Design and Construction
Stöberl's Dyas is a fibreglass hull and deck built as a solid round-bilge form with a fin keel carrying a bulb, and the boat sits at about 1,334 pounds displacement with 573 pounds of lead ballast. The ballast-displacement ratio of 42.95 percent places it ahead of 82 percent of comparable designs in ballast weighting, while a displacement-length ratio of 77 puts the Dyas firmly among "ultra light racers" — 93 percent of similar sailboats are heavier. At a beam of just 6.4 feet on a 23.46-foot overall length, the length-to-beam ratio of 3.68 means the hull is slimmer than 99 percent of all similar designs, a proportion that explains the emphasis the original announcement placed on planing characteristics rather than room below. The wetted surface runs about 150 square feet, and immersion comes at roughly 441 pounds per inch, so the boat reacts quickly to crew weight and loading.
Rig and Handling
The fractional sloop rig was developed by North Sails Wagner, who also supplied the sails ahead of any national class recognition. Working sail area for mainsail and jib measures 195.9 square feet, and with a 135 percent genoa the sail-area-to-displacement ratio climbs to 29.1, against 25.8 on the ISO reference sail. That overdriven rig is no accident: the Dyas carries more rig than 100 percent of similar sailboats, leaving it significantly overrigged, and the SA/D figure says it is faster than 96 percent of comparable designs in light wind. The capsize screening value of 2.32 means the boat would not be accepted for ocean races, and a Motion Comfort Ratio of 8.3 leaves it more comfortable than only 8 percent of similar designs — this is a stiff, quick, unforgiving racer, not a passage-maker, with a theoretical top speed near 6 knots.
Accommodations
The Dyas was offered as a two-man regatta boat, and the sources describe no cruising interior, galley, or head. Its Star-boat-scale dimensions and round-bilge hull served the racing rule and the trapeze crew, not below-decks living. A buyer expecting a weekender will find the accommodation question answered by the boat's category: a racing keelboat for a pair, regatta-ready with spinnaker and trapeze as originally offered.
The Verdict
The Dyas is a pure expression of late-sixties German one-design racing thought: a bulb-finned, round-bilge fibreglass keeler of extreme slenderness and ultra-light displacement, overrigged by design and built to plane. Stöberl's lines and North Sails Wagner's rig gave it light-air speed that almost nothing in its size class could match, but the same numbers that make it quick make it tender by offshore standards and sparse by cruising ones. For a two-person racing sailor it remains a distinctive, well-ballasted little keelboat; for anyone else it is the wrong tool.
Pros
- Slender hull and ultra-light displacement put it among the fastest light-air designs in its class
- High ballast ratio and bulb fin keel give stiffness and bite for a 23-footer
- Purpose-built fractional rig from North Sails Wagner, supplied with class sails
Cons
- Capsize screening value excludes it from ocean racing
- Motion Comfort Ratio trails 92 percent of similar designs
- No cruising accommodation; conceived strictly as a two-person regatta boat
