Reports from owners

Owners of Cherubini 44s and 48s share these comments about the sailing performance and other features of their boats.

Cherubini 44 (Theoretical hull speed 8.5 knots):

Temura: We have had the boat to 12+ knots in a following sea, with genoa, main and mizzen up in about 20 knots of wind.  The boat was probably surfing. With a moderate wind abeam and the addition of the jib, she would generally do 8 or 9 knots 8 knots was pretty usual and it did not take much wind to get to this speed. The boat was always a pleasure to sail.  No matter where we were, in Biscayne where we sailed the most, intra coastal or Nantucket Sound, everyone admired the boat and wanted to come onboard to see her.

White Hawk: Dave's recollection of 13 knots is true, as that's what we experienced going down the Chesapeake bay from Baltimore in Oct. 2005. However, I do not think there was any magic involved, as the wind was 28 knots steady and gusting to 35! It was the first time I had seen anything over 30 knots, and I was very impressed by both the wind and the boat. The wind was on the beam and the GPS and the speedometer were about the same, 12-13 knots. We started out with the mizzen, staysail, and yankee, but eventually lowered the yankee. I think a boat can exceed hull speed with the help of a lot of force, and we had that. Of course not many boats can carry the sail to harness the force, and our 26 year old White Hawk proved up to the task, as did the sails and rigging. There was no damage to the boat after trip; even the 5200 filling the gap in the deck for the chain plates was intact.

Tuckernuck: We are the owners of Tuckernuck, a 1980 Cherubini 44. I can't say that we've experienced a lot of "above hull speed sailing," though she certainly is fast for her length. We live in Southern California, where the winds don't often support that kind of all-out sailing. What I can tell you is that in light air, our Cherubini 44 is flat-out great. In 6-7 knots apparent, she'll find 3 knots of boat speed, and in 8-10 she'll do 5 knots. It's just remarkable. The other thing this boat will do is claw upwind in 18-20 knots apparent, keeping a steady 5-6 knots over the ground and do so with a lovely, sea-kindly motion. That may be worth more than 12 knots on a reach. Here's the bottom line. We're just delighted with this boat. She may well be the most beautiful boat we've every laid eyes on, and she sails as well as she looks. We've read the books, spent our hours with Ferenc Mate, and one incredible day had the good luck to find someone who wanted to sell her, to us! If we're just a little luckier, one day we'll be able to sail south with her to Mexico and beyond. This is one fabulous boat. I'm tempted to think that the angels set to watching over seamen were watching over the Cherubinis when they drew her lines and built her molds.

At 11 knots, these ketches were sailing a 30 percent above hull speed. At 12 knots, they were a bit over 40 percent hull speed, and 13 knots is more than 50 percent of hull speed!

Cherubini 48 (Theoretical hull speed 8.9 knots):

Harmony: My Cherubini 48 will easily do 9 knots in 15 knots of breeze.  The very best run I had was in the China Sea Race in 1996.  I was at the helm for four hours never once below 11.5 knots and up to 13.5 knots in 30 to 40 knots of breeze with 2 reefs in the main and a 100% Yankee.  We had 15 to 20 foot seas at 60 degrees apparent wind angle.  We won the race in the cruising division and beat a lot of racing boats.  It's over 800 miles from Hong Kong to Subic Bay on Luzon Island, Philippines.  The boat does best with a moderate heel.  If the rail is in the water, she sounds and feels fast but is really going slower.  Not sure how the waterline increases with the heel but I'm sure it does.

Reports on the 2007 Great Chesapeake Schooner Race from three Cherubini 48s:

This was a perfect race for schooners -- strong winds on the beam. Three Cherubini schooners competed in this race. They completed the 127 mile race in 13:24 to 14:05 hr:min. This means that the average speed for these boats was at least between 9 and 9 1/2 knots, above hull speed! (The average speed had to be a little higher, as the boats could not sail a perfectly straight course, so they went somewhat more than 127 miles through the water.) Of course sometimes the boats were below the average and sometimes they were well above the average speed. Here's how the boats sailed:

Antonina (placed 2nd): In general, the winds were 20-25 on the beam, with gusts to 30. The wind lightened in the afternoon and we put up the asymmetrical spinnaker. The sail lifted so high, we unrolled the Genoa a few feet, like a spinnaker staysail, and that gave us an extra boost. As the wind increased at sunset, we lowered the spinnaker and sailed under full main, big jib and main staysail. Our speed over ground averaged around 10 knots, and in the puffs we saw speeds about 11.2-11.4 knots. It was a little difficult to maintain the course during the puffs with the full mainsail, but it gave us more speed. We did not try to use the fisherman staysail; with the winds we had, we had to concentrate on keeping the boat "in the groove," and it would have heeled us over more without adding much to forward drive. Our speeds were measured over ground by GPS; our speeds through water were half a knot more or less, depending on which way the current was flowing.

Muñequita (placed 3rd): Our boat is heavier than the others, so we carried more sail, including a small fisherman and a spinnaker when the winds were moderate. When the wind freshened, we reefed the main a little and used the full jib and main staysail. We were doing a steady 10+ knots. At least once, the speedomenter hit 11.

Adventurer (placed 5th): We were averaging 11+ knots for extended time periods, with winds on the beam at about 20-25 knots. As we approached the mouth of the Potomac River, the wind increased to about 30, and we sailed with double reefed main, reefed Genoa, and main staysail. For a while, we were moving in the mid 12 knot range, the highest was 12.8 knots.

In short, the average speed for the fastest schooner was at least 7 percent above theoretical hull speed. When these schooners reached 11 knots, they were moving almost 25 percent above hull speed! At 12 knots, they were going 35 percent above hull speed!

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