First 47.7
Beneteau · Bruce Farr · 1999
Updated
The First 47.7 is a 14.51 m displacement racing yacht designed by Bruce Farr and built by Beneteau, first launched in 1999. It races in Class A. Across the measured fleet it goes better than its own numbers promise, ahead of 4% of the designs it races against. It comes alive as the breeze builds, and gives time away in the light.
Goes better than its own measurements promise, and does it better than 4% of the boats it races against.
44th of 46 in its class.
This design has been found in real race results — 73 starts across 30 events — not only in measurement files.
Length
14.51 m
47′ 7″
Beam
4.51 m
Draft
2.29 m
Displacement
12.1 t
Sail area
126 m²
On the podium
Where a First 47.7 finishes when she goes racing.
On the podium
7%
of 73 starts by 16 boats
Wins
3%
Read from 73 starts by 16 boats between 2012 and 2026, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a First 47.7 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
Round Aeolian Race 2026 - Campionato Italiano Offshore ORC2026
42ος Ιστιοπλοικος Αγωνας Α/θ ¨Πορος ΄26¨2026
Helsinki Tallinna Race2026- Regata Brindisi-Corfù2026
- Regata dell'Amicizia2025
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
7%
of these races end on the podium
Offshore & coastal
8%
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 47.7 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
Peterson 25 (6 meetings), First 211 (6 meetings), Nicholson 345 (6 meetings), First Class Challenge (6 meetings), Bavaria Cruiser 33 (6 meetings), Hanse 348 (6 meetings), Apollo 12 (6 meetings), Bavaria Cruiser 36 (6 meetings)
Some of the boats it races against
How the First 47.7 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
5.95
39°
Beam reach
9.43
90°
Broad reach
10.18
135°
Downwind VMG
8.67
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 on the beam once it pipes up, where it goes better than its measurements say it should, and by a margin worth having.
Where it pays
It falls short off the wind once it pipes up, 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 beam reach.
How fast is a First 47.7
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 3.67 | 5.14 | 5.72 | 5.95 |
| 52° | 5.69 | 7.55 | 8.17 | 8.41 |
| 60° | 6.04 | 7.83 | 8.39 | 8.66 |
| 75° | 6.33 | 8.02 | 8.65 | 9.06 |
| 90° | 6.22 | 8.09 | 8.80 | 9.43 |
| 110° | 6.11 | 8.23 | 9.11 | 10.01 |
| 120° | 5.92 | 8.12 | 9.07 | 10.34 |
| 135° | 5.28 | 7.63 | 8.77 | 10.18 |
| 150° | 4.42 | 6.74 | 8.25 | 9.51 |
| Run VMG | 3.83 | 5.83 | 7.28 | 8.67 |
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 840 kg.
Rigging
First 47.7 rig and sail dimensions
A First 47.7 carries 15.86 m of mainsail hoist on a 6.46 m boom, a forestay 17.27 m above the deck and a 5.87 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 28 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails
The spinnaker spreads widest of all — 117 to 175 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.