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Review of First 26


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The First 26 aka Beneteau First 26 is a small sailboat designed by the French maritime architect Jean-Marie Finot in the mid eighties. The First 26 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. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.


Interior

The boat is equipped with 5 berths.


Keel

The First 26 has been built with different keel alternatives.

Fin keel

The First 26 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 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. As the surface of a fin type keel is just a fraction of the total wet surface, the difference between an iron keel and a lead keel can in reality be ignored for cruising yachts.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.35 - 1.45 meter (4.43 - 4.73 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Unknown keel type

This keel is also made of iron.

First 26 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 0.85 - 0.95 meter (2.79 - 3.09 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The First 26 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2001 diesel engine

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard engine at 9 hp (6 kW).

The transmission is a saildrive.


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 First 26 is 2.11, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.


Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for First 26 is about 145 kg/cm, alternatively 816 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 145 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 816 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 26 is 2.77.

Slim Wide 79% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 79% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for First 26 is 35%.

Low High 31% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 31% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 15.88


RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for First 26 is 69

Slow Fast 69% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 69 which means that a it is faster than 69% of all similar sailboat designs.


Maintenance

Rig

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
UsageLengthDiameter
Jib sheet 7.8 m(25.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet7.8 m(25.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 19.4 m(63.7 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet17.1 m(56.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for First 26 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