Design and Construction
Finot's mid-eighties hull is a fibreglass monohull carrying a lead fin keel, and Bénéteau's build reflects the marque's First thinking. The boat draws about 6.89 to 7.19 feet depending on load, a depth that confines her to major marinas. At 39.3 feet overall with a 12.47-foot beam, the 3.15 length-to-beam ratio describes a hull tuned more for pace than for voluminous interior width, while a 44 percent ballast ratio and 4,674 pounds of lead low in the fin give her the stiffness the IOR rule rewarded. The wetted surface runs about 505 square feet, and the immersion rate of 1,504 pounds per inch tells you how little she sits down as crew and gear load her — a light, responsive platform rather than a heavy cruiser.
Rig and Handling
The First Class 12 is built with a fractional sloop rig, and the sail plan is the headline story: she carries more rig than 100 percent of comparable sailboats, which the record describes as significantly overrigged. That excess lives in the running rigging as much as the spars — mainsail, jib/genoa, and spinnaker halyards each run 125.8 feet at a half-inch diameter, while sheets scale to 39.3 feet for the genoa and 98.2 feet for the mainsheet at 0.55 inch. A cunningham and kickingstrap of 18.4 and 36.7 feet respectively, plus a 36.7-foot clew outhaul, round out a control suite built for frequent masthead adjustment. As a displacement hull her theoretical maximum speed is 7.9 knots, the figure you would expect from a 33.8-foot waterline pressed by that sail area.
Accommodations
A 39-foot hull with a 3.15 beam ratio and a racer's lead fin is not a boat whose brief was volume, and the IOR monotype label places her in the company of period racer-cruisers where the cabin served the campaign as much as the cruise.
The Verdict
The First Class 12 is a scarce, Jean-Marie Finot design in Bénéteau's First ethos — overcanvased by design, stiff through her lead ballast, and built for the major-marina, big-water sailor who values a rare and purposeful hull over production ubiquity.
Pros
- Powerful IOR monotype with a significantly overrigged fractional rig for her size
- Lead fin keel and 44 percent ballast ratio deliver IOR-era stiffness
- Streamlined and safe period character in a sub-100-hull build
Cons
- 6.89–7.19 foot draft limits her to major marinas
- Fewer than 100 built, so support and comparable-boat familiarity are thin
