Why are YBW in love with Contessas?

[doug748]

As Neil Y has partly suggested, you don't sell magazines by crying stinking fish. There are a lot of Contessa owners out there and miffing them off is not good business.

Lazy Kipper would find that a article his boat would be similarly slanted to its virtues and silent about its little drawbacks. We all know that many new boats have a few little dirty secrets that are never mentioned in the polite circles, or in sailing reviews.

The Contessa 32 always seems to be up there in any poll of resected boats so it is not particularly surprising that they are still built, enjoyed and written about.

It is always depressing when folk seem unable to read about the strengths of a particular design without crying: What About Mine! Children do this when they are trapped in the pre-operational phase of development and are usually beyond it by the age of 7. Please no more "much better boats"

Some hope.

 

[jerrytug]

A question to the forum, which current production boat of similar length would you say has similar or better seaworthiness and handling?
It's not a trick question I'm just interested to know whats available.

Cheers
Buck.

Still no answers from the AWB coterie. Nada. Not a sausage.

 

[Quandary]

I was (am) a Sigma 33 enthusiast, same era as the Contessa but a David Thomas design, much faster, roomier, more practical and easer to handle but I admit no where near as pretty. On the last change I wanted to go down to that size again but all the Sigmas I could find where just too worn after a hard and long racing life and as the OP says Contessas were just too cramped even for two of us (mainly because the dog comes too) so after long research I settled on a Finngulf 33 a rare breed which is a really good compromise between comfort and performance with attention to practical detail that you never found on a British built boat. So we have put our money where our mouth is (quite a lot of it). I did look hard at the X334 as a cheaper option but since we rarely race now comfort and finish won despite the higher cost. I regard our Finngulf as the modern Contessa and the X as the modern Sigma. Shame no one in the UK can do this stuff any more but then even Finngulf has since succumbed to the depression.

 

[lw395]

I was (am) a Sigma 33 enthusiast, same era as the Contessa but a David Thomas design, much faster, roomier, more practical and easer to handle but I admit no where near as pretty. On the last change I wanted to go down to that size again but all the Sigmas I could find where just too worn after a hard and long racing life and as the OP says Contessas were just too cramped even for two of us (mainly because the dog comes too) so after long research I settled on a Finngulf 33 a rare breed which is a really good compromise between comfort and performance with attention to practical detail that you never found on a British built boat. So we have put our money where our mouth is (quite a lot of it). I did look hard at the X334 as a cheaper option but since we rarely race now comfort and finish won despite the higher cost. I regard our Finngulf as the modern Contessa and the X as the modern Sigma. Shame no one in the UK can do this stuff any more but then even Finngulf has since succumbed to the depression.

I agree with most of that, but disagree about the contessa being pretty.
Masthead rig is an ugly thing in my book.
On the whole I think contessa 32's are OK, but there is a depressing tendency for old men in bars to bang on about how seaworthy they are, when in fact most of them are littered with clapped out gear that breaks in a solent race.
I never liked having to give them time on IRC when I had an Impala, and never cared for the manners or rules ignorance of their helms on the RTIR.
Nice hull lines, in a 60's way, but that's it really.

The comics will write what the comic buying public want to read on the train, it's got very little to do with actual sailing.

 

[Blueboatman]

I think we can assume that those who write for the mags actually like the sailing enuff to be poorly paid, out there in publication-deadline weather and seasons, fending off everyone and their sales rep tugging at their arm...

If sailing an old design that is easy on the eye, easy on the helm and easy on the tired crew when it all goes ' orrid, best of luck to em I say..

As a kid I remember co32s full of chatty crew coming in from a wet channel crossing looking competent, sorted, happy really.. ( whilst us wooden boat types were a hanging out the bedding to dry) they must have been an ok boat eh?

In an age when the boat type has to be written on the side to distinguish its manufacturer and minutiae of differences ( bit like cars then?) , good luck to Jeremy Rogers retrofitting better gear and technology to sound design and seagoing ergonomics.

In a way the OP has carefully worded his post to be unanswerable, or indefensible . Kipper I'm sure you are, as ever, right!
Small, cramped , inward looking, fundamentally flawed. .... Retrospective, pastiche-like , anachronistic.... Am I writing about Wimpey starter home mock georgian starter homes on edge of village cul-de-sacs....or co32, the same words have been used in the press . Funny ol world . Vive la difference!

 

[Pinnacle]

How do you earn a blue ensign?
You join the right club and you pay your dues - where is the merit in that?

You have to earn one to join my club!

 

[Avocet]

I think when you get a "critical mass" of them, they become a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy. Someone writes a rave review of the "old soldier" and people respect that opinion and go looking for them. Happens with lots of things. I like the Morgan analogy too. (and have to say that when it comes to boats, I'd be happy to have a Morgan (or Morganesque creation).

