I've found the following article interesting: Top Ten ARC Boats:
ARC 2005 ARC 05 - from Yachting World magazine
The article is simply based on the frequency of participants in the Arc, and I began by reading about the Westerly Oceanlord, which is relatively common over here. I've been on Oceanrangers and similar, but I'm still not a big fan of center cockpits and the separation of below decks and above decks.
An even more popular boat on the top ten list is the Beneteau 40.7, a racer/cruiser designed by Farr:
ARC 2005 - from Yachting World magazine
Here's a sample one for sale:
2001 Beneteau First 40.7 Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com
What I find interesting is that I could see this boat chosen as an inexpensive choice, but would its design hold up well for a typical cruising load? The fractional
rig sounds easy to manage, but the example boat only has a 35 gal water tank.
To quote the article, "She's modest and well behaved, balanced, light, responsive, easy to move about on and comfortable - an all round good egg, in fact." However, how much would be lost if she were fully decked with cruising gear (water maker, stores, spares, extra
fuel, four people...).
I could see the Beneteau 473 handling the load better, but at a real price increase.
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Jim H
London, UK
Aurora, a mighty Cal 20 (Portland, OR)
Southern Rival, a seasoned Rival 34 (Gosport, UK)
