays !

There are some beautiful low freeboard long overhang boats, particularly in Sweden. But really needs to be properly long, narrow and wooden. (And owned by somebody else, as hopelessly impractical and a kings ransom to park in a marina.).
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Alan, you are most welcome to come slumming on my boat any time! Since we both owned a bit of the same Fulmar way back in the last century we have gone in different directions. I really much prefer the CO32 to the Fulmar and not just for its ROW, the boat just suits me better for the things I want to do. Genoa size depends on which one I hoist but my "racing" yin is ~20% bigger than that of the Fulmar that beat me at WHYW this year (their main is ~33% bigger and they displace about 500kg more - ain't YTC wonderful?). The 2 boats are obviously different and I could try and list my preferred attributes but I'll leave it at that.
 
doris said:
How on earth can you spend that amount on a 32ft boat, unless you just give Berthons a free hand ???????
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I think any boat refit/restoration is going to cost a shedload if you get professional help in to do a largish chunk of the work. 80 odd quid an hour soon mounts up.

regardless of the size of the boat, if it needs a new engine, new electronics, new winches, blocks and rigging then that will also add up.
 
winch2 said:
Its all very interesting how such a feted vessel does appear to polarise those in the know. Yes she's a pretty ship and if you like sailing dinghys (re how wet it can get) then why not. I'd prefer to split the difference and go HR29. More room, classic lines and a looker if there ever was.
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The HR29 is an excellent boat, and nice looking, but my impression is that is very much a boat for a couple. The HR312 is less stylish but more versatile I would think.
 
Mark-1 said:
They may not be compromised by class rules but they are certainly terribly compromised by the need to achieve a decent rating. Both hull shape and sail plan.

...and compromise for accommodation is a good thing if you want accommodation.

Aesthetically very nice to look at, though.
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I don't disagree with that at all, indeed I have said that the CO32 would not be my first choice. But does that make it necessary for every boat to be homogenised in order to produce a one size fits all solution? Cars are an excellent analogy and whilst modern cars are without doubt 'fit for purpose' in ways that we could only ever dream about they have, by that very process, become more bland and boring.
If I walked down the pontoons and had the choice of a HR, a CO, and a Squadron 65 to take out then I might take a different boat each time depending on my mood and how many to be accommodated. I like the choice, I've never fancied retirement in N Korea!:)
 
Blue Seas said:
I don't disagree with that at all, indeed I have said that the CO32 would not be my first choice. But does that make it necessary for every boat to be homogenised in order to produce a one size fits all solution? Cars are an excellent analogy and whilst modern cars are without doubt 'fit for purpose' in ways that we could only ever dream about they have, by that very process, become more bland and boring.
If I walked down the pontoons and had the choice of a HR, a CO, and a Squadron 65 to take out then I might take a different boat each time depending on my mood and how many to be accommodated. I like the choice, I've never fancied retirement in N Korea!:)
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No quarrel with any of that.

I was specifically posting on the topic of design compromises for rules, not the general desirability of the boat.

I've never sailed on one but I love 'em. Hard to think of a David Sadler design I don't like. (Which doesn't mean I'll ever own one.)
 
A Contessa isn't for me, even free, but is spending silly money on one any different from spending silly money on, say, a 1960s Lotus Elan? Great fun, perhaps, but cramped, uncomfortable and not particularly quick by modern standards.

If you've got the money, fine but, AFIAC, nostalgia really isn't what it used to be.
 
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