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Review of First 24


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The First 24 is a sailboat designed by the French maritime architect Jean-Marie Finot in the early eighties. Several hundred boats have been produced. The First 24 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.

Rig
The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

Keel

The First 24 has been built with more than one type of keel.

One option is a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with 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 1.22 - 1.32 meter (4.00 - 4.30 ft) dependent on the load.


Engine

An outboard motor is often used on this boat. In that case the boat will typically require a power of 4 - 5 hp, alternatively 80 - 96 lbs thrust if you prefer an electrical motor. Electric outboards are becoming popular for sailboat owners who want clean instant power with less noise and no exhaust fumes.


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 24 is 2.08, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.


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 24 is 2.92.

Slim Wide 54% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 54% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for First 24 is 30%.

Low High 15% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 15% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for First 24 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.1, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.7.

Low High 38% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 38% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 100% 0 50 100
The First 24 has more rig than 100% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.


Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for fractional rig.

mainsail specifications headsail specifications

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale



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
Mainsail halyard 21.5 m(70.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard21.5 m(70.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard21.5 m(70.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet 7.3 m(24.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet7.3 m(24.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 18.4 m(60.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet16.1 m(53.0 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Cunningham3.1 m(10.3 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap6.3 m(20.6 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul6.3 m(20.6 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for First 24 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