Amsterdam-based French businessman Laurent Lenne conceived the boat, and Dr Martin Fischer designed it. The first examples sailed in Dubai, near builder Premier Composite Technologies, toward the end of 2012. Three boats competed in the class’s first European season in 2013, with the GC32 making its racing debut at Allianz Traunsee Woche in Austria. Eight boats were built for professional sailing teams and private owners seeking the latest in ultra-high-performance racing.
Design and Construction
The GC32 has a 10-meter hull length and measures 12 meters overall, including its 6.60-meter bowsprit. Beam is 6 meters. The class authority gives its light weight as 975 kg, although one review cites 850 kg; the sources differ on this figure.
Premier Composite Technologies built the carbon hulls in Dubai. Southern Spars in South Africa supplied the rig, spine and beams, while Heol Composites in France produced the foils and rudders. Test sailors found the boat very stiff, a useful quality for foiling.
As a one-design, the GC32 remains substantially cheaper than an America’s Cup catamaran. It’s also relatively light and readily road-trailerable. After racing, it can be dismantled and taken home on a custom open trailer or packed into a container on wheels.
Rig and Foils
The GC32 carries a conventional catamaran rig with a rotating mast and three soft sails: mainsail, jib and gennaker. The mast stands 16.50 meters above the deck. Sail areas are 60 square meters for the main, 23.50 square meters for the jib and 90 square meters for the gennaker.
During the boat’s first season, the fleet raced with a Mk1 foil package comprising a double-S main foil and an L-profile rudder. The Mk2 package transformed the GC32 into a fully flying catamaran, using T-shaped rudders and J-shaped lifting foils.
These foils were the latest iteration of designs developed for Franck Cammas’ International C-Class champion Groupama C and the Fischer-designed Flying Phantom F18. Further development involved the class project manager and the foil builders, resulting in composite structures close to the limits of what can currently be built.
When lowered, the main foils form a V shape that encourages auto-stabilisation. As speed rises, the foil lifts out of the water and generates less lift; at lower speeds, more foil remains submerged. This gives the boat good heave stability with minimal porpoising. There are no hydraulics. Instead, foil pitch is adjusted through a line-driven worm drive.
Performance Underway
The large main lifting foils allow the GC32 to take flight in around 7 knots of true wind. The boat is easy to helm and easy to get airborne.
The Daily Sail reported stable foiling with almost no hobby-horsing. In testing, the GC32 foiled upwind at more than 20 knots in less than 10 knots of breeze, reached 27 knots downwind in those conditions and averaged 30 knots over four minutes. A five-second burst averaged 32.5 knots. In 14 knots of wind, it made 18–19 knots upwind at roughly 50 degrees.
The helm proved well balanced, and the boat was surprisingly easy to handle even for a crew of average ability. Philippe Presti noted that it can foil upwind from 10–12 knots through to the top of the wind range, and downwind in 7–8 knots with the large gennaker. Takeoff occurs at around 15–16 knots of boat speed.
Yachting World reported the builder’s claimed top speed at the time as just under 38 knots, while the class website cites a top speed approaching 40 knots.
Accommodation
The GC32 is a pure racing platform, with no creature comforts or meaningful interior accommodation. There is nothing in the record to suggest berths, a galley or cabin trim. Its focus is outright speed and one-design uniformity rather than cruising, and its road-trailerable, container-friendly configuration suits a regatta-to-regatta schedule.
Class Development and Ownership
Because the GC32 is a one-design, its development has been managed centrally rather than left to individual owners’ refit choices. The principal change was the mandated switch from the Mk1 double-S foils to the Mk2 package of T-shaped rudders and J-shaped lifting foils.
Owners work with a package that has no hydraulics and relies on line-driven foil control. The boat’s trailerable configuration also means a private owner can transport the boat and rig without professional shipping for most European venues.
The Verdict
The GC32 brought grand-prix foil development into a comparatively accessible one-design class. Its large, high-aspect foils provide stable flight across a broad wind range, including genuine upwind foiling. At the same time, the stiff carbon structure and straightforward line-driven controls make it manageable for accomplished amateur crews.
Its light, trailerable format and controlled one-design rules also put ownership within reach beyond factory teams. The trade-off is uncompromising: this is a dedicated racing machine with no cruising accommodation, and manual foil controls place the work squarely in the crew’s hands.
Pros
- Fully flying foils from low wind speeds, with a stable ride and little porpoising
- One-design status keeps cost and complexity below America’s Cup-level catamarans
- Light, trailerable and container-friendly for private-owner logistics
- Well-balanced helm and forgiving enough for crews of average ability
Cons
- No hydraulics; foil control is manual
- Displacement figures differ between sources: 975 kg versus 850 kg
- A pure racer, with no accommodation or cruising provision
