The Wizard's SANTA CRUZ 27 History

"Quarter tonner racing is really catching on here in Santa Barbara. I want a quarter tonner that is like WITCHCRAFT and CHUTZPAH only smaller."

"In this quarter ton racing, they seem to race until they find out who has the fastest boat and then the fleet falls apart. What I really want is to be first to the bar. But my budget is limited to that of the proposed quarter tonner."

We put on our thinking caps and reworked the concept. The new boat would have the same rig, same keel, same rudder, etc, but would be 27 feet long with 8 feet of beam so as to have about the same surface area and bill of materials.

Once we looked at the new boat, I decided I wanted one for myself and so did several employees. We even envisioned that we could sell a bunch of them. So the decision was made to build production tooling.

The first Santa Cruz 27 VANISHING POINT was a roaring success. Approximately 145 were built. They race one design in Santa Cruz and a Nationals is held every year.

One of the key events for which the Santa Cruz 27's were developed for was the Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara race. This is a 225 mile downwind ride that passes two of the roughest spots on the coast, Point Sur and Point Conception. Hence the boats were designed to be very strong and seaworthy with a small selfbailing cockpit, small hatch and suitable interior. I had some very wild and exciting rides on this course in a Santa Cruz 27.

How fast can you go in the middle of the night in 35 knots of wind and 15 foot breaking seas? Wear your safety harness and be sure to take your spinnaker down before mother nature does it for you.

Several Santa Cruz 27's have been sailed singlehanded to Hawaii. The boats have a masthead rig with long J and short boom. The masthead rig is very desirable for downwind sailing as it permits a very large spinnaker. There are no runners to contend with, or worse yet to fail to get up in time resulting in a rig loss.

About 6 years ago, one Santa Cruz 27 was fitted with a J boat style sprit. The owner was very happy. The results were very predictable. Super fast on reaches and a little less VMG down in moderate air.

The factory owned several 27's over the years for demo use and for the employees to sail on. These were

• Jake and Arnold (Red)
• Bumbleberry (Purple)
• Redline * (White with red)
• Oh No Mr. Bill (White with green)

As history marched on, the molds and right to produce Santa Cruz 27's were sold after boat #141 and again after #145.

Santa Cruz 27 Specifications

Length          27 feet
Waterline       24
Beam             8
Draft            4.5
Headroom         4.1
Displacement  3300 lbs **
Dspl/length     90
I               32.7
J               10.9
P               28.2
E                8.7

Here is a key to ballast and boat numbers: 
       # 1      900 lb keel
    # 2-23     1400 lb keel
    # 24 +     1600 lb keel **

The change from 1400 to 1600 was accomplished by making the sump 2" 
shallower and the top of the ballast 2" higher.  They go upwind pretty
good too.  The keel is fixed with a deep sump for bilgewater 
accumulation.  Many boats are dry sailed on trailers. 

Interior

Vee berth forward
Pipe berths aft
Seats and counters amidships