Curlew

Rossiter Yachts in Christchurch launched this retro design in 1980 as a big sister to its 28ft Pintail. Both are still built as one-off commissions by the yard to this day. Designed by Hugh
Rossiter, she bears more than a passing resemblance to many of Maurice Griffi ths’ heavy-displacement, shoaldraught, lifting-keel designs. She has had a long production run so there
are quite a few around. Her sailing performance is steady but rewarding, stiff and directionally stable, and she is a good passage-maker. Traditional thinking extends to the spacious interior, where there are five berths including a quarterberth. The woodwork is a refl ection of the shipwright’s, rather than the joiner’s, art. Variations include cutter or sloop rig, deep or shallow long keel, centreboard or bilge keels. A delightful way to sail in pre-war style with the benefits of
low-maintenance GRP construction.

LOA 9.75m (32ft), LWL 8.07m (26ft 8in), beam 3.15m (10ft 4in), draught 1.2m-1.8m
(3ft 8in-5ft 10in), displacement 7,340kg (16,185lb). Price guide: £40,000 to £60,000. YM Test Report June 1982.