What boat is this?

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
Does anybody know what this boat is? Interesting keel.

dj

1620829081135.png
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
So that is what's called the "competition keel" - Ericson's are quite nice boats as I recall. I've two friends sailing in Mexico at the moment, I'd ask them what their boat is but they are out of contact right now and won't be able to be back in contact for a month or 2. They sent me this photo last time they had internet access and I just didn't recognize that keel. I'm familiar with the standard keel on these so this threw me a curve ball. Thanks much for the input. That's great!

dj
 
Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
So that is what's called the "competition keel" - Ericson's are quite nice boats as I recall. I
Interesting how the notion of 'competition keel' has changed over the last 50 years! Viewed with today's eye, that keel is all wrong. Stubby and long that generates low lift, and fat at the top, where it undesirably concentrates all of its lead. New performance boats turn this around; long thin foils generates max lift (think U2 wing) and all the weight down low.

first_35_farr_drawing.jpg
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
Interesting how the notion of 'competition keel' has changed over the last 50 years! Viewed with today's eye, that keel is all wrong. Stubby and long that generates low lift, and fat at the top, where it undesirably concentrates all of its lead. New performance boats turn this around; long thin foils generates max lift (think U2 wing) and all the weight down low.

View attachment 194049
Let's see, that Ericson is now almost 4 decades old. We have certainly learned a huge amount about sailing, hull design, sail design and more in those nearly 4 decades of work. We now attach sensors all over a research boat in the sails, rigging, hull, etc. and measure things that could not be measured just 40 years ago. She certainly would not be competitive today, but I bet she's a darned nice sailing boat!

I'd still love to sail on a foiling boat! I just sold my WR17 which had foils developed for retrofitting a few years ago and I was just soooo tempted to buy them, install them and see what it would have been like! But I knew then it was not the boat I wanted to put money into, so I didn't... I need to find someone with a boat I can go sail on that foils.... Kinda on my bucket list - one day....

dj
 
  • Like
Likes: jon hansen
Jan 1, 2006
7,040
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
The keel does put a hurt on the eye. And the likely designer is Bruce King-who is very reputable. I guess that keel was born in the notion that reducing surface area was the next step forward. The keels of the day weren’t really foils either - for example my Ranger29 or even the Cal line. So I’m hypothesizing that the Competition part comes from reduced drag over the keels of the day. Probably were counting on a large amount of meat on the rail. A dock neighbor had one. I never saw him sail upwind. Reach out, reach back. The boat was very good at that.
 
Apr 8, 2010
1,942
Ericson Yachts Olson 34 28400 Portland OR
FWIW that E-38 will pass up a herd of more "modern" performance cruisers. Like others I have always thought that Bruce King should have used a shape more like our boat's elliptical keel or maybe a Petersen keel, but it just works.
Keel design seems to be far more nuanced than I used to think!
:)