Fulmar 32 Keel and centerboard

Sailboat specifications

The Fulmar 32 is a 31’10” (9.7m) cruiser-racer sailboat designed by Dubois Naval Architects (United Kingdom). She was built between 1980 and 1991 by Westerly (United Kingdom) with 435 hulls completed. The Keel and centerboard version features a centerboard inside of a short fin-keel allowing shoal draft while maintaining upwind capabilities.

The Fulmar 32 is as well listed, on Boat-Specs.com, in Fin keel and Twin keel version (see all the versions compared).

Fulmar 32's main features

Model: Fulmar 32
Version: Keel and centerboard
Hull type: Monohull
Category: Cruiser-racer sailboat
Sailboat builder: Westerly
Sailboat designer: Dubois Naval Architects
Country: United Kingdom
Construction: Hull and deck: GRP (glass reinforced polyester)
Number of hulls built: 435
First built hull: 1980
Last built hull: 1991
Appendages: Centerboard : pivoting centerboard in the keel
Helm: Single tiller
Rudder: Single spade rudder
Unsinkable: No
Trailerable: No
Standard public price ex. VAT (indicative only): N/A €

Fulmar 32's main dimensions

Hull length: 31’ 10”9.7 m
Waterline length: 26’7.92 m
Beam (width): 10’ 11”3.33 m
Draft: 5’ 8”1.75 m
Draft when appendages up: 3’ 6”1.06 m
Mast height from D_WL: 42’ 6”12.96 m
Light displacement (M_LC): 10031 lb4550 kg
Ballast weight: 4343 lb1970 kg
Ballast type: Cast iron

Fulmar 32's rig and sails

Upwind sail area: 566 ft²52.6 m²
Downwind sail area: 1013 ft²94.11 m²
Mainsail area: 253 ft²23.5 m²
Genoa area: 313 ft²29.1 m²
Solent area: 254 ft²23.6 m²
Jib area: 194 ft²18 m²
Stormjib area: 93 ft²8.6 m²
Symmetric spinnaker area: 760 ft²70.61 m²
I iFore triangle height (from mast foot to fore stay top attachment): 36’ 7”11.15 m
J iFore triangle base (from mast foot to bottom of forestay): 11’ 11”3.62 m
P iMainsail hoist measurement (from tack to head): 41’ 6”12.65 m
E iMainsail foot measurement (from tack to clew): 12’ 4”3.75 m
Rigging type: Sloop Marconi 7/8
Mast configuration: Deck stepped mast
Rotating spars: No
Number of levels of spreaders: 1
Spreaders angle: Swept-back
Spars construction: Aluminum spars
Standing rigging: 1x19 strand wire continuous

Fulmar 32's performances

HN (French rating) iHN or "Handicap Nationale" is an empirical rating system used in France allowing various monohulls, of different sizes and designs, to race each other fairly. It is particularly suitable for cruiser and cruiser-racer. Therefore, by comparing these values, we can have an indication of the relative speed of 2 boats.: 14.0
Upwind sail area to displacement iThe ratio sail area to displacement is obtained by dividing the sail area by the boat's displaced volume to the power two-thirds. The ratio sail area to displacement can be used to compare the relative sail plan of different sailboats no matter what their size. Upwind: under 18 the ratio indicates a cruise oriented sailboat with limited performances especially in light wind, while over 25 it indicates a fast sailboat.: 206 ft²/T19.16 m²/T
Downwind sail area to displacement iThe ratio sail area to displacement is obtained by dividing the sail area by the boat's displaced volume to the power two-thirds. The ratio sail area to displacement can be used to compare the relative sail plan of different sailboats no matter what their size.: 369 ft²/T34.27 m²/T
Displacement-length ratio (DLR) iThe Displacement Length Ratio (DLR) is a figure that points out the boat's weight compared to its waterline length. The DLR is obtained by dividing the boat's displacement in tons by the cube of one one-hundredth of the waterline length (in feet). The DLR can be used to compare the relative mass of different sailboats no matter what their length: a DLR less than 180 is indicative of a really light sailboat (race boat made for planning), while a DLR greater than 300 is indicative of a heavy cruising sailboat.: 259
Ballast ratio iThe Ballast ratio is an indicator of stability; it is obtained by dividing the boat's displacement by the mass of the ballast. Since the stability depends also of the hull shapes and the position of the center of gravity, only the boats with similar ballast arrangements and hull shapes should be compared. The higher the ballast ratio is, the greater is the stability.: 43 %
Critical hull speed iAs a ship moves in the water, it creates standing waves that oppose its movement. This effect increases dramatically the resistance when the boat reaches a speed-length ratio (speed-length ratio is the ratio between the speed in knots and the square root of the waterline length in feet) of about 1.2 (corresponding to a Froude Number of 0.35) . This very sharp rise in resistance, between speed-length ratio of 1.2 to 1.5, is insurmountable for heavy sailboats and so becomes an apparent barrier. This leads to the concept of "hull speed". The hull speed is obtained by multiplying the square root of the waterline length (in feet) by 1.34.: 6.83 knots