| LOA | 36.7 |
| LWL | 28.3 |
| Beam | 1.4 |
| Draft (Deep) | 6.6 |
| Draft (Shoal) | 4.9 |
| Displacement | 9,500 |
| Ballast | 3,740 |
| IG | 45.5 |
| ISP | 50.0 |
| SPL | N/A |
| J | 12.9 |
| P | 45.5 |
| E | 16.6 |
| Rated SA | 618 |
| PHRF (Typ) | 96 |
| Aux. HP | 27 |
| Builder | Sabre Yachts |
Sabre 'Spirit'
Other JTYD/Sabre designs: Overview | 362 | 402 | 452 | 426 | 386 | Spirit
The Sabre Spirit is every inch a Sabre, but she is very deliberately distinct from her siblings in many ways, and the differences started right from her conception. In all of the previous Taylor/Sabre projects, it was Sabre who first approached Jim with the general outline (LOA, target layout, etc) of the new project. For the Spirit, it was Jim who approached Sabre, with the observation that a sizeable percentage of boats in many harbors were leaving their mooring in the morning and returning to the same mooring that same afternoon. The ‘cruisers’ were typically not cruising, they were daysailing, which suggested an alternative boat that was more focused on cockpit space and less on interior volume, and more on ease of handling and getting off the mooring quickly and less on interior amenities. The development ‘fermentation period’ was a long one for the Spirit, and the concept definitely improved with age. Sabre hit on the ‘weekender’ moniker as one that better described a broader appeal than the much narrower ‘daysailer’ niche. Their dealers insisted that six foot headroom was a critical target. Jim worked away on a comprehensive 3-d computer model for hull, deck and cockpit, so that the tooling could be ‘carved’ by machine rather than built by hand. Jim also refined details such as the standard self-tacking jib, and the deep and shoal keel shapes.
The ‘Spirit’ is intended as an easy-to-sail daysailer, but the reality is that whenever two sailboats are in the same piece of water, there is a race. The owner of Hull #1 is enjoying the best of both worlds. Just as promised, he found his new ‘Spirit’ to be a lively, comfortable shorthanded ride, and fully crewed he went 2-1-2 in his first three Wednesday Night race series, and won that season overall in both class and fleet. He also won a race, and finished a creditable 4th overall, in a very tough class in the PHRF New England Championships. Not bad for a fresh out of the box production boat!
Word spread fast about the ‘Spirit’, and she soon earned an extraordinary ‘double’ by winning Boat of the Year awards from both Sailing World and Cruising World magazines. It is rare, if not unprecedented, for a boat to be judged as a BOTY by both journals in the same year. She was selected as ‘Best Daysailer’ of the year by Sailing World, winning out over the Alerion 33, CrossCurrent 33, and J-122. Judge Alan Andrews, an accomplished designer in his own right, wrote that “Sabre has put together a polished product that sails well and is easy to handle, both shorthanded and fully crewed…a sharp-looking, well-performing daysailer that not only works as a weekender, but a racer as well.”
Cruising World did not have a Daysailer category, but saw such merit in the Spirit that they gave it their ‘Judges Choice Award.’ Judge Steve Callahan said that “I saw no other boat in the show that was as consistent in quality from the concept of the design to the execution of that design, the construction, the detailing, and the fun of sailing."
It is especially gratifying to have such a distinguished group of judges, with such a wide variety of experience and interests, recognize the objectives of the designer and builder so specifically and endorse their execution so enthusiastically. We are pleased and proud to have contributed to yet another BOTY from Sabre Yachts.
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