First Class 7.5
Beneteau · Jean-Marie Finot · 2003
Updated
The First Class 7.5 is a 7.50 m planing racing yacht designed by Jean-Marie Finot and built by Beneteau, first launched in 2003. It races in Sportboat.
Length
7.50 m
24′ 7″
Beam
2.58 m
Draft
1.95 m
Displacement
1.1 t
Sail area
35 m²
On the podium
Where a First Class 7.5 finishes when she goes racing.
0
Wins
0
Seconds
0
Thirds
6
Starts
Not enough races yet for a percentage — these are the counts so far. We keep collecting results, so this will fill in.
Read from 6 starts by 1 boat between 2021, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a First Class 7.5 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
Sportboat European Championship2021
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: 6 races of 10 NM or less carry a published distance.
Offshore & coastal
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Not enough data yet: no races over 10 NM carry a published distance.
Who she races against
The designs a First Class 7.5 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
Donovan GP 26 (6 meetings), Corsa 915 (6 meetings), Farr 280 (6 meetings), Cheese 6.5 (6 meetings), J/80 (6 meetings), Skippi 650 (6 meetings), Peterson 25 (6 meetings)
Some of the boats it races against
How the First Class 7.5 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
4.99
37°
Beam reach
9.12
90°
Broad reach
12.61
135°
Downwind VMG
9.13
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 is a boat that wants breeze. 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 on a broad reach in a strong breeze, where it outruns what it looks like on paper, and by a margin worth having. It holds that advantage on the run as well, so the gain is not down to one leg of the course.
Where it pays
It falls short upwind when the breeze is soft, giving away time it never gets back. A planing hull rarely rewards a drifter: there is not enough pressure to get anything out of it.
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 3.8 kn either way.
At 10 knots this design makes back more than its rating asks on the broad reach.
How fast is a First Class 7.5
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 3.08 | 4.35 | 4.86 | 4.99 |
| 52° | 4.66 | 6.27 | 6.86 | 7.14 |
| 60° | 4.89 | 6.45 | 7.18 | 7.55 |
| 75° | 5.02 | 6.61 | 7.60 | 8.32 |
| 90° | 5.38 | 7.03 | 7.87 | 9.12 |
| 110° | 5.46 | 7.46 | 8.84 | 10.30 |
| 120° | 5.31 | 7.30 | 9.23 | 11.27 |
| 135° | 4.75 | 6.74 | 8.58 | 12.61 |
| 150° | 4.00 | 6.03 | 7.42 | 10.54 |
| Run VMG | 3.46 | 5.23 | 6.42 | 9.13 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Most run a fixed propeller. A bowsprit is standard across the fleet. Crew weight is declared around 400 kg.
Rigging
First Class 7.5 rig and sail dimensions
A First Class 7.5 carries 10.10 m of mainsail hoist on a 3.27 m boom, a forestay 9.22 m above the deck and a 5.10 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 5 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails
The spinnaker spreads widest of all — 51 to 70 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.