Review of Santa Cruz 33

Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978. The boat was built and designed for offshore racing. Apparently, Eight Bells, originally named Thunder Chicken, was the test boat to get official racing documentation and obtain its phrf rating of 119. So this particular boat is a historic vessel.

Basic specs.

The Santa Cruz 33 is a sailboat designed by the maritime architect Bill Lee in the late seventies. Only a few boats have been produced. The Santa Cruz 33 is built by the American yard Bill Lee Yachts Inc..

Looking for a new boat? Find a Santa Cruz 33 or similar boat for sale

Hull

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

Interior

Interior of Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978.

Aft cabin of Santa Cruz 33.

Galley of Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978.

Cockpit

Cockpit of Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978.

Rig

Rig of Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978.

The boat equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.

Keel

Keel of Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978.

The Santa Cruz 33 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.

The keel is made of lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.

The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.83 - 1.93 meter (6.00 - 6.30 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

Santa Cruz 33 anno 1978. The motor was replaced in 1996, but with the original motor type. It is a Yanmar 2gm20f 18 hp diesel engine. The "f" meaning fresh water cooled.

The boat is typically equipped with an inboard Yanmar 2GM20F diesel engine at 18.0 hp (13 kW), which gives a max speed about 6.3 knots.

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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Santa Cruz 33 is 2.09, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.1 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Santa Cruz 33 is about 174 kg/cm, alternatively 976 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 174 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 976 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.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Santa Cruz 33 is 16.9.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 12% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly below average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Santa Cruz 33 is 3.30.

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 Santa Cruz 33 is 43%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 62% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Santa Cruz 33 is 142 which categorizes this boat among 'ultra light racers'.

88% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Santa Cruz 33 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 20.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 25.1.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 95% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Santa Cruz 33 has more rig than 88% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 31m² (333 ft²).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.

Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead 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	26.8 m	(88.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	26.8 m	(88.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	26.8 m	(88.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet	10.1 m	(33.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet	10.1 m	(33.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet	25.2 m	(82.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	22.1 m	(72.6 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Cunningham	3.6 m	(11.8 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap	7.2 m	(23.6 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul	7.2 m	(23.6 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

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

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what to look for.

Photographer: Rich Bartholomew
Newly rebuilt cushions with industrial fabric.

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Santa Cruz 33 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.