First 36.7
Beneteau · Bruce Farr · 2001
Updated
- ORC World Championship · Class C2025
Each title was won by a boat of this design, not by the design itself.
The First 36.7 is a 10.64 m displacement racing yacht designed by Bruce Farr and built by Beneteau, first launched in 2001. It races in Class C. Across the measured fleet it goes better than its own numbers promise, ahead of 47% of the designs it races against. It is at its best in light air and struggles to hold that once it blows.
Goes better than its own measurements promise, and does it better than 47% of the boats it races against.
84th of 159 in its class.
This design has been found in real race results — 1,019 starts across 182 events — not only in measurement files.
Length
10.64 m
34′ 11″
Beam
3.46 m
Draft
2.22 m
Displacement
5.5 t
Sail area
79 m²
On the podium
Where a First 36.7 finishes when she goes racing.
On the podium
18%
of 1,019 starts by 72 boats
Wins
6%
Read from 1,019 starts by 72 boats between 2010 and 2026, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a First 36.7 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
National Championship for Keel Boats2026
"Πορος 2026"2026
Round Aeolian Race 2026 - Campionato Italiano Offshore ORC2026- Regatta Sozopol Sailing Cup2026
- 4ª Golfo dei Poeti Cup2026
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
19%
of these races end on the podium
Offshore & coastal
20%
of these races end on the podium
Level across both. Plenty of designs fall away once the course gets long — a light hull that thrives round the cans can struggle through a night at sea. This one does not.
Who she races against
The designs a First 36.7 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Some of the boats it races against
How the First 36.7 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
5.26
38°
Beam reach
8.29
90°
Broad reach
9.01
135°
Downwind VMG
7.88
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.
This one is at home going to windward. Windward-leeward courses give it more of what it is good at than a coastal race does.
Where it gains
Its best ground is to windward when the breeze is soft, where it outruns what it looks like on paper, and by a margin worth having.
Where it pays
It falls short on a broad reach when it blows, giving away time it never gets back. That is a displacement hull working to its designed speed.
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 upwind.
How fast is a First 36.7
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 3.63 | 4.85 | 5.18 | 5.26 |
| 52° | 5.48 | 6.90 | 7.23 | 7.35 |
| 60° | 5.74 | 7.06 | 7.41 | 7.56 |
| 75° | 5.91 | 7.18 | 7.65 | 7.92 |
| 90° | 5.84 | 7.25 | 7.78 | 8.29 |
| 110° | 5.62 | 7.30 | 8.04 | 8.73 |
| 120° | 5.43 | 7.20 | 8.01 | 9.11 |
| 135° | 4.86 | 6.84 | 7.75 | 9.01 |
| 150° | 4.11 | 6.20 | 7.38 | 8.52 |
| Run VMG | 3.55 | 5.38 | 6.71 | 7.88 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Nearly all carry a folding propeller. Crew weight is declared around 630 kg.
Rigging
First 36.7 rig and sail dimensions
A First 36.7 carries 13.85 m of mainsail hoist on a 4.75 m boom, a forestay 14.10 m above the deck and a 4.31 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 158 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails
The spinnaker spreads widest of all — 68 to 130 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.