…and Two More Quintessential CCA Rule Designs
Issue 144: May/June 2022
Bruce King’s Ericson 41 represents a very advanced design concept for 1968, but also a final design type that had evolved over the 30-year history of the CCA rating rule. Bob Harris’ Allied 39, and the S&S-designed Swan/ PJ 40, even though entering production in 1970—the year the IOR was adopted—also fit that mold.
The CCA rule was designed around an acceptable “type,” and any deviation from that type was either penalized or rewarded, depending on whether that deviation was considered desirable or undesirable. Even if the boat was not specifically designed to meet the restrictions of the rule, the rule had already defined how an acceptable sailing yacht should look.
By the late ’60s, that type, as illustrated by these three boats, included long overhangs amounting on average to 40% of the length waterline, narrow beams averaging about 37% of length waterline, and heavier displacements, with each of these boats having a displacement/ length waterline ratio of over 300. Aesthetically, each incorporates a definite and classic spring in the shearline, generously curved, non-angular hull profiles with slightly swept keels, lower freeboards, moderate draft, and long and generous houses.
However, each had also adopted the split keel and separate rudder configuration that had proven so effective in Design Comparison boats like Bill Lapworth’s Cal 40, and George Cuthbertson and George Cassian’s Red Jacket, only a short time previously, both also 40-footers. Note, however, that only Bruce King adopted the all-movable, cantilevered, spade rudder configuration, while Harris and S&S incorporated more conservative full-length rudder skegs.
Keep in mind that in the 1960s-era North American boating industry, a 40-footer was considered a large yacht. In fact, the Ericson 41 was the largest boat in the Ericson line at the time, not exceeded until the 46 was introduced in 1971, and that would be the largest boat the company built. Both Swan and Allied had a 42 in their line in 1969, but that too was the largest boat that Allied would build.
Swan, on the other hand, would begin to concentrate on larger boats as time went on. For these comparisons, I usually try to focus on North American-built boats, but I thought I’d bring Swan into the picture despite the higher-end connotation, since it represents the contemporary thinking of S&S, the most successful design firm of the time. The Swan illustrates Olin Stephens’ design philosophy, derived from his 6 and 12 Metres, that nothing goes upwind better than heavier displacement. (The Swan 40 was distributed in North America as the Palmer Johnson 40.)
So, in almost all respects, these three boats represent the best that the CCA rule had produced, and that is a testament to the longevity of that rule and the quality of boat the rule encouraged. These were also exceptionally good sea boats, with the Ericson 41 in particular having completed a circumnavigation in the very capable hands of Ralph Naranjo.
Those solid sea-boat qualities are reflected in unusually low capsize numbers in the 1.6 range and comfort ratios in the mid- to high-30s for all three boats. These characteristics are achieved with the narrow beams combined with heavier displacements.
However, also keep in mind that all of these boats had much smaller interior volumes than modern boats of similar size, whether that size is defined by length waterline, length overall, or displacement. The narrow beams and lower freeboards of these boats certainly made for what would be considered cramped and dark interiors compared to contemporary boats, but they also produced cozy, practical interiors that are suited for offshore work.
So, what do the numbers tell us about the performance prospects for these three boats? If you want to go upwind in a blow, as Stephens had already discovered, the Swan 40 would be hard to beat with its greater stability and sail-carrying ability generated by greater displacement, slightly wider beam, and deeper draft. All of those would most likely compensate for it having the shortest waterline length.
The Swan’s lowest sail area/displacement of 15.9 means that it would be the last of the three to require a reef in any blow. Reaching and off the wind, the Ericson would certainly come into its own with its longer waterline length, highest ballast ratio, and highest sail area/displacement ratio. The Robert Harris-designed Allied, with the lowest displacement, ballast/displacement ratio, and narrowest beam, would probably not perform as well upwind as the other two boats but would still be a good performance cruiser or club racer.
The late ’60s and early ’70s were an exciting period in the boating industry with a rapidly expanding market, the perfection of fiberglass construction to achieve high-volume production, the introduction of a new rating rule, and the emergence of a new cadre of young designers ready to exploit that new rule, all of which would soon obsolete older boats. The 1970s and early ’80s would become the high-water mark of offshore and handicap yacht racing in North America. The three boats we see here represent boats on the cusp of that explosion of popularity.
Good Old Boat Technical Editor Rob Mazza is a mechanical engineer and naval architect. He began his career in the 1960s as a yacht designer with C&C Yachts and Mark Ellis Design in Canada, and later Hunter Marine in the U.S. He also worked in sales and marketing of structural cores and bonding compounds with ATC Chemicals in Ontario and Baltek in New Jersey.
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