Cobra 23
This is one special, rare boat. According to Brad Fisk:
The
Cobra 23 was made only in 1975; it was a design submitted by Sail MFG as a
proposed replacement for the official Summer Olympics racer. The Olympic
Committee chose another boat, and Sail MFG discontinued the design.
The
Cobra 23 has a Portsmouth Rating in the very low 90's, making it a moderately
fast monohull by today's standards. (I cannot remember the name of the
boat that won the competition to be the Olympic racer, but I DO remember that
its Portsmouth Rating was in the low 80's, making it considerably faster.)
Webmaster comment: I'm not sure about the 1975 part. There has been one for sale and the owner states it is from 1970.
According to Bob Peterson:
It was developed by MFG for the Olympic sailing races in the early seventies. Only enough were produced to qualify as a choice and when the Olympic committee decided on another boat, production was stopped. Nobody seems to know the exact number built, but the hull weight was designed to be 1750 lbs with the bulb keel 650 lbs. The hull was well made with heavy stringers for the keel weight but the decks were poorly done and usually have delamination and core rot. MFG apparently put the boats together in a hurry trying to qualify it for Olympic use. Much of the design was well ahead of its time, plumb bow and bulb keel were unheard of until the late 80s and early 90s even for racing boats. Long story short, it is a piece of history.
Specifications: