Why are YBW in love with Contessas?

[Colvic Watson]

I just re-read the review and it contained this gem:

Would she suit you and your crew?
It's hard to imagine many crews for whom a Contessa 32 wouldn't meet a good number of their criteria.

Just unrealistic, it's a shame that the review couldn't have been honest about the boats merits and failings. There are lots of better modern boats than a Co32 but there are some worse ones as well and there were lots of worse designs when the Co32 first came out!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I just re-read the review and it contained this gem:

Would she suit you and your crew?
It's hard to imagine many crews for whom a Contessa 32 wouldn't meet a good number of their criteria.

That's ridiculous. It's precisely the same as saying "It's hard to imagine many crews for whom a Contessa 32 wouldn't fail to meet some of their criteria" but spun in the usual Contessa's are the ne plus ultra of yacht design way.

Go on. tell me. How many times do they mention that bloody race?

 

[Slowtack]

Is the frequency of Co32 articles and repeated features on older craft generally more a function of readership age group than boat attributes?
(Incoming! - Preparing now to clear decks to receive broadside of iron shot and shell!)

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

No I think not! I suggest it is more to do with lower prices that these old designs command. The magazines need to capture readers. There are not that many who can afford a nearly new boat these days but a reasonably affordable boat means an old boat!

Is the frequency of Co32 articles and repeated features on older craft generally more a function of readership age group than boat attributes?
(Incoming! - Preparing now to clear decks to receive broadside of iron shot and shell!)

 

[eddystone]

Although I scanned this thread I wasn't going to reply until I read the review (or a summary of it) on the ybw.com website. Seems perfectly reasonable review from what I remember of weekend on C32 many moons ago. Very pretty boat, cramped below decks for 32ft but sails very nicely and excellent sea boat when the going get rough. (also known issue with rolling downwind) Yes yacht interior design has moved on but to a significant extent, on "production" boats, but this has had an effect on sailing qualities, in a direction I do not find appealing. There are some other advantages of boats such as Contessa and Sadler 32 - lower freeboard means less windage and less tendency to be blown about like a crisp packet when trying to moor up.

Each to their own but if I had the money I would rather spend it on a total rufurb/refit of my Sadler 32 rather than a Hanse/Bavaria/Sun Odyssey/Oceanis type boat. HR 312 - no chart table! Finngulf 33 looks good though.

 

[dunedin]

How about the Xc-35 as a best of both? Looks good, masses of room, great handling and safe for a cruise through nasty weather

Yes please. That is my sort of boat (the XC rather thn the Co) - but a price difference of perhaps 0.2 million

 

[Colvic Watson]

HR 312 - no chart table! Finngulf 33 looks good though.

Funny the things we consider to be non negotiable. I would never buy a yacht that didn't have an aft cabin, I hate sleeping in a triangular fore peak. On the other hand I've never had a chart table and wouldn't want one. I've sailed on boats with them and don't see the point other than the owner to have a bit of personal space. We currently have a 34 footer and thankfully it doesn't waste space by having one.

As for that Finngulf 33 - she's a beauty, just convert the chart table to a drinks cabinet and it's perfect

 

[30boat]

Funny the things we consider to be non negotiable. I would never buy a yacht that didn't have an aft cabin, I hate sleeping in a triangular fore peak. On the other hand I've never had a chart table and wouldn't want one. I've sailed on boats with them and don't see the point other than the owner to have a bit of personal space. We currently have a 34 footer and thankfully it doesn't waste space by having one.

As for that Finngulf 33 - she's a beauty, just convert the chart table to a drinks cabinet and it's perfect

Yes we all have different priorities.I don't like aft cabins and when moored love my forecabin and wouldn't be without my huge chart table.

 

[Colvic Watson]

"Huge" - go on, tell us how big, YBW reviews are always saying things like 'half a folded admiralty chart' and occasionally about it being enough for 'half an admiralty chart' - have you gone one better and got a whole admiralty chart? Such things have been spoken about, but never by reliable witnesses. And what do you do there? I've always been fascinated by the possibilities. And is it forward facing? I understand from YM boat reviews that people can't use them if they're facing the back of the boat, does it mean all the bearings out by 180 degrees? I like how my 1970's boat is in this one tiny, tiny way bang up to date and on trend by eschewing the chart table - in our case to give space for a drinks cabinet, not sure what the Halberg Rassey's do with the space.

 

[Jamesuk]

They are great boats. Comp crew 1996. I slept in the coffin bunk

 

[snooks]

Couple of points... The article was in Yachting Monthly - This is the PBO forum...let me explain...Content from Yachting Monthly makes it onto Yachtingmonthly.com. Yachtingmonthly.com is part of YBW. The writer was commissioned by Yachting monthly, so all this talk of YBW journalists is nonsense

Dick Durham used to own a Contessa. He sold it.

I own (along with my wife) a Sadler 32, which as her designer put it "was a refinement over the Contessa in almost every respect". I, for example, can stand up in my heads without opening the fore hatch yes my ear is touching the headlining because my head is leaning over, but that's not the point, I can stand!

I once saw a family of 4 (with a big dog) on a Contessa, they were on a mooring next to us during a stormy wet rainy day - at the time we were on a 38 ft Jeanneau on a mooring off Gigha. They all had my sympathy (including the dog). Like our own boat I wouldn't consider comfortably cruising with any more than 2 adults on board as they at not big boats.

As for modern - alternatives 32 feet or under:

The winner 950, which was superseded by the winner 9.00 would be the obvious modern boat. Pretty, well proven, sold hundreds. But the Winner 9.00 would be there too - nice little well-built pocket rocket and fun to sail.
J97...Yes please
HR 310...Again yes please, been out in rough weather, she felt bigger than she is
Pogo 30...Not sailed one but Toby Hodges from YW was raving about it
Beneteau Figaro II...Sailing one next week, been around for years.
Jeanneau Sunfast 3200. (Although it's actually 33ft, but I won't tell if you won't) good sailing boat, well thought out below.

The last 3 are a bit basic below, but they sail well and would do offshore work with ease.

Boat design and construction has come a long way since the '70s, but by modern standards IMHO Contessa 32s are small, lack head room, are wet to windward and aren't light on the helm. They are however very very pretty.

 

[jerrytug]

There's one in the Jester Challenge entry list, leaving QAB on the 11th I believe. I wonder how the guy going in the bilge keel Coribee feels about that..
Hey Snooks, can I ask from complete ignorance, if boats like the Pogo or Figaro are usually fitted with servo-pendulum wind vanes and how that works out? cheers Jerry

 

[snooks]

Hey Snooks, can I ask from complete ignorance, if boats like the Pogo or Figaro are usually fitted with servo-pendulum wind vanes and how that works out? cheers Jerry

To be honest, most of the Figaros and Pogos use electronic self steering, as they're usually single handedly raced (in bad weather) over a couple of days.

Any excuse for this video again:

 

[Colvic Watson]

There's one in the Jester Challenge entry list, leaving QAB on the 11th I believe. I wonder how the guy going in the bilge keel Coribee feels about that..

No doubt a CO32 is great for storm work in high latitudes, which is good as that's high on most people's requirements

 

[jerrytug]

No doubt a CO32 is great for storm work in high latitudes, which is good as that's high on most people's requirements

Sorry for any misunderstanding LK, the JC is not especially high ( or low) latitude sailing and they will be avoiding storms if at all possible. So I'm not really involved in whatever your sarcasm is aimed at.
It was a comment on the wide variety of yachts allowed in the Jester, I could equally have mentioned the She 31 or Nic 32.
I don't give a toss about the C32 IN PARTICULAR, but I am interested in the very diverse yachts of these different eras, the 70's compared to the Figaros onwards, and the uses to which they are put, and how versatile they are for shorthanded or singlehanded work, especially cruising voyages. cheers Jerry

 

[JumbleDuck]

Boat design and construction has come a long way since the '70s, but by modern standards Contessa 32s are small, lack head room, are wet to windward and aren't light on the helm.

Most people just write a letter of resignation.

 

[jerrytug]

Thanks. Cracking video, including the broach shot, but I wonder how the high aspect ratio rudders would enjoy being dragged sideways* out of a thick mudbank by a lighterage tug

(*which my Hurley shrugged off, true story which helps bias me towards overbuilt 1970's tanks, although not over-rated C32's especially)

 

[snooks]

Most people just write a letter of resignation.

Edited to show it's my opinion (And I noticed you didn't quote the bit where I praised them

What would I be resigning from?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Edited to show it's my opinion (And I noticed you didn't quote the bit where I praised them

Bah.

What would I be resigning from?

Ever being allowed in the YM office again ...

 

[snooks]

Ever being allowed in the YM office again ...

I work for YM on a freelance basis. I was staff, but took voluntary redundancy a year ago. I haven't been in the YM office since January - and that was just a fleeting visit