Amid much fanfare at the Paris Show two weeks ago Jeanneau have announced an all new state-of-the-art Sun Fast 3300 which won an award for innovation at the show.
This new design is a collaboration between the Verdier design office, who have been responsible in recent years for such outstanding racing yachts as the super-maxi “Comanche” and successful Open 60 “Hugo Boss”, and Daniel Andriau who was wholly responsible for the successful Sun Fast 3200 and 3600.
The best description we’ve read comes from UK dealer and Sun Fast enthusiast Nigel Colley who has taken a close interest in this project. In his words:
“The hull shape is designed to promote earlier surfing/planing compared to the 3200, with less wetted surface area and more sail area. With the mast and keel position further aft, the jib and spinnaker can be bigger. The twin tillers on the 3200 worked well, except that they were targets for the mainsheet to wrap around!! This won’t be the case on the 3300.The design has a downwind bias, good for the Transquadra, but maintains the high stability for upwind work. The hull inflexions are there for hydrodynamic reasons, not as IRC rule cheats. Give Verdier a clean sheet of paper and he always draws fast boats, Andrieu’s challenge has been to keep the boat IRC friendly without losing the Verdier sparkle.”
See the provisional details here