Review of First 53 F5

Basic specs.

The First 53 F5 aka Beneteau First 53 F5 is a large sailboat designed by the maritime architect Bruce Farr in the early nineties. The First 53 F5 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 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

The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.45 - 2.55 meter (8.04 - 8.34 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 53 F5 is about 475 kg/cm, alternatively 2660 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 475 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2660 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 53 F5 is 3.50.

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

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for First 53 F5 is 29%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 15% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

Over- / underrigged

Maintenance

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	43.5 m	(142.8 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	43.5 m	(142.8 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	43.5 m	(142.8 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib sheet	15.8 m	(51.7 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	15.8 m	(51.7 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	39.4 m	(129.3 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	34.7 m	(113.8 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Cunningham	5.7 m	(18.6 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Kickingstrap	11.3 m	(37.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Clew-outhaul	11.3 m	(37.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 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

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References

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