Our first sailboat is called Samba, we bought her in Spain in 2010, and she has sailed with over 3000 happy costumers in front of the Barcelona coast line.
In 2016 we decided to place an environmental friendly electric engine in Samba, making her the first commercial sailboat in Barcelona that is electrically driven. Samba will be solar powered, no more noise, no smell and super for the environment. Pure relaxation.-
Samba has raced in the northern Spain for two years. Won several regattas and then was put on the land by her previous owner. Samba is a regatta sailboat, 9.54 meter long and 2,92 meter wide at the beam. Sailing her is very easy, she responds very fast on movements and is joy to sail.
Samba is in excellent condition and well suited to sail along the coast of Barcelona because she needs little wind. In the summer there is often little wind and when others turn on the engine we still enjoy a great sail.
Sailing experience
With its sleek waterline and slim deep bow and stern, the Grand Surprise is designed for fast sailing. It tends to seek an upright position due to a lead counter weight in the keel and this helps it to be both powerful and efficient when sailing close to the wind.
With a following wind or even with little wind, it accelerates easily thanks to the large surface area of the mainsail, designed for power with an asymmetric spinnaker.
Archambault Grand Surprise Boat Details
The sailboat is very light for its length only 2500 kg, comparable sailboats of its size weigh 1000 kg more. The boat is main driven (33m2) with a 105% Genoa. She was designed as a one design racer and became very popular in France where she still is used in many races. Just outside Barcelona resides a sister boat that we raced a few times.
Below is a Polar Diagram of the Archambault Grand Surprise. A polar diagram provides the maximum speeds at certain wind angles and wind speed. You see that the boat does extremely well in light winds. At 7 knots wind speed, it still reaches 7 knots of boat speed. That is a great performance. Perfect for the light summer winds in the Mediterranean sea.
