About the Ocean Angel
Beneteau is a company with a boat-building history dating back to1884 when wooden fishing boats were built to order for their customers. Over the years, the company grew to over 1700 employees in the 1950's, and they built boats as large as the 40 ton, 18 meter "Le Belote et Re" in 1957. But fishing declined, new boat orders dwindled, and Beneteau scaled back to as few as 17 employees. The family owners realized that changes would be required to keep the company afloat, and a move was launched to produce pleasure boats for sailing built of fiberglass, a radical new material at the time. .Designs evolved, major naval architects were employed, and an incredible array of fiberglass sailboats came off the drawing boards from the likes of Jean-Marie Finot, Jean Beret and German Frers. Beneteau took the world by surprise when they commissioned Frers to design the flagship of the First fleet, and one of the early models, "Lady Be Good", represented France and placed first in Division 2 of that year's Admirals Cup. That design, after successfully winning the Cup, was the largest boat in Beneteau's fleet, the First 42. And so, in December 1985, the keel was laid at St. Hilaire de Riez, France, for the First 42 that was eventually to become our "Ocean Angel".
Our Angel parts the water with hardly a ripple in the surface. All you hear is the hiss as she passes. When a gale is howling outside, all is quiet down below. Everything about her speaks of her thoughtful design, her thoroughbred heritage, and her builder's amazing history. We could not love her more.
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The First 42 was designed to the IOR rule, but, as "Yachting World" said in their October 1982 issue, "Classic IOR, embodying all that is best without the extreme." The yacht just looks fast, even sitting at the dock, and so she is. Even though her design is now more than 20 years old, she is truly a joy to sail with fingertip control in nearly all conditions as long as she is trimmed properly. The hull is stout with massive stringers and frames glassed to the hull from bow to stern, and I can attest to the fact that she will sustain a grounding surfing off a big wave at more than hull speed with no damage whatsoever, other than the helmsman's broken ribs, but that's a whole 'nother story
. But, going on, Ocean Angel uses a four cylinder Perkins 51 hp diesel engine, and we fit her with a 3 blade folding Gori propeller. After 22 years, the engine has some issues, mainly oil weeping, but it is reliable, never fails to start, and runs smoothly. I've heard that a Perkins is so rugged they will even run on bunker fuel or perfume, but I have not tried either. We recently had to rebuild the injection pump due to fuel leaks, and at the same time we replaced the lift pump and the injectors, and the engine seems to like the new parts .She runs smoother than ever.
The First 42 uses a massive spade rudder wrapped around a solid stainless steel post. We had a new rudder computer designed around the old by Apollo Beach Composites in 2005 as the original was starting to weep rust when we hauled out for annual maintenance. The new one is about 40% lighter and much stronger. I can attest that you can steer the boat under spinnaker when properly trimmed using only the thumb and finger of each hand in 25 knots of wind with the yacht screaming along at about 12 knots boat speed, nearly 13 knots SOG with the aid of the Gulf stream. It was heart-stopping, but at the same time a huge adrenaline rush in the middle of the night on the way to Mexico. And strong? Oh yeah, she ran aground going astern one time with no damage to the rudder, hull, or rudder stock. In my surveying days I've seen others bent at 30 degree angles under similar situations.
