Granted, it’s a novel-looking shape, but why all the fuss I wondered as a crowd formed around the transom of the Cape Cod 767 in La Rochelle? And then as I took in the numerous clever features being demonstrated on deck I began to understand the interest. The 767 packs plenty of new ideas into a 25ft daysailer and is certainly worth a closer look – or a sail if you can.

Unearthing a genuinely different design is a highlight of being longterm members of the European Yacht of the Year scheme. A fellow jury member nominates a design we’ve never heard of (typically French) and we get to sail a yacht we might never otherwise stumble across.

Given its particularly modern and quirky design, including the pronounced reverse sheer and chines, you may also find it surprising to learn that the Cape Cod 767 hails from a yard more used to building classical-style boats.

Hervé Nollet is the Rosewest yard’s founder and designer. Following design school in Paris and 25 years running an industrial design agency, Nollet drew a neo-classic daysailer for himself 20 years ago. Demand from friends grew this into a small series production, the Cape Cod 896, of which 30 have now launched. One glance at this daysailer, with its gorgeous traditional sheer, elegant counter and large oval cockpit, helps explain where the brand name comes from – it befits that New England sailing lifestyle.

The link with that yacht and the starkly different, contemporary Cape Cod 767 is that they’re both shoal draught daysailers that are easy to manage, with large cockpits, modern appendages and rigs. The Cape Cod 767 ramps up the ease factor: it’s easier to sail fast, with an integral centreboard that makes it easy to beach or trail, and you can rig it single-handedly.

The novel 767 trailable daysailer, with its large cockpit and surprising space under the foredeck, is easy and reactive to sail, particularly with the furling gennaker. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr/EYOTY

An ideas boat

The concept is a sporty daysailer, yet a fun, spacious boat that can be trailed (it weighs just over a tonne).

It’s clearly a design that suits fair-weather sailing and has a cockpit to entertain plenty for its size, while its raft of clever features has inspired many positive comments on Yachting World’s YouTube channel.

For starters, there is the ease with which it can take to the shallows. The kick-up rudder pivots on a single point on its casing head. At first glance I thought this was some sort of wind vane, until I got closer and saw it was the blade in its fully vertical ‘docked’ position.

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The 350kg swing keel uses hydraulic power to raise it from 1.8m to just 22cm at the push of a button by the throttle control. It takes 20 seconds to lift, and it has an inbuilt fuse so will automatically raise if you hit the beach too quickly.

When you are beaching, you want to be able to both lift the outboard and use maximum cockpit space. The retractable outboard – an electric Torqeedo or 5hp petrol – is offset to one side to avoid the rudder and mounted on a hingeing bracket. This lifts and rotates inboard directly into a cockpit locker. A box then seals the transom slot for when sailing.

Hulls and decks are infused polyester, with composites all designed and built in-house. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr/EYOTY

Telescopic swim steps also retract neatly into the transom, while another large cockpit locker in the sole swallows fenders and gear.

How to include a table large enough for the numerous guests the cockpit can host? The solution on the Cape Cod 767 is recessed into the cockpit sole and raises up on X-legs (like an ironing board). Similarly, cockpit cushions with folding backrests are built into the benches, so you can choose to have these raised for support or flush to the side decks.

The swing keel weighs 350kg and raises hydraulically at the push of button. It will also lift automatically if beached. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr/EYOTY

When I arrived for a sail on the Cape Cod 767, the rep was having a siesta on the foredeck sunpad, the hatch raised to act as a reclining position. But the real surprise lies beneath here in a forepeak area that is spacious enough to accommodate two single berths and a chemical heads. Admittedly there’s no natural light and it’s more a space meant for stowage (Nollet says his clients are as likely to sleep on their boat as in their car), but it shows how the full bow has been put to good use.
Neat features abound, including the Seasmart recessed fittings on deck for attaching blocks easily or clipping on fenders one-handed and the cup holders in the tiller.

The Cape Cod 767 can be launched and rigged without needing a crane and comes with an aluminium mast with an option for carbon. A single Torqeedo battery provides two hours motoring at max speed (9.7km/h) and powers the keel. It can be recharged from the dock or taken home.

The large table is recessed into – and forms part of – the cockpit sole. It raises up on X-legs. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr/EYOTY

Reactive sailing

The Cape Cod is not just an ideas platform, it offers easy, fun sailing too. It’s designed to be narrow and flat enough to trailer, yet Rosewest has kept the composite build light and slippery. The single rudder proved nice and responsive, allowing you to feel each small increase in wind strength (we clocked 5-5.5 knots upwind and 7+ knots offwind).

The jib is on a curved track and can be sheeted inboard using the windward block, which is useful considering the full-bodied shape of her forward ends. The purchased mainsheet is controlled using a central ratchet block. You can also attach a block and tackle to this to aid fine trim and sheeting to windward.

The forepeak area below contains two berths, a large amount of stowage and a chemical heads. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr/EYOTY

Unfurling the gennaker is fuss-free with the furler line led underdeck and controlled from the pit. This reaching sail helped the Cape Cod 767 come alive and prove reactive to sail. You can cross sheet easily to trim all sails from the windward side. I’d look at fitting a simple tiller clamp so you could leave it locked off centrally while sailing solo and attending to the sails.

The helmsman has sturdy foot chocks and the natural place to sit at heel is up on the windward deck. But in heavier seas or winds you’d want more security in higher backrests. As it is there are no rails, an open transom, and little to keep you in the cockpit (or on the foredeck). And it could get a little wet in a seaway, which is why I consider it a design for calm weather (it’s RCD Cat C/four people).

But for a fun sail across to a beach or island to anchor up with friends for lunch and a swim, the Cape Cod offers a relishing prospect. Extraordinary? Perhaps not, but it’s certainly different and full of original features, which certainly got our attention!

Cape Cod 767 specifications

LOA: 7.67m / 25ft 2in
Beam: 2.54m / 8ft 4in
Draught: 0.22-1.8m / 0ft 9in-5ft 11in
Light displacement: 1,100kg / 2,425lb

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