Comet 12
Comar · Andrea Vallicelli · 1984
Updated
The Comet 12 is a 12.30 m heavy displacement racing yacht designed by Andrea Vallicelli and built by Comar, first launched in 1984. It races in Class B.
Length
12.30 m
40′ 4″
Beam
3.89 m
Draft
2.25 m
Displacement
8.5 t
Sail area
90 m²
On the podium
Where a Comet 12 finishes when she goes racing.
On the podium
9%
of 23 starts by 4 boats
Wins
0%
Read from 23 starts by 4 boats between 2017 and 2026, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a Comet 12 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
49° Campionato Invernale Vela d'Altura2026- Campionato Invernale 2025/2026 XXXVI Edizione2026
- Campionato Invernale 2025/2026 XXXVI Edizione2025
- Campionato Invernale del Sabato2025
- Campionato di Primavera2025
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
—
Not enough data yet: 8 races of 10 NM or less carry a published distance.
Offshore & coastal
0%
of these races end on the podium
Who she races against
The designs a Comet 12 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
Dufour 44 (7 meetings), Cobra 33 (6 meetings), Elan 340 (5 meetings), Elan 40 (4 meetings), First 34.7 (4 meetings), Stag 38 (4 meetings), Grand Soleil 40 (Paperini) (5 meetings), Polaris 33 (4 meetings), More 40 (4 meetings), Sun Odyssey 32 (3 meetings), First 32 (3 meetings), Comet 910 (Finot) (3 meetings), X-362 (3 meetings), Show 42 (3 meetings), Centurion 40 (3 meetings), Dufour 382 (3 meetings), First 35 (Farr) (2 meetings), Sly 42 (2 meetings), Canados 37 (2 meetings), Bonin 31 (2 meetings), Pogo 10.50 (2 meetings), Oceanis 46.1 (2 meetings), Vismara 40 (1 meeting), Dufour 34 (1 meeting), Elan 333 (1 meeting), X-442 (1 meeting), X-332 (1 meeting), First 44.7 (1 meeting), Oceanis 31 (1 meeting), Bavaria 36 (1 meeting)
Some of the boats it races against
How the Comet 12 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
5.45
38°
Beam reach
8.31
90°
Broad reach
8.87
135°
Downwind VMG
7.69
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 is an upwind boat first. Windward-leeward courses give it more of what it is good at than a coastal race does.
Where it gains
Its best ground is upwind once it pipes up, where it outruns what it looks like on paper, and by a margin worth having.
Where it pays
It falls short cracked off when it blows, giving away time it never gets back. That is weight that has to be driven rather than released.
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 0.4 kn either way.
At 10 knots this design makes back more than its rating asks on the beam reach.
How fast is a Comet 12
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 3.46 | 4.78 | 5.33 | 5.45 |
| 52° | 5.32 | 6.92 | 7.40 | 7.54 |
| 60° | 5.62 | 7.11 | 7.56 | 7.73 |
| 75° | 5.83 | 7.24 | 7.72 | 8.09 |
| 90° | 5.71 | 7.33 | 7.89 | 8.31 |
| 110° | 5.62 | 7.41 | 8.10 | 8.94 |
| 120° | 5.46 | 7.31 | 8.05 | 9.10 |
| 135° | 4.88 | 6.92 | 7.80 | 8.87 |
| 150° | 4.11 | 6.17 | 7.37 | 8.30 |
| Run VMG | 3.55 | 5.34 | 6.54 | 7.69 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Roughly half carry a folding propeller. Crew weight is declared around 690 kg.
Rigging
Comet 12 rig and sail dimensions
A Comet 12 carries 14.47 m of mainsail hoist on a 4.30 m boom, a forestay 16.71 m above the deck and a 5.14 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 6 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails
The spinnaker spreads widest of all — 99 to 108 m² depending on bowsprit and set-up. Before ordering a sail, read the figure on your own measurement record rather than the typical one for the design.