Soverel 26: Stock MORC winner

The following is a reprint of an article sent to me. I have changed the layout of the article but not the actual text of the article.

Mark Soverel's new 26-foot MORC racer is indeed a very interesting design. This yacht's prototype, STEWBALL, won the '75 MORC championship, both in her class and in the fleet. Mark has been kind enough to furnish a set of the body plan lines with the usual information supplied to the magazine.

This yacht was designed to the MORC rule without exploiting it. I think the amount a designer exploits or doesn't exploite a rule is subjective. STEWBALL certainly takes full advantage of the MORC rule without being a freak. The hull is very dingy like with no bustle at all. The run of the 26 is very flat. Wetted surface is absolutely minimum, and the displacement ratio is also quite low at 209.

While the low displacement and low wetted surface combine to make the Soverel 26 very fast in light air, the flat run and light displacement will make the yacht quick to plane and quite easy to handle in a blow. As the wind pipes up, a heavier yacht would need more sail area up to remail competative with a lighter yacht. The result is that a lighter yacht can excel at the oposite ends of the wind scale.

With the extreame flair to the topsides of the 26 it should be very stiff once it reaches about 15 degrees of heel. The rudder is certainly remenicent of a planing dingy's rudder with its eliptical tip. If I had to summerize the shape of this yacht in a few words, I would say it is like a large International 14.

The deck layout of the production model is different then STEWBALL's in that a small cabin trunk has been incorporated into the production yacht. STEWBALL was a flush decker with a "trench" style of cockpit. While the production yacht's cockpit has been compromised slightly, it is still a very efficent layout for racing. The inboard placement of the primary winch islands allows for two genoa tracks. The outboard track is set on the 10 degree line and the inboard track is on the seven degree line. These angles should make for a very close-winded boat. With the halyard winches on top of the companionway spray hood, a crew member can stand on a platform on the ice box and work the halyards without being in the way of the sheet trimmers.

The sail area to displacement ratio of the Soverel 26 is 17.8, which is rather high, yet very consistant with the rest of the yacht. The No. 1 genoa in the drawings appears to be a 170 per cent. This should make the 26 very exciting to sail in light air. There is not much room for inovative interior design in a yacht of this size. The Soverel 26 has four berths and a more private then expected head compartment. With a wide beam of 10 feet, two crew members sleeping on the weather side would indeed be helpful on a long beat. The interior is a fiberglass liner with teak trim.

I find the design to be quite exciting. It has already proven itself a winner in a very tough competition. I think we may see more of these yachts designed to the MORC rule and produced as production yachts. As in the case of the Payne 9.6, I think this is a reaction to the IOR rule. I live in a light air area, and this yacht would certainly do well here, if we had an MORC fleet.

For more information write Soverel Marine,Inc., Dept. SG, 2225 Idlewilde Rd., North Palm Beach, FL.33410