It could have been a better and faster racer if Jeanneau had not insisted in having it adapted for all sorts of racing and therefore compromising absolute performance, to make it competitive in handicap racing.
The program they asked was about everything in what regards racing: Solo and duo transats, short crew offshore races, crewed offshore races, inshore regattas with short and complete crew. Only cruising seems to have been left out of the package and it will be expected a racing interior very similar to the one of the Sunfast 3600.
For managing all this they had the boat designed by two NAs, Andrieu, the designer of the previous SF, a specialist in IRC, and Guillaume Verdier, one of the best, if not the best designer of Open boats, for absolute performance.
Obviously the result is a compromise between pure performance and IRC performance (and that’s a shame). The design does not have any foil probably to make it able to enter the boat contest for the new Olympic class of offshore duo racing.
Even so the SF 3300 has some very interesting design features like two parts of the hull, one frontal other aft, forming a double concave. Andrieu explains that these shapes are used in some bigger racing designs but, to his knowledge, it is the first time it is used on a small design. The objective is to adapt the hull to a wave shape and therefore provide a better distribution of dynamic pressure increasing the buoyancy and reducing wet surface.
The other really new feature is on the rigging that has cars for the genoa that instead of being longitudinal are transversal, allowing for a more precise trimming, downwind and upwind.
All the rest we have already seen even if they are cutting edge features like the slightly rounded very voluminous bow, the two deep rudders on a single tiller (for facilitating crewed racing), the main sail with a huge square top with twin backstays, a big traveler, the mast more carried aft, like on open boats, integrated big bowsprit, an IRC studied keel without bulb or torpedo and two “windows” to have a good forward view from inside the boat.
A yacht that could easily be faster and lighter (with a torpedo keel, more draft, more RM, a slightly beamier hull) but that is designed this way to have a low IRC rating (around 1.055) and to be competitive in handicap racing.
Length: 9,99 m; Max beam: 3,40 m; Draft: 1,95 m; Displacement: env. 3500 kg; Ballast: ?; CE category (in progress): A6 - B7 - C10; Sail area upwind: 60 m² / 646 Sq ft; Sail area downwind (symmetrical spi.): 128 m² / 1378 Sq ft; Engine: 15 CV / 15 HP; Water capacity: 100 L / 26 US gal; Fuel capacity: 50 L / 13 US gal; Battery capacity: 120 Ah (+ 120 Ah opt.).
The projected price seems interesting, between 100 and 110 000 euro without tax or sails.
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