Carkeek 40
Premier Composites · Botín & Carkeek · 2016
Updated
- ORC World Championship · Class 02025
- ORC World Championship · Class A2026
Each title was won by a boat of this design, not by the design itself.
The Carkeek 40 is a 12.54 m planing racing yacht designed by Botín & Carkeek and built by Premier Composites, first launched in 2016. It races in Class A.
Length
12.54 m
41′ 2″
Beam
3.88 m
Draft
3.01 m
Displacement
4.0 t
Sail area
109 m²
On the podium
Where a Carkeek 40 finishes when she goes racing.
On the podium
73%
of 15 starts by 1 boat
Wins
47%
Read from 15 starts by 1 boat between 2025 and 2026, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a Carkeek 40 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
- ORC World Championship2026
- Garmin ORC World Championship2025
Raced one we are missing?
Report a regattaRound the buoys, or offshore
A short windward-leeward and a night at sea ask different things of a boat. Here is how this one does in each.
Round the buoys
82%
of these races end on the podium
Offshore & coastal
—
Not enough data yet: 4 races over 10 NM carry a published distance.
Who she races against
The designs a Carkeek 40 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
Mat 122 (7 meetings), HH 42 (7 meetings), Elliott 44 (7 meetings), Carkeek 47 (7 meetings), Landmark 43 (7 meetings)
Some of the boats it races against
How the Carkeek 40 has fared against each of them, boat against boat on corrected time. Ordered by how often the two meet, not by who wins.
Speed at every angle
The shape of this design's speed, drawn from the measured fleet. Pick a wind and watch it stretch.
Upwind VMG
6.67
36°
Beam reach
12.53
90°
Broad reach
15.36
135°
Downwind VMG
12.57
170°
Speed in knots at 20 knots of true wind. Green marks the angles that pay: the closest useful beat and the deepest run worth sailing.
Where it wins and where it pays
Every boat is judged against its own measurements — length, weight, sail area. The quicker those say it should be, the more it has to deliver just to break even. Going fast is not enough: it has to go faster than its own numbers promised.
It needs pressure to show what it can do. Give it a fresh day and long legs and it delivers more than it promised; in a drifter it is working uphill.
Where it gains
Its best ground is downwind once it pipes up, where it outruns what it looks like on paper, and by a margin worth having. It holds that advantage on a broad reach as well, so the gain is not down to one leg of the course.
Where it pays
There is no condition where it falls away badly, which is worth something over a season of mixed weather.
Above the line it delivers more than promised and gains on the fleet. Below, it falls short. Move the wind: plenty of boats sit on one side in the light and the other when it blows.
Full width is 2.0 kn either way.
At 10 knots this design makes back more than its rating asks on the broad reach.
How fast is a Carkeek 40
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 4.69 | 6.04 | 6.44 | 6.67 |
| 52° | 7.12 | 8.62 | 9.19 | 9.67 |
| 60° | 7.52 | 8.99 | 9.68 | 10.27 |
| 75° | 7.78 | 9.52 | 10.43 | 11.37 |
| 90° | 7.73 | 9.61 | 10.99 | 12.53 |
| 110° | 7.54 | 9.79 | 11.65 | 13.67 |
| 120° | 7.27 | 9.71 | 11.85 | 14.60 |
| 135° | 6.51 | 9.14 | 11.73 | 15.36 |
| 150° | 5.45 | 8.00 | 10.04 | 14.52 |
| Run VMG | 4.72 | 6.93 | 8.70 | 12.57 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Nearly all carry a folding propeller. A bowsprit is standard across the fleet. Crew weight is declared around 900 kg.
Rigging
Carkeek 40 rig and sail dimensions
A Carkeek 40 carries 17.12 m of mainsail hoist on a 5.59 m boom, a forestay 16.48 m above the deck and a 7.51 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 5 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails