Review of Contest 44 (Zaal)
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The boat is equipped with 620.0 liter fresh water capacity.
The Contest 44 (Zaal) is 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.
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar 4JH2-DTE diesel engine at 88 hp (65 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.9 knots
The fuel tank has a capacity of 340.0 liters (89 US gallons, 74 imperial gallons).
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.
What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?
The capsize screening value for Contest 44 (Zaal) is 1.54, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 8.3 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Contest 44 (Zaal) is about 312 kg/cm, alternatively 1748 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 312 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1748 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.
What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?
The Motion Comfort Ratio for Contest 44 (Zaal) is 49.3.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Contest 44 (Zaal) is 3.35.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Contest 44 (Zaal) is 316 which categorizes this boat among 'medium weight cruisers'.
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): 13.63
Maintenance
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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Jib sheet | 13.4 m | (44.0 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 13.4 m | (44.0 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 33.5 m | (109.9 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 29.5 m | (96.7 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
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