Perry Design Review: Concordia 46

His real name was Roland, but everyone called him Buster. Last month Buster Hammond, for years the president of Islander Yachts, and before that Ranger yachts, died after a long fight with cancer.

I remember a brash yacht designer, 27 years old, informing Buster that Islander needed a new designer. Imagine my surprise when Buster had me go ahead on the design that became the Islander 28. We sold over 600 of those boats. Buster could listen better than anyone I have ever known. While he may have had 10 times the knowledge on a subject he would patiently sit and wring every last drop of information out of me without bothering to display his superior grasp of the situation. Buster always made me feel smart and he did wonderful things with my designs. Those were the halcyon days of the production boat business and I feel lucky to have been there with Buster.

Buster would have liked this new Concordia. From the board of Judel/Vrolijk, it appears to be a dual purpose yacht combining cruising accommodations with a very performance oriented hull and rig.

I suppose this new design is aimed at IMS competition. The generous beam is carried far into the ends of the boat. We don't have an underwater profile, but I don't think it is hard to imagine. There are two drafts available, a racing version with a 9.35-foot draft and cruising version drawing 6.5 feet in a wing configuration. Draft of 9.35 feet on a 46-footer ought to suck you up to weather pretty fast.

The D/L ratio for the racing version is 166 and the cruising version is 187. However, both of these figures use the same DWL and that is impossible if one weighs 2,765 pounds more than the other. Close enough for brochure work. For the heck of it, let's assume that the additional weight of the cruising version pulls the boat down another 1.5 inches and that extends the DWL an additional 4 inches. This results in a recalculated D/L for the cruising version of 183. Always striving for objectivity and accuracy?

The deck plan shows two companionways with the aft companionway leading down to the owner's stateroom. The forward companionway has a mini-cockpit aft of it to avoid the manhole style companionways of yesteryear. The cockpit looks small to me for a big, high-powered boat with racing on its mind. The side decks are broad and uncluttered and there is a recessed anchor well forward.

The cruising version has two heads and two nice staterooms with double berths. There are pilotberths in the main cabin. Concordia is a wonderful builder and I would think this design will be finished beautifully in teak.

The rig is tall with an I of 63 feet and a J of 18.21 feet. The SA/D ratio is 20.94 for the cruising version. Probably the most significant aspect of this design is that it will go head to head with some European models that have dominated this style. I think Concordia will give the competition more than a good run for the money.

Boat Specifications

This story originally appeared in Sailing Magazine, and is republished here by permission. Subscribe to Sailing.