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(and sisterships) (#654, 64' x 47'6" x 17'4" x 5'6" centerboard motorsailer, 1956 |
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Rhodes designed this vessel as a fully competent, go-anywhere, do-anything yacht, in a more modest size -- well under his 70 plus footers. She performs well under sail or power and draws under six feet for the shallow regions of the world. She provides two couples with large, comfortable cabins with their own heads and closets. There is separate space for crew and generous tankage. She was built in steel, with four water-tight bulkheads. The design was so successful that five sisterships were built.
Although she has a motor sailor's deck and interior arrangement, the hull form is pure sail. Her clipper bow, short transom stern, cutaway forefoot, and centerboard are precursors of the famous racing cruiser Thunderhead, designed five years later. She has a large sail plan, 1,703 square feet. An owner of one of the sisterships, Alegria II, wrote to Rhodes about her performance: She has met just about every weather condition from dead calm to gale force wind, mostly on the later side, especially in Greek waters. Everyone who has been aboard, including two crews, marvel at her performance. When hove to for six hours in a storm between Malta and Athens, she rode beautifully. The most amazing thing about her is her sailing ability: she is really an able sailboat. In force 4 winds between Aegina and Athens she made between 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 knots all the way under sail. In a few words, Phil, your office has designed one of the best cruising boats possible. And with a good allowance she might do all right in an ocean race. (Henderson, p. 245)A sistership, Hanseatic II, was built in 1960, with a few minor changes. The original rig of a single boomed jib at about 85% high has been replaced by a masthead roller jib and a smaller inner staysail. Not suprisingly, the original design for an aft cabin with two comfortable single bunks was modified by widening the starboard bunk to a double bunk. Rhodes also designed smaller versions of this concept, Meltemi (45') and Vagabondia (38') Hanseatic II was offered for sale on Yachtworld in April 2006: http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1506059
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