October 13th 2003.
By Staff

Falmouth Cutter 34

Designed by Lyle Hess, this 34-foot cutter has long legacy and a new builder.

img2537Channel Cutter Yachts of British Columbia, Canada is now building the Lyle Hess designed Falmouth Cutter 34. She is the evolutionary culmination of Lyle Hess’ cruising cutter series, which includes the Bristol Channel Cutter 28, the Falmouth Cutter 22, as well as Lin and Larry Pardey’s famous Seraffyn and Taleisin. (Editor’s Note: For more on cutter-style sailboats, read “Pilot Cutters: A Lasting Appeal“.)

img2536Channel Cutter Yachts builds the Falmouth Cutter 34 one boat at a time, on a custom basis. No hull liner is used, so any interior configuration is possible. With 19,000 lb displacement, 800 square feet of sail and a LWL of 30’10″, the FC34 is a much larger boat than her LOD would suggest. Her displacement/length ratio of 274 suggests good light air performance, in addition to the exceptional seaworthiness for which the Lyle Hess cutters are noted.

img2535The owner of Channel Cutter Yachts, Bryan Gittins, is an experienced single-handed offshore voyager. He was formerly involved in building the Canadian version of the Bristol Channel Cutter 28. In “Best Boats to Build or Buy” author Ferenc Mate discusses the massive construction and meticulous finishing of the BCC and comments “Bryan will never get rich, but he will sure sleep well at night”.

img2534The hull and deck are fiberglass, hand laid onto their respective molds using quality resins to prevent osmosis. The hull and deck join at their respective flange and are bonded and through-bolted.

img2533The boat is available as either a bare hull and deck, hull and deck with ballast installed, semi-complete (includes exterior finished and roughed in interior, engine installed and standing rigging) or as a complete sail-away boat. Support is provided to owners completing the yacht themselves.

Falmouth Cutter 34 Specifications:

Length on deck 34 feet
Length waterline 30’10″
Length overall 43 ft.
Beam 11’7″
Draft 5’1″
Lead Ballast 6600 lbs.
Displacement 20000 lbs.
Auxiliary Diesel
Sail Area 800 sq. ft.
Mailsail 397
Staysail 147
Jibtop 256
Storm Trysail 120
Storm Stays’l 82
150% Drifter 619
135% Genoa 557
Spinnaker 1300

Channel Cutter Yachts can be reached at:

ccy@island.net or on the web at www.channelcutteryachts.com

For a profile of the late Lyle Hess, designer of the Falmouth Cutter 34, see
www.norseayachts.com/lylehess_a_profile.html



This feature was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2003 at 12:00 am and is filed under Boat Review/Test, Sailboat.

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2 Responses to “Falmouth Cutter 34”

  1. Pilot Cutters: A Lasting Appeal | Boats.com Blog Says:
    October 6th, 2010 at 7:32 am

    [...] with a boomkin and outboard-hung rudder, also took off in popularity. (Hess’s final design, the Falmouth Cutter 34, was in many ways simply an expanded model.) Scores of the 28s have been built since those days, [...]

  2. Hess’s Bristol Channel Cutter | features.boats.com Says:
    October 6th, 2010 at 7:51 am

    [...] of the Tasman Sea for Taleisin through 1994. (For more on Lyle Hess and cutter designs, read “Falmouth Cutter 34” and “Pilot Cutters: A Lasting [...]