Design and Construction
The Magic’s hull and deck are solid fiberglass. Her fin-and-bulb keel carries 1,598 pounds of iron ballast, giving her a 33-percent ballast ratio against a displacement of 4,850 pounds.
With a beam of 9.3 feet and a length-to-beam ratio of 2.84, she sits firmly in the moderate-racer class. Her displacement-length ratio of 187 categorizes her among moderate racers, rather than light flyers or heavy cruisers.
Wetted surface is about 247 square feet. An immersion rate of 727 pounds per inch indicates that the boat sits lightly and responds quickly to changes in crew weight and load. Her capsize screening value is 2.18, which means she wouldn’t be accepted for ocean racing—a useful boundary marker for a boat of this size and purpose.
Rig and Handling
Petterson gave the Magic a fractional sloop rig. Her sail-area-to-displacement ratio is 17.3 using the ISO reference sail, rising to 20.1 with a 135-percent genoa. Most notably, she carries more rig than 93% of all similar sailboats. The record describes her as significantly overrigged for her size, a trait that rewards an attentive crew in a breeze but demands respect in a gust.
A Motion Comfort Ratio of 16.3 and Relative Speed Performance of 85 characterize her as a lively but tolerable small-boat seakeeper rather than a soft-riding cruiser.
Under power, the Volvo Penta 2001 with saildrive transmission gives a calculated maximum speed of about 4.2 knots. That is well below the 6.4-knot theoretical hull speed for a displacement hull of her waterline length.
Accommodations
Below, the Magic has five berths, a practical number for a 26-footer intended for weekend racing and short coastal cruising. The layout reflects the boat’s dual-purpose character: there’s enough sleeping space for a small crew or a family spending a night aboard, without the volume ambitions of the heavier Maxi cruisers of the previous decade.
Verdict
The Maxi Magic is a focused Petterson design: a light, overrigged fractional sloop with a bulb fin, moderate-racer proportions, and just enough cabin to be useful. By the numbers, she isn’t an offshore boat. As a small coastal day racer and weekender, however, she remains a coherent expression of early-1980s Swedish design thinking.
Pros
- Significantly overrigged for her size, with 93% of similar boats carrying less sail area relative to displacement
- Light, responsive hull with a moderate-racer displacement-length ratio of 187
- Solid fiberglass hull and deck, an iron fin-and-bulb keel, and a 33% ballast ratio
Cons
- Capsize screening value of 2.18 excludes her from ocean-racing acceptance
- Calculated motoring speed of only 4.2 knots with the Volvo Penta saildrive installation
- At just over 26 feet overall, accommodation is limited to five berths and her scope remains coastal
