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Endeavour One Design

2001 July 5
By Robert H. Perry

Racer

Adam, my editor, and I have been discussing the changes in the overall approach to establishing one-design classes. There was a time when few boats were introduced as one designs. Of course, this was not true in the dinghy classes, but once you got larger than 20 feet, one-design classes grew spontaneously from boats that distinguished themselves as outstanding boats. The Soling and Etchells classes came from a call for a new three-man Olympic keelboat to replace the loggy but cute Dragon. In fact, the Etchells did not exactly fit the established parameters, so the Soling was chosen. Since that time, however, the Etchells has proven itself such a fun and quick boat to sail and race that it has developed into the more enduring of the two classes. I'm an ex-Etchells owner and an ex-Soling owner. Both of these boats are fun to sail.

There are one-design classes that exist only in regional pockets of the country and usually these are older boats that were built in a limited run and are kept as much as historical marks as they are evidence of excellence in yacht design. These include the stalwart Knarrs in San Francisco, the Ensigns in the Great Lakes, Florida and Long Island Sound, and the beautiful IODs in North East Harbor, Maine, and Marblehead, Massachusetts. The venerable hard-chine Thunderbirds that began in Seattle have gone on to establish a very active international class.

Probably the most recent example of this sequence is the J/24. I have talked about the J/24 several times in these reviews and am well aware that opinions vary greatly about the significance and quality of this boat. From my perspective as an ex-J/24 owner, I can say with personal certainty that the J/24 offered a welcome relief from cramped and cranky IOR Quarter-Tonners. A perfect example of this IOR type that had gone on to become a strong one-design class was the Bruce Kirby-designed San Juan 24. For a big guy this was not a fun boat to race. There were just a lot of them, and it was natural for them to form a one-design class. The SJ24 class did not survive long after the introduction of the J/24.

Today, the advent of a new, nondinghy one-design class is usually heralded with much hype. In my own area, one builder actually rented billboard space on the road leading to the marina turnoff. That class has yet to take off, but it was a very nice picture to have on a billboard. Simon Rogers, in England, has designed the Endeavour to be a new one-design class. The idea is that sailors tired of their Dragons, Solings, Etchells and Stars will see this as a more exciting alternative. It certainly will be a more expensive alternative. You can buy an older Etchells for around $6,000. A new Endeavour will cost close to $60,000.

From the look of it, I would think this design will comfortably outsail any of the other targeted classes. This looks to be a very fast boat modeled on what appears to be an IACC hull type. The boat is narrow with an L/B of 4.15. The D/L is 87.9 based upon a deceptively short DWL of 24 feet, 5 inches. Draft is a modest 5 feet, 11 inches. The rudder is a tiny, knifelike blade. The keel lifts for transporting. The keel is an "SG/steel/carbon composite blade with a lead bulb." "SG" could be "sand and gravel." I really don't know what "SG" stands for. There is an inboard engine, a Yanmar 1GM. Hull construction is balsa core with E-glass.

The inspiration for the rig comes from the 49er class. Note there is no backstay with the aft vector to support the rig instead being provided by the 22-degree sweep of the spreaders and the mainsheet. The jib is self-tacking and the bowsprit retractable. It's a very sexy looking rig and has an SA/D of 24.14. This excludes the area added by the roach of the mainsail, which in this case is considerable. If we use the total area of the mainsail with roach (say 225 square feet, i.e., 133 percent of the .5 E x P area) we get a total sail area of 362 square feet and an SA/D of 28.75. Whether or not you include the mainsail roach has to be a judgement call.

It's hard to look at this rig and this expansive cockpit and not want to go racing on this boat.