Sun Fast 40.3
Jeanneau · Daniel Andrieu · 2005
Updated
The Sun Fast 40.3 is a 11.62 m displacement racing yacht designed by Daniel Andrieu and built by Jeanneau, first launched in 2005. It races in Class B.
Length
11.62 m
38′ 1″
Beam
3.96 m
Draft
2.15 m
Displacement
8.3 t
Sail area
87 m²
On the podium
Where a Sun Fast 40.3 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 2024 and 2025, counting races with six boats or more.
Recent regattas
The latest events where a Sun Fast 40.3 was on the start line, named as the organisers publish them.
Campionato Invernale dell'Argentario - Coastal Race2025
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: 1 race of 10 NM or less carry a published distance.
Offshore & coastal
—
Not enough data yet: 5 races over 10 NM carry a published distance.
Who she races against
The designs a Sun Fast 40.3 actually lines up with, most often first. The bar shows how those meetings ended.
Also met, too few times for a figure:
Comet 45 (6 meetings), Sun Fast 3600 (6 meetings), Grand Soleil 43 (Carkeek) (6 meetings), First 34.7 (6 meetings), Grand Soleil 40 (Polli) (6 meetings), Swan 47 (6 meetings), Farr 40 (6 meetings), Este 39 (6 meetings), Elan E5 (6 meetings), Grand Soleil 43 (Maletto) (6 meetings), Grand Soleil 40 (Paperini) (6 meetings), Grand Soleil 43 (Design) (6 meetings), X-35 (6 meetings), First 40.7 (6 meetings), First 31.7 (6 meetings), J/35 (6 meetings), Bolt 37 (6 meetings), Solaris 55 (6 meetings), Farr 30 (6 meetings), Dufour 455 (6 meetings), First 36 (6 meetings), Grand Soleil 46 (Carkeek) (6 meetings), Azuree 46 (6 meetings), Comet 38 (Vallicelli) (4 meetings)
Some of the boats it races against
How the Sun Fast 40.3 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
5.41
38°
Beam reach
8.49
90°
Broad reach
9.15
135°
Downwind VMG
8.00
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 in a strong breeze, where it does more than its size and sail area promise, and by a margin worth having. It holds that advantage on a reach as well, so the gain is not down to one leg of the course.
Where it pays
It falls short cracked off in a strong breeze, 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 Sun Fast 40.3
Boat speed in knots, by true wind angle and wind strength.
| Angle | 6 kn | 10 kn | 14 kn | 20 kn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beat VMG | 3.36 | 4.69 | 5.26 | 5.41 |
| 52° | 5.17 | 6.86 | 7.43 | 7.61 |
| 60° | 5.46 | 7.08 | 7.62 | 7.83 |
| 75° | 5.65 | 7.23 | 7.81 | 8.20 |
| 90° | 5.54 | 7.35 | 8.00 | 8.49 |
| 110° | 5.59 | 7.48 | 8.26 | 9.09 |
| 120° | 5.42 | 7.36 | 8.19 | 9.28 |
| 135° | 4.84 | 6.94 | 7.94 | 9.15 |
| 150° | 4.07 | 6.17 | 7.52 | 8.62 |
| Run VMG | 3.53 | 5.35 | 6.77 | 8.00 |
How they are set up
The range each sail spans across the fleet.
Roughly half carry a folding propeller. A bowsprit is standard across the fleet. Crew weight is declared around 560 kg.
Rigging
Sun Fast 40.3 rig and sail dimensions
A Sun Fast 40.3 carries 14.19 m of mainsail hoist on a 5.10 m boom, a forestay 15.40 m above the deck and a 5.12 m bowsprit. Typical figures across the 3 boats measured under the current VPP, with the range each one spans.
Rig
Sails