Spirit 76
2007 November 7
November 2007
Classic cruiser
Here's a boat to get your juices flowing. Show me a sailor who wouldn't want to sail this boat and I'll show you a dead guy. To begin with, it's 76 feet LOA and built in a vintage style with museum-quality detailing. The 76 is a developmentof the previous Spirit 70 but with more interior volume, including room for a crew. Design credit is given to Spirit Design. I assume this is Sean McMillan and the late Michael Newman, owners of Spirit Yachts. What I really like about this design is that whether it suits your taste or not you can't deny that the designers have made a bold design statement here. In a world of increasing generic, bland boats the Spirit 76 shows me strength of individual design conviction.
We can see similar shapes to the 76 in some of the big "daysailers" that are being built in Maine. There is nothing purist or classic about the overall design. Instead, it's a hybrid design that combines classic yacht design elements with modern performance-producing features. You could argue that low freeboard, narrow beam and copious overhangs were classic design elements. You could be right. I think there have never been boats like the Spirit 76.
The D/L for the 76 is 148 and the L/B is 4.71. Draft is 10 feet with a stubby fin with a long bulb tip. The rudder is an unusual spade design with marked fillets fore and aft at the root and a winglike tip that most probably is used to increase the apparent aspect ratio of the rudder, i.e. make it work like a deeper rudder. To my eye the keel looks quite far forward in this design but if you cover up the last five feet of overhang aft with your finger the keel looks fine. A long, skinny boat like the 76 is not prone to helm issues. The sections show modest deadrise amidships. The buttocks aft are hollowed to give the transom the attractive heart shape with a hint of tumblehome at the top. The 15-foot, 9-inch draft of Rosebud makes the 10-foot draft of the 76 seem shoal.
The Spirit 76 has three staterooms. The owner's stateroom is aft with a centerline double berth that extends under the long bridgedeck. There is a head to port that the owner shares with the port stateroom. This stateroom has stacked single berths. Adjacent to this stateroom there is a double berth stateroom to starboard. The nav station is on centerline directly under the small forward cockpit well. Note there are two cockpits and two companionways on this design. The saloon features big, U-shaped settees and lots of space to sit around and entertain. The galley is forward with crew quarters forward of that. The crew has their own deck access and their own head. It's a good layout, I'm just not sure what that area is for opposite the galley. I see "F" on the drawings and I would assume that means "freezer," but I'm not sure what those two small stools are for. When I end up with an area like that on one of my own designs I just call it "the area of mystery." The long, drawn out stern counter has the volume to stow a dinghy in a compartment aft of the rudderpost. The engine is under the forward companionway steps.
The rig of the 76 features 24-degree spreader sweep and three sets of spreaders. The extended aft overhang allows the backstay to clear the roach of the big mainsail. The SA/D of this design is 25.71 using the brochure's listed sail area of 2,510 square feet. I don't have I, J, E and P, but this number looks about right to me. There is no mainsheet traveler that I can see on the drawings. I'd like to see the Spirit 76 slide by some day.
Classic cruiser
Here's a boat to get your juices flowing. Show me a sailor who wouldn't want to sail this boat and I'll show you a dead guy. To begin with, it's 76 feet LOA and built in a vintage style with museum-quality detailing. The 76 is a developmentof the previous Spirit 70 but with more interior volume, including room for a crew. Design credit is given to Spirit Design. I assume this is Sean McMillan and the late Michael Newman, owners of Spirit Yachts. What I really like about this design is that whether it suits your taste or not you can't deny that the designers have made a bold design statement here. In a world of increasing generic, bland boats the Spirit 76 shows me strength of individual design conviction.
We can see similar shapes to the 76 in some of the big "daysailers" that are being built in Maine. There is nothing purist or classic about the overall design. Instead, it's a hybrid design that combines classic yacht design elements with modern performance-producing features. You could argue that low freeboard, narrow beam and copious overhangs were classic design elements. You could be right. I think there have never been boats like the Spirit 76.
The D/L for the 76 is 148 and the L/B is 4.71. Draft is 10 feet with a stubby fin with a long bulb tip. The rudder is an unusual spade design with marked fillets fore and aft at the root and a winglike tip that most probably is used to increase the apparent aspect ratio of the rudder, i.e. make it work like a deeper rudder. To my eye the keel looks quite far forward in this design but if you cover up the last five feet of overhang aft with your finger the keel looks fine. A long, skinny boat like the 76 is not prone to helm issues. The sections show modest deadrise amidships. The buttocks aft are hollowed to give the transom the attractive heart shape with a hint of tumblehome at the top. The 15-foot, 9-inch draft of Rosebud makes the 10-foot draft of the 76 seem shoal.The Spirit 76 has three staterooms. The owner's stateroom is aft with a centerline double berth that extends under the long bridgedeck. There is a head to port that the owner shares with the port stateroom. This stateroom has stacked single berths. Adjacent to this stateroom there is a double berth stateroom to starboard. The nav station is on centerline directly under the small forward cockpit well. Note there are two cockpits and two companionways on this design. The saloon features big, U-shaped settees and lots of space to sit around and entertain. The galley is forward with crew quarters forward of that. The crew has their own deck access and their own head. It's a good layout, I'm just not sure what that area is for opposite the galley. I see "F" on the drawings and I would assume that means "freezer," but I'm not sure what those two small stools are for. When I end up with an area like that on one of my own designs I just call it "the area of mystery." The long, drawn out stern counter has the volume to stow a dinghy in a compartment aft of the rudderpost. The engine is under the forward companionway steps.The rig of the 76 features 24-degree spreader sweep and three sets of spreaders. The extended aft overhang allows the backstay to clear the roach of the big mainsail. The SA/D of this design is 25.71 using the brochure's listed sail area of 2,510 square feet. I don't have I, J, E and P, but this number looks about right to me. There is no mainsheet traveler that I can see on the drawings. I'd like to see the Spirit 76 slide by some day.
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