Wauquiez Chance 37 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Britton Chance controlled towing-tank tests at the Stephens Institute in New York to optimize the Chance 37's hull shape for high performance, and the result is a solid fiberglass hull whose wetted surface is minimized for its length anchor. The fin keel with spade rudder and a ballast-to-displacement ratio of 46.2 percent give the boat a documented "incredible stability" and great ease in choppy water, while a displacement of roughly 15,150 pounds and a 30-foot waterline keep it light on its lines for the era. Grounding is possible and commonly practiced with this design, a telling detail for a fin-keel racer-cruiser meant to be taken seriously offshore rather than coddled in a marina.

Rig and Handling

Rigged as a masthead sloop with a strongly overlapping genoa, the Chance 37 was fast downwind for its time and almost unbeatable upwind even today, sailing to within 20 degrees of the true wind and 25 degrees of the apparent wind. Michel Malinosky won La Rochelle week in 1975 aboard one, and the boat easily won the first races it entered. In stronger air the hull shows its racing pedigree: under spinnaker in a Force 7 it has reached 16 knots while remaining under perfect control. A stiff canvas plan keeps the boat dry, and the simple, uncluttered deck with generously sized fittings from Proctor, Barlow, Goiot, Lewmar, Seabord, and Gaastra makes maneuvering straightforward for a short-handed crew.

Accommodations

Below, the Chance 37 carries seven comfortable berths and a 1.85-meter headroom that holds even in the forward cabin, which is a true cabin by itself with two berths, storage underneath, lockers to either side, a dedicated wardrobe with drawers, and a wide main closet aft of it. Behind that forward cabin sits a large bathroom with marine toilet, sink, and shower, ventilated by an opening porthole and drained by a pump. The saloon to port and starboard has a U-shaped dinette that converts to a double berth, two port bunks, and a telescopic-leg table; all berths there are two meters long, and the dinette could be swapped for two more bunks at no charge. A very spacious saloon with a double berth, an extremely large galley aft to starboard with three-burner stove, oven, refrigerator, pressurized water, and stainless sink, and a forward-facing chart table large enough for a radio and full navigation spread round out a layout that favors passage-making. The large cockpit easily takes eight people.

Known Issues

The shower water is evacuated by a pump and the gas bottles sit in a separate self-draining locker aft of the cockpit, both systems worth checking for past flooding or corrosion after decades of use.

Refits and Ownership

The 25-horsepower Volvo Penta MD2B diesel with alternator pushes the boat at 7 knots easily and runs some 70 hours on its 57-liter tank, a modest but adequate setup for a racer-cruiser of this size. Deck hardware from named period suppliers and a forward-facing nav station suggest the boat was built to be maintained by its owner. With only 95 built, the Chance 37 is a comparatively rare survivor whose racing history and family-cruiser layout reward careful upkeep rather than cheap modernization.

The Verdict

The Chance 37 is a genuine dual-personality design: a One Ton racer with the accommodation depth of a serious cruiser. Its light, optimized hull and high stability make it quick and dry, while seven berths and a real forward cabin keep it livable. The small fuel capacity and racing-derived fin-and-spade hull demand an owner who respects groundings and maintains the steering and keel interfaces.

Pros