Review of First Class Europe

Basic specs.

The First Class Europe aka Beneteau First Class Europe is a sailboat designed by the French maritime architect Jean-Marie Finot in the late eighties. The First Class Europe is built by the French yard Bénéteau.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

Rig

The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

Keel

The keel is made of iron. Many people prefer lead keel in favour of iron. The main argument is that lead is much heavier than iron and a lead keel can therefore be made smaller which again result in less wet surface, i.e. less drag. In fact iron is quite heavy, just 30% less heavy than lead, so the advantage of a lead keel is often overstated.

The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.90 - 2.00 meter (6.23 - 6.53 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for First Class Europe is about 249 kg/cm, alternatively 1394 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 249 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1394 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for First Class Europe is 3.27.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 58% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for First Class Europe is 32%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 14% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

Over- / underrigged

The First Class Europe has more rig than 100% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for fractional rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	34.4 m	(112.9 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	34.4 m	(112.9 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	34.4 m	(112.9 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet	11.0 m	(36.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	11.0 m	(36.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	27.6 m	(90.5 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	24.3 m	(79.6 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Cunningham	5.1 m	(16.7 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap	10.2 m	(33.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul	10.2 m	(33.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for First Class Europe it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.