Sparkman and Stevens

bigsarg1 · #1 (**permalink**) 02-03-2006

can anyone tell me about these boats (Sparkman and Stevens)? Also, I can not find the value w/ boat.com NADA chart. Is there another boat buying price web page?

awayocean · #2 (**permalink**) 02-03-2006

www.yachtworld.com

owenmccall · #3 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006

Sparkman & Stevens were (and still are) yacht designers, not boat builders. Their reputation led some builders to use S&S in the model name, for instance my boat is called an "S&S 30" but was built by Aquafibre in England. However, they also designed a lot of boats that do not carry "S&S" in the name, e.g. Tartan 30, Swan 39, etc.

Owen

Jeff_H · #4 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006

Sparkman and Stephens is very historic high quality yacht design firm. Originally started by Olin and Rod Stephens and Drake (I believe) Sparkman. Olin Stephens (now well up in his 90''s) was a master of refining and improving the design of yachts rather than out and out inventing design concepts from whole cloth. His first breakthrough design was Dorade (mid-1930 or so if I remember correctly), which was an adaptation of coastal racing yacht design for offshore transatlantic racing.

S&S has been quite prolific producing 100''s of designs which generally offered a nice blend of speed, seaworthiness and reasonable sturdiness. The possible exception to that would be thier boats from the IOR era which tend to be a little extreme for my taste, producing boats that were hard to handle, with uncomfortable motion comforts. (I owned a small S&S design from that era.)

Over the years Sparkman and Stephens served as a hatching ground for some of the top yacht designers of the 1930-1990''s.

Jeff

scottmillington · #5 (**permalink**) 02-06-2006

Sparkman and Steven is still active today with an office in NYC. Their website is easy to find. Mitch Neff runs the brokerage and is extremely knowledgable. I had the pleasure of sailing with Olin Stevens last summer at the Wooden boat regatta in Maine. He still is an avid sailor.

copacabana · #6 (**permalink**) 02-11-2008

At the risk of being flamed and roasted for bringing up a dead thread ... It just so happens that I am going to visit a S&S for sale and would like to know more about the boat. It's a S&S Impala 35 made in Italy in 1985 (also known as a "Clara" or "Sagitta" 35). It looks just like the famous S&S 34 that has such a great offshore record. Can anyone tell me something about the boat? And once again, sorry to drag up an old thread, but I came across it using the search function (and I suspect that's how a lot of old threads are revived).
Thanks.

Valiente · #7 (**permalink**) 02-11-2008

Well, at least you have a good reason and it's not a "Me, too!" post.

If we accept as reasonable the premise that S&S rarely drew a bad cruising design, then the reputation of the builder comes into play, as more than one great design has been completely sabotaged by cheap or incompetent builders.

Found this: http://www.marevela.com/clara.htm

It appears to be a fairly old, transitional design (1973), produced into the '80s. If it's IOR influenced, you're going to want to know that. I like the underbody, though (it's a little like a Nicholson 35), and the sail balance isn't so giant-genoa dominated that it's likely to be squirrelly downwind. It seems certainly worth a look. Given the age, it's probably going to be either in good, well-maintained condition, or a wreck. A well-found boat with functional, if elderly, equipment can sometimes be a real bargain...consider, however, that the diesel is now rare and may be worn out.

Faster · #8 (**permalink**) 02-11-2008

Good find, that link, Val!

Can't read it all but there seems to be a bit of reference to Peterson's Ganbare design in the literature... Copa can probably sort that out. Odd reference because the P35 was the boat that obseleted the designs such as the Clara and her generation.

She also bears some resemblance to the Hughes designs, also by S&S.

CharlieCobra · #9 (**permalink**) 02-11-2008

My Knutson was derived from the S&S Pilot 33 design # 539. Great CCA design.

copacabana · #10 (**permalink**) 02-12-2008

Yes, that's the boat (the Clara I mean). The one I'm going to see has a new Yanmar diesel and has tons of upgrades. I haven't seen it yet, but it's supposed to be in great shape. It's not cheap though. Charlie, do you think this boat is going to have the bad habits of the more extreme IOR boats? I'm not planning to race with it- it's for family cruising. If it's like a Nicholson 35, as you mention, it can't be bad!
Thanks