Fast Progress

A technical, short-handed race boat from a big production builder? The new Sun Fast 3300 is a bold move by Jeanneau and far more radical than its successful 3200 and 3600. RUPERT HOLMES took it for a spin

- Rupert Holmes

The past few years have seen a number of interesting and innovative smaller IRC raceboats launched, but nothing as radical as the 3300, coming from a company the size of Jeanneau, which has to be sure of selling large numbers to recover up-front development costs. Daniel Andrieu teamed up with Guilliame Verdier – a man whose successful Vendée Globe and America’s Cup designs are legendary, but who had not previously been deeply involved in an IRC boat – to produce an eyecatching model with novel features.

There’s an air of revolution about this boat, while it’s also more complex than the Sun Fast 3200, which was first launched in 2008. Much of this is down to Jeanneau recognising that shorthanded crews – even amateurs racing solo – have more knowledge than in the past and can therefore happily handle a more complex boat. Although the 3300 is clearly more optimised for short-handed sailing than the 3200 and 3600, the deck layout still gives a very viable option for racing fully crewed.

CONCEPT 9/10

The new boat has what looks like very bluff forward sections, but a narrow waterline beam minimises drag when upright. When the boat heels, perhaps surprisingly, waterline beam stays fairly constant, but the centre of buoyancy moves rapidly outboard with heel, massively increasing form stability.

It’s impressive that the immersed shape stays very balanced when the boat is heeled and there’s not a great deal of wetted surface area at any angle of heel. The forward sections are also shaped such that slamming is largely avoided when the boat is heeled.