SV Seven, a Yamaha 33

Seven is a Yamaha 33 Sloop built in Hiroshima Japan. She is a 1978 model originally delivered in Southern California, then shipped to British Columbia in 2007. I purchased her in May 2017, she was relaunched and commissioned. I was the third owner of Seven but sold her in March 2022.

She was called Bonza in California the her Canadian owners move her to Nanaimo and renamed her Trinity in 2007. She sat on the hard for two years before I acquired her May of 2017. We cruised the Gulf and San Juan Islands for a few weeks, then made a two day dash down the coast to her new home in Portland, Oregon. We cruised Seven all over the Salish sea and down the Oregon coast as far south at Bandon.

Specifications

LOA: 33 feet, 4 inches

LWL: 26 ft, 11 inches

Beam: 11 ft

Sail Area: 492 ft

Displacement: 10,854 lb

Ballast, (Iron): 4409 lb

Speed

Cruise: 5 kn

Max: 6.5 kn

Theoretical: 7 kn

Draft

Draft: 6 feet 3 inches

Air Draft: 46’7” plus antenna

Capacities

Fuel: 20 gallons

Motoring Range: 190 miles

Potable Water: 52 gallons

Power

Yanmar YSM12 10 hp, (12 hp peak)

Shaft Rotation: Counter Clockwise

Yamaha built boats for the American market from 1976 to 1985. The boats continued in the Japanese domestic market until 1990. The North American line up included the Y25, Y26, Y30, Y33 and Y36. Rarer models included a 28 foot cruiser, a 29 foot center cockpit and a 37 foot version.

The Yamaha 33 is was drawn to meet the old International Offshore Rule by Peter Norlin for the Yamaha design team. One of the hallmarks of these designs is the tall, high-aspect mainsail that won't sail well with out a headsail.

Earlier Yamaha 33's were equipped with an under-powered single cylinder Yanmar YSM12 diesel located in the bow. Somewhere around 1980, Yamaha upgraded the boat to a more powerful Yanmar twin under the cockpit.

In 1978 an unmodified Yamaha 33 took second place in the OSTAR 'Round Britain Double-handed race. Other Yamaha 33 sloops successfully campaigned the Transpac to Honolulu. Linda Weber-Rettie skippered Rough and Rettie in the single-handed 1980 Transpac completing the run in 19 days and 5 hours. Foxx Fire raced in 1992, 1996 and 2000 with best run of 15 days and 6 hours.

Today, several Yamaha 33's are cruising. In 2017, Pino and Ichiban are in the Pacific. Fellowship wandered the from the US West Coast to Australia for more than 10 years before retiring from cruising.

The Yamaha 33 is a seaworthy and comfortable boat that will carry a cruising sailor across oceans. The boat's deep draft ensures she points high into the wind, but bars her from shallow water. The hull form is fast, but can pound when working to weather. Thirty three feet is arguably as large a boat as a single crew can manage with out help. The boats have proven to be seaworthy, safe and well constructed.