Design and Construction
The 3300 is the product of a rare pairing: veteran Sun Fast designer Daniel Andrieu and Guillaume Verdier, renowned for his work in the America's Cup and Vendée Globe, who brought a mastery of computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis to the project. The result is a hull that borrows conceptually from the IMOCA 60 world Verdier knows intimately.
The hull is infused in vinylester with a balsa core and features a moderate version of the powerful wedge shape that serves so well for power-reaching aboard today's IMOCA 60s. Full bow sections and a blunt stem are combined with a dramatic reverse sheer, full-length soft chines and a fair bit of tumblehome to reduce beam at deck level — a package intended to lower the center of gravity and reduce weight in the ends without sacrificing sail-carrying ability. A double concave profile forward and aft further reduces wetted surface area under sail and helps the boat get up onto a plane. From on deck, the fullness of the bow makes the boat seem short for a 33-footer, recalling the lines of a Mini Transat yacht.
Construction is entirely by infusion moulding, delivering exceptional resistance and rigidity with considerable weight reduction. The keel is a simple fin sans bulb, and the IRC-oriented single-fin arrangement contributes directly to the boat's handicap-rule advantage.
Rig and Sail Handling
The deck-stepped, double-spreader Axxon carbon rig carries a high-aspect, square-top main so dramatically large at the head that Jeanneau specifies a double backstay that is cranked on and off when gybing like a pair of runners via both coarse and fine-tune cascades. Managing this system during manoeuvres can be a challenge for small crews, but by using a coarse and fine-tune system, Jeanneau has made the job simple — the coarse tune goes through a clutch for rapid tensioning, while fine-tune cascades at the central console handle trim. A quick backstay release via the clutch on the coarse tune is essential if having to suddenly bear away.
The genoa uses a 3D trimming ring with a transverse track that allows the lead to be moved inboard for beating, outboard for fetching, and controls leech tension without requiring a longitudinal track or separate sheets. Forward, a fixed carbon sprit for flying the voluminous A-sails is the raison d'être for this kind of offshore thoroughbred. Note that the short bowsprit is blanketed by the jib, meaning the jib and spinnaker cannot be flown simultaneously — a deliberate trade-off that aids hoists and drops.
An optional water ballast system provides a 52-gallon tank to either side just aft of the companionway, providing slightly over 400 pounds of weight outboard when full. Where fitted, the two independent tanks are both emptied and filled individually using separate pumps, allowing tanks to be dumped quickly even when on the leeward side — useful when a quick tack leaves no time to transfer ballast.
Performance Under Sail
Upwind, heading up to a 32-degree apparent wind angle in 7 knots quickly produced 5 knots of boatspeed and a lively, responsive helm. In 16–18 knots of breeze, an upwind speed of around 6.8 knots with a VMG of over 5 knots is representative. Twin rudders ensure the boat remains under control even at dramatic angles of heel.
Downwind is where the 3300 earns its reputation. Under the asymmetric spinnaker, the bow leapt out of the water and the boat blasted off with some pace. Top speed surfing reached 14.3 knots in testing, and even as the breeze faded to 6 and then 4 knots the boat kept moving at the same speed as the true wind. Performance under spinnaker is, in the words of Yachting World's reviewer, seriously impressive. The hull has been specially designed with the objective of enhancing performance downwind, and that objective is clearly met.
Cockpit and Deck Layout
The cockpit is organized for shorthanded efficiency. All sail controls are well within reach of the helm, with the main and backstay controls running to a pod in the cockpit sole immediately forward of the tiller. The single tiller is set low so the helmsperson can easily step over it when gybing or coming about and can be gripped between the calves to hold the boat steady while standing to tail halyards. Adjustable tubular stainless steel foot braces on either side of the tiller serve whoever is driving, and the hull-deck joint is slightly beveled for keeping the rail meat happy with legs outboard.
Cockpit benches are of minimal length, opening up substantial room for a full crew or for working the deck efficiently while shorthanded. Wide side decks, a molded-in toerail that provides extra security in the foredeck area and excellent molded-in antiskid complete a deck that prioritizes function over comfort.
Accommodations
Below decks the 3300 is deliberately spartan. The forepeak is empty save for a toilet and small sink, providing space for storing sails, lines and other bits of gear. Mirror-image settees in the saloon are plenty long enough to serve as sea berths and come equipped with burly lee cloths and pipe-berth racks for sacking out to windward. Two double quarterberths aft provide additional storage or room to crash out in.
The coachroof is shaped to allow standing headroom along the centreline and across the width of the cabin at the bottom of the companionway — a practical feature for a passage-racing crew managing kit in rough conditions. Forward-facing windows in the coachroof allow the horizon and jib trim to be viewed from below decks. To port of the companionway is a small galley; to starboard, a satisfyingly large nav station equipped with B&G electronics. Where water ballast is fitted, it takes the place of the two wardrobes in the aft cabins.
Known Issues
Two areas merit attention. First, the extra volume forward means some pounding when sailing to windward in a seaway — and the absence of any bow overhang or hull flare forward means plenty of spray making its way aft. This is intrinsic to the hull geometry rather than a build defect; good, active helming mitigates the worst of it, and once in the groove the slamming significantly reduces.
Second, and more substantively: during Yachting World's test, on the limit of reaching under spinnaker the boat wiped out a couple of times with little warning that the rudder was losing grip and no chance to get it back. Jeanneau acknowledged this was not right and the two designers committed to reworking the rudders to ensure future boats do not have the problem. Buyers reviewing pre- and post-revision hulls should confirm which rudder specification is fitted. Additionally, the double backstay requirement effectively obviates the boat's use by casual cruisers and should be understood as a defining characteristic rather than a deficiency.
The Verdict
The Sun Fast 3300 is an unambiguous racing tool that happens to be exceptional in its class. Verdier's IMOCA pedigree is legible in every design choice: the wedge bow, the square-top main, the twin rudders, the asymmetric-first deck layout. It rewards skilled shorthanded sailors with exhilarating speeds and surfing down ocean waves and delivers competitive IRC results both around the cans and offshore. It is not a boat that forgives complacency upwind in a chop, and its split-backstay rig demands genuine crew competence. But for the sailor whose ambitions run to shorthanded or singlehanded sailing offshore, the 3300 is a purpose-built answer.
Pros
- Infused vinylester/balsa hull delivers exceptional stiffness at low weight
- Downwind performance is genuinely electric; top speeds above 14 knots in testing
- Cockpit ergonomics and control placement well-suited to solo and doublehanded sailing
- IRC handicap-optimised design with strong competitive record from launch
- Water ballast option adds meaningful range in breeze without complexity penalty
- 3D genoa lead system versatile and simple to operate shorthanded
Cons
- Bow geometry generates significant slamming and spray upwind in a seaway
- Split backstay system adds manoeuvre workload; unsuitable for casual or cruising use
- Early hulls exhibited rudder ventilation and loss-of-grip under spinnaker at limit angles — verify rudder revision on any specific boat
- Water ballast tanks displace aft cabin stowage where fitted
- Minimal creature comforts below; interior is passage-functional, not passage-pleasant
