Design and Construction
Harlé's hull is a solid fiberglass monocoque with a fin keel and transom-hung rudder, built in France as a habitable coastal cruiser. The 2.5-meter beam and 0.99-meter draft give her a compact but practical footprint for trailing and shallow harbours alike. The displacement-to-length ratio of 228.5 and a comfort ratio of 16.35 mark her as a light-displacement design by period standards; the capsize screening value of 2.16 and an S# of 2.68 confirm a boat tuned for sheltered-water cruising rather than offshore passage work. Her hull speed is calculated at 5.85 knots, and she immerses 557.68 pounds per inch — useful figures for anyone judging load-carrying and wake-breaking behaviour under cruising weight.
Rig and Handling
The Calife 23 is rigged as a masthead sloop with an I of 8 m, J of 2.75 m, P of 6.6 m, and E of 2.5 m. The foretriangle carries about 11 m² and the main roughly 8.25 m², for a total sail area near 19.25 m² in the standard inventory — a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 19.94 that explains her quickness in modest breeze. The fin-and-transom-rudder plan gives her a predictable, low-speed turn of helm for a boat this size, and the light displacement means she accelerates readily once the genoa fills. She is a boat that rewards gentle, anticipatory steering more than muscle at the tiller.
Accommodations
The French technical file describes the Calife 23 as a boat with a 6.84-meter hull and a 2.5-meter beam that gives enough width below for a practical saloon and modest galley. The programme classification itself tells the buyer what the boat was sold to do — weekend refuge and sheltered anchorage, not ocean crossing.
Known Issues
The Calife 23 shows no structural defects, osmotic blistering, rig failures, or systemic construction faults. The known issues for this model are empty. That is unusual for a solid-glass boat of this vintage and argues for a straightforward ownership picture, though any individual hull's history of repair or modification remains a matter for a surveyor rather than the class record.
The Verdict
The Calife 23 is a tidy, light-displacement Harlé design that delivered 350 copies as a no-nonsense coastal cruiser with a fin keel, transom rudder, and an easily driven masthead rig. She is small, beamy for her length, and quick to accelerate, with numbers that place her clearly in the day-and-weekend sheltered-water category. The absence of class-wide defects makes her an uncomplicated boat to assess on her merits.
Pros
- Light 1,600 kg displacement with 34.4% ballast ratio for lively, easily driven handling
- Compact 2.5 m beam and 0.99 m draft suit trailing and shallow harbours
- 350-unit production and 1969–1976 run indicate a mature, well-understood design
- No class-wide structural or rigging defects
Cons
- Comfort ratio of 16.35 and S# of 2.68 limit her to sheltered-water cruising
- Berth count and interior layout are not specified by the builder