 

[jerrytug]

You have to earn one to join my club!

So how do you 'earn one' exactly? Can anybody have a go?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Still no answers from the AWB coterie. Nada. Not a sausage.

Why would you expect an AWB to be comparable with a Contessa? You might as well complain that no modern family saloons take corners like a 1970s sports car. The question is not "What modern boat is like a Contessa 32?" but "Why does nobody (more or less) want to buy a new Contessa 32 any more?" Precisely the same question, of course, applies to the Corribee, the Westerly Centaur and the Mirror dinghy.

 

[doug748]

I have to say Lazy Kipper's point number 7 has worried me all afternoon:



" 7. There isn't 6 foot of headroom if you're wearing shoes or boots, which a surprising number of sailors do. "



Surely it is simply an illusion of reduced headroom? We should be told if headroom is being paid for and not delivered.

 

[jerrytug]

Why would you expect an AWB to be comparable with a Contessa? You might as well complain that no modern family saloons take corners like a 1970s sports car. The question is not "What modern boat is like a Contessa 32?" but "Why does nobody (more or less) want to buy a new Contessa 32 any more?" Precisely the same question, of course, applies to the Corribee, the Westerly Centaur and the Mirror dinghy.

I see what you mean, modern yacht buyers are more concerned with floating caravan qualities than hardcore sailing ability.
Each to their own.

 

[Davy_S]

Was it not Jeremy Clarkson that said, Give me a contessa 32 or a Sigma 33 any day, I would rather shove my hand up a Baboons bottom than try to sail a Watson or a Bavaria!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I see what you mean, modern yacht buyers are more concerned with floating caravan qualities than hardcore sailing ability.

Most yacht buyers have always been more concerned with buying floating caravans than hardcore sailing ability, because most yacht buyers spend a lot of time sleeping aboard and very little time pushing the sailing limits. And if they do want to push the limits, they don't buy a 44 year old design; they buy something cutting-edge. A Pogo 10.50, perhaps?

The E-Type Jaguar was a remarkable car, and a beautiful car ... but any modern hot hatch will run rings round it.

 

[lustyd]

Well yes, they are biased, but what's the harm in that? Absolute objectivity is hard to maintain, and what's more, is really boring.

The harm is that between the two rags, Contessas get reviewed 4-5 times a year while other boats never get reviewed at all.

 

[sailorman]

I see what you mean, modern yacht buyers are more concerned with floating caravan qualities than hardcore sailing ability.
Each to their own.

I went on an Oyster 47 today & very nice she is too. i prefer teal to oak but he ho the price was reasonable

 

[lustyd]

no modern family saloons take corners like a 1970s sports car.

I'd have thought moat of them are better at cornering, what with all the safety and design features on them. The average AWB is also probably better at sailing than a Contessa, does any racer know the relevant stats for, say a First 32 and the Contessa 32?

EDIT, did a quick google and the Jeanneau Sunfast 32 has a lower PY number than the Contessa 32 which would suggest that not only is is a nicer boat to be on but is also quicker. I don't really understand PY numbers, but I note that the Vivacity is several hundred higher so assumed lower is faster

 

[jerrytug]

Out of interest I had a look on Apollo Duck, there is a well updated Contessa for £27k in Chi, how much Benny First can you get for that money?

 

[johnphilip]

The Westerly Fulmar sails just as well if not better and has none of the failings of the Contessa bar one.It's ugly ish.The accomodation is great there's tons of stowage,a proper heads compartment,it sails beautifully on a run or a beat,I could go on.It can even be made to look sort of elegant with a decent paint job.

+1 as they say

 

[JumbleDuck]

I'd have thought moat of them are better at cornering, what with all the safety and design features on them. The average AWB is also probably better at sailing than a Contessa, does any racer know the relevant stats for, say a First 32 and the Contessa 32?

The CYCA handicap system gives a Contessa 32 18.5 minutes per hour and a First 32 16 minutes per hour, so they think the First is faster than the Contessa. As is the Sigma 33 (15.25 minutes per hour) and the Bavaria 32 (16 minutes per hour).

http://www.cyca-online.org.uk/cgi-bin/CSV_search.pl?database=webclasses

 

[lustyd]

Out of interest I had a look on Apollo Duck, there is a well updated Contessa for £27k in Chi, how much Benny First can you get for that money?

If the Contessa is loved due to a price point then this should be added as a caveat to a review. Quite a lot of boaters actually genuinely believe they are better/safer/faster boats due to "reviews" like these when in fact they are none of the above. They are reasonable sailers for the money, and some think they are nicer looking than more modern boats (I disagree). I don't think they are bad boats, it just annoys me (and clearly some others) that these boats are seen as some magical unicorn and all other boats are donkeys for no better reason than rose tinted specs.