Baba 40
Description
The Baba 40 is a legendary heavy-displacement blue water cruiser designed by Robert H. Perry and built by Ta Shing Yachts (initially as Shing Sheng) in Taiwan from 1979 to 1987. With only about 100 hulls produced, it's renowned for its exquisite double-ender lines, tank-like construction, and balanced performance—often called a "full-keel Valiant 40" for its speed and seaworthiness. Marketed initially as the Baba 40, it briefly became the Panda 40 (1983) before Ta Shing rebranded it the Tashiba 40 (1984 onward) to reflect their involvement. A pilothouse version and ketch rig were optional. The standard cutter-rigged sloop version is detailed below (pilothouse and ketch variants have minor differences in rig and headroom; tall rig adds ~6 ft to mast height for better light-air performance).
Construction Details
| Designer | Robert Perry |
|---|---|
| Length | 40.000 ft |
| LOA | 39.830 ft |
| LWL | 34.500 ft |
| Beam | 12.830 ft |
| Displacement | 29000 lb |
| Max Draft | 6.000 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 52 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 21 ft |
| p | 46 ft |
| e | 14.75 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 ft | 21 ft | 46 ft | 14.75 ft | - | - |
Sails
| Sail Type | MAINSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | * 46 ft - (14021 mm) |
| Foot | * 14.75 ft - (4496 mm) |
| Leech | * 47.54 ft - (14490 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88 ° |
| Diagonal | * 47.81 ft - (14572 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 6 in - (152 mm) |
| Area | * 349.07 ft² |
| Sail Type | JIBSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 45.28 ft - (13801 mm) |
| Foot | * 28.25 ft - (8611 mm) |
| Leech | * 38.01 ft - (11585 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 112.48 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 23.62 ft - (7199 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 11.28 ° |
| Area | * 534.73 ft² |
| Sail Type | GENOA |
|---|---|
| Luff | 52 ft - (15850 mm) |
| Foot | 28.25 ft - (8611 mm) |
| Leech | 47 ft - (14326 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 120.81 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 25.37 ft - (7733 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 4.12 ° |
| Area | * 659.54 ft² |
| Sail Type | GENOA |
|---|---|
| Luff | 53.77 ft - (16389 mm) |
| Foot | * 34.07 ft - (10385 mm) |
| Leech | * 49.88 ft - (15203 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 146.71 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 30.81 ft - (9391 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 3.28 ° |
| Area | * 828.33 ft² |
| Sail Type | DRIFTER |
|---|---|
| Luff | 54 ft - (16459 mm) |
| Foot | 33 ft - (10058 mm) |
| Leech | 47 ft - (14326 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 135.71 % |
| Length Perp | * 28.5 ft - (8687 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 8.27 ° |
| Area | * 769.6 ft² |
| Sail Type | ASYMMETRICAL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 53 ft - (16154 mm) |
| Foot | 34 ft - (10363 mm) |
| Leech | 50 ft - (15240 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 165 % |
| Area | * 1352 ft² |
| Sail Type | YANKEE |
|---|---|
| Luff | 51 ft - (15545 mm) |
| Foot | 23.25 ft - (7087 mm) |
| Leech | 40.5 ft - (12344 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 85.71 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 18 ft - (5486 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 17.29 ° |
| Area | * 458.94 ft² |
| Sail Type | STAYSAIL |
|---|---|
| Luff | 40 ft - (12192 mm) |
| Foot | 15.5 ft - (4724 mm) |
| Leech | 35.25 ft - (10744 mm) |
| Length Perpendicular | * 13.58 ft - (4139 mm) |
| Area | * 271.61 ft² |
| Sail Type | STORMJIB |
|---|---|
| Luff | 27 ft - (8230 mm) |
| Foot | 14 ft - (4267 mm) |
| Leech | 21 ft - (6401 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 51.19 % |
| Length Perp | * 10.75 ft - (3277 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 17.82 ° |
| Area | * 145.19 ft² |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.