This is a
sailboat designed for
racing. Its name comes from the fact that it was designed by
Bruce Farr and is about 40 feet in length. Specs:
- LOA: 40.72ft 12.41m
- LWL: 35.27ft 10.75m
- Beam: 13.22ft 4.03m
- Draft: 8.53ft 2.60m
- Disp.: 10,902lbs 4,945kg
- Ballast: 4,960lbs 2,250kg
- RMC: 1,266ft/lbs 175kg/m
Rig:
- IM: 53.2ft 16.20m
- J: 15.5ft 4.71m
- P: 54.8ft 16.70m
- E: 19.4ft 5.90m
- ISP: 53.2ft 16.20m
- SPL: 15.5ft 4.71m
The Farr 40 has become very popular as a
class partly because of its
owner driver rule, which means the owner of the
boat must drive, no hired pros. The high performance
one design racing has attracted some of the biggest names in
sailing. At large events it is normal for the top boats to have at least one olympian,
America's Cup or similar caliber
tactician on board.
At its heart the Farr 40 is a simple boat. A standard bermuda rig is made simpler by the absence of overlapping genoas. A large open cockpit leaves plenty of room for the crew members. A bare functional racing interior makes this a racing only boat.
The boats performance comes largely from its high displacement/ballast ratio. This is achieved by the use of fiber glass and carbon in the construction of the hull, in addition to the fully carbon mast, boom, and spinnaker pole.
The boat is manufactured by Carroll Marine. The base price in 2001 is $249,750 without sails or electronics. Not cheap, but very affordable when compared to other methods of racing at this level (i.e. building a custom boat).