Invicta (sailboat)
Encyclopedia
The Pearson
Invicta is a 38 foot sailboat
designed for ocean racing. It has a fiberglass
sloop with wood
trim. Sailboats were once made solely of wood however, the Invicta was the first sailboat produced with a fiberglass hull to win a major ocean race (the 1964 Newport
to Burmuda) the yacht had placed second overall in the 1962 Newport to Bermuda Race. It was its first in its class and first overall. Thus permanently influencing the course of sailboat design
. The Pearson Invicta was designed by noted naval architect William Tripp and was produced by Pearson Yachts located in Bristol Rhode Island.
The Invicta's design philosophy followed a line established earlier by the beamy keel centerboard yawl "Finisterre" which was designed by Sparkman and Stephens for noted yachtsman Carlton Mitchell. Mitchell won the Newport to Bermuda Race three times (1956, 1958, and 1960) in Finisterre. These yachts were designed under the Cruising Club of America (CCA) rule. This rule was a handicaping system that resulted in dual purpose boats that could be used for safe family cruising as well as competitive handicap racing. These designs featured long overhangs at the bow and stern and curved "springy" sheer lines giving these yachts intrinsic beauty. As the yacht heeled over in the wind, more waterline length became available thus increasing theoretical hull speed.
The Invicta's designer, William Tripp, following the concept of Finisterre developed a series of keel centerboard fiberglass production boats including: the Block Island 40 (built first in Holland and later in East Greenwich Rhode Island), the Mercer 44 (built first in New Jersey by Mercer Reinforced Plastics and currently by Cape Cod Shipbuilding in Wareham MA, the Bermuda 40 and Hinckley 48 (built in Southwest Harbor Maine by the Hinckley Company). Mr. Tripp's unfortunate death in 1971 ended his career far too soon at the height of his design promenance.
This is distinct from the Van de Stadt designed Folkboat derivative 'Invicta 26'
Pearson Yachts
Pearson Yachts was a small manufacturer of fiberglass sailboats built in Bristol, Rhode Island founded by cousins Clinton and Everett Pearson in 1956. The company is one of earliest fiberglass sailboat manufacturers. The Carl Alberg designed Triton 28 launched at the New York Boat Show in January...
Invicta is a 38 foot sailboat
Sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
designed for ocean racing. It has a fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
sloop with wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
trim. Sailboats were once made solely of wood however, the Invicta was the first sailboat produced with a fiberglass hull to win a major ocean race (the 1964 Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
to Burmuda) the yacht had placed second overall in the 1962 Newport to Bermuda Race. It was its first in its class and first overall. Thus permanently influencing the course of sailboat design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
. The Pearson Invicta was designed by noted naval architect William Tripp and was produced by Pearson Yachts located in Bristol Rhode Island.
The Invicta's design philosophy followed a line established earlier by the beamy keel centerboard yawl "Finisterre" which was designed by Sparkman and Stephens for noted yachtsman Carlton Mitchell. Mitchell won the Newport to Bermuda Race three times (1956, 1958, and 1960) in Finisterre. These yachts were designed under the Cruising Club of America (CCA) rule. This rule was a handicaping system that resulted in dual purpose boats that could be used for safe family cruising as well as competitive handicap racing. These designs featured long overhangs at the bow and stern and curved "springy" sheer lines giving these yachts intrinsic beauty. As the yacht heeled over in the wind, more waterline length became available thus increasing theoretical hull speed.
The Invicta's designer, William Tripp, following the concept of Finisterre developed a series of keel centerboard fiberglass production boats including: the Block Island 40 (built first in Holland and later in East Greenwich Rhode Island), the Mercer 44 (built first in New Jersey by Mercer Reinforced Plastics and currently by Cape Cod Shipbuilding in Wareham MA, the Bermuda 40 and Hinckley 48 (built in Southwest Harbor Maine by the Hinckley Company). Mr. Tripp's unfortunate death in 1971 ended his career far too soon at the height of his design promenance.
This is distinct from the Van de Stadt designed Folkboat derivative 'Invicta 26'