The South Coast 23 is an American trailerable

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by

Carl Alberg Carl Alberg (11 April 1901 – 31 August 1986) was a Swedish born naval architect known for his influence in early fiberglass boats. Career Alberg moved to the United States in 1925 where he began working as a rigger then later as a spar mak ...

as a

daysailer A daysailer, day sailer, or dayboat is a small sailboat with or without sleeping accommodations but which is larger than a dinghy. Dayboats can be mono hull or multihull, and are typically trailer-able. Many dayboats have a small cabin or "cu ...

and cruiser and first built in 1965.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 255.

International Marine S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

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, 2010.

Production

The design was built by South Coast Seacraft in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, starting in 1965. A total of 250 were completed, but it is now out of production. While many boats were delivered complete and ready-to-sail, South Coast Seacraft also supplied some boats as kits for amateur completion. The South Coast 23 design was developed into the Kittiwake 23 in 1966 by the Kenner Boat Company, by taking one extra hull and using it to build a new mold, slightly lengthening it and changing the cabin top shape. Kenner was the contractor to South Coast that built the early South Coast 23 hulls and the Kittiwake 23 was developed when South Coast moved hull production away from Kenner.

Design

The South Coast 23 is a recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with wooden trim. It has a

masthead sloop A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, ...

rig; a spooned,

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

; a raised counter, angled transom with a

lazarette The lazarette (also spelled lazaret) of a boat is an area near or aft of the cockpit. The word is similar to and probably derived from lazaretto. A lazarette is usually a storage locker used for gear or equipment a sailor or boatswain would us ...

; a

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

-mounted

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

and a fixed long

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. The boat is normally fitted with a small well-mounted

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

for docking and maneuvering. The design was available as a two-berth daysailer/overnighter model with a shorter cabin or as a four-berth cruiser. The latter model has sleeping accommodation for four people, with a double

"V"-berth A berth is a bed or sleeping accommodation on vehicles. Space accommodations have contributed to certain common design elements of berths. Beds in boats or ships While beds on large ships are little different from those on shore, the lack ...

in the bow cabin and two straight settee berths in the main cabin. The galley is located on both sides just aft of the bow cabin. The galley is equipped with a sink and an

icebox An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrige ...

. The head is located in the bow cabin, under the "V"-berth. The fresh water tank has a capacity of and the cabin headroom is . The design has a

PHRF Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...

racing average handicap of 270 and a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-t ...

of .

Operational history

The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the ''South Coast Seacraft Owners' Association''. In a 2010 review Steve Henkel, who completed and sailed a kit South Coast 23 with his wife, wrote, "best features: Carl Alberg did a good job designing a graceful-looking hull with springy sheer and relatively low freeboard. A cockpit-mounted outboard motor well and a lazarette to store the motor when not in use were also good ideas. A 6 hp outboard with a high-thrust prop is all the power she needed, even in heavy air. Worst features: The boat's biggest fault is probably the shallow (2' 10") draft, which isn't quite enough to make the boat as close winded as she otherwise could be. We like to claim that's why we never won a race with her."

References

{{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats 1960s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Trailer sailers Sailboat types built in the United States Sailboat type designs by Carl Alberg Sailboat types built by South Coast Seacraft

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References