atalanta yacht fairey

Atalanta 26

The Atalanta –   twenty six feet of amazing engineering. Light, stable, family cruising and ocean-crossing capability in a trailerable package.

An incredibly roomy boat for just 20′ long.

More room than an Atalanta inside, with a slightly smaller cockpit.

Atalanta 31

Stretching the concepts of the Atalanta with 6’2″ headroom. But still drawing only 2’7″ with the keels up.

Fairey Marine Yacht designs were a result of the Fairey Aviation Company seeking peacetime outlets for its skills and expertise. In 1946, With extensive premises on the waterside at Hamble, Sir Richard Fairey started the Fairey Marine Company to produce wooden boat hulls by a hot moulding technique previously developed for wooden aircraft. An obvious market was the increasing demand for pleasure craft.

Alan Vines and Charles Currey of Fairey Marine had a strong vision of light, seaworthy and practical yachts with room for all of the family, able to explore shallow creeks and rivers, the coast and ‘go foreign’. Alan, then with Fairey Aviation, had ‘prototyped’ many of these concepts in 1952 with his 22′, twin dagger-plate, ‘ Sujanwiz ‘, a stretched and widened Swordfish hull. Working with the Fairey Marine design consultant Uffa Fox, Alan and Charles developed the 24’ twin lifting keel Atalanta A1 to refine the concepts. She attracted great interest and they settled on the Atalanta 26 design with greater internal space. From its production launch in 1956 the Atalanta 26 proved immediately popular. In 1958 they developed the 20′ Fulmar using many of the same design principle and just one of the keels. In 1959 they extended the freeboard and coachroof of the Atalanta to create the more roomy Titania, and the concept was further expanded in 1961 with a 31′ development of the Atalanta.

That Fairey Marine yacht designs met their vision for the yachts is amply illustrated by the many stories of ocean voyages, long trailer journeys and family coastal and river sailing. Read some examples of notable journeys which demonstrate the boats’ versatility.

Read about the designs and how to get the best from the boats. Each class page includes design information and practical guidance and links to the Class Registers (including history pages for each boat), Indexes of available drawings and other practical information.

And if you are interested in having a sail why not use the Contact Form and we will put you in touch with an owner, or better still have a look at the ‘ Boats for Sale’ page and buy your own.

Fairey Atalanta 26 Design

With a hull form developed from the likes of the Firefly and Albacore the concept was a light, trailerable yacht capable of family cruising and offshore passages. These capabilities have been proven time and again. 26′ and 4+ berths in a boat weighing around 2 tonnes. The centre cockpit provides extensive safe room for six and keeps weight amidships when sailing.

Fairey Titania Design

Fairey Fulmar Design

Fairey Atalanta 31 Design

Fairey Fisherman Design

Fairey Tender Designs

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Atalanta 26

• September 23, 2009

Atalanta 26 - striking design, surprisingly quick

Product Overview

Manufacturer:, price as reviewed:.

The genius of Uffa Fox and Fairey Marine’s skill with hot moulded ply produced this striking cruising design in 1963. Double lifting keels, roll-top shape and centre cockpit were all radical at the time and strange to the eye today. She has six berths, sitting headroom and rudimentary facilities. Under way she is stiff and surprisingly quick, with the lifting keels and flat bottom giving exceptional downwind performance. Despite her age there are still plenty about, but the method of construction means rot is expensive to treat and many on the market require extensive restoration. A 31ft version was also built, with a bit more room in all directions.

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Fairey Atalanta

USED BOAT TEST: Every now and again, a designer comes along who truly breaks the mould. Sam Jefferson heads back to the future when he steps aboard a 1960 Fairey Atalanta, a boat that is so innovative, she still seems ahead of her time.

ACCOMMODATION Saloon Heading down below, there is plenty of evidence that Chris has been busy and the saloon has benefited from a bit of freshening up. The interior has none of the depressing décor that often dogs vessels of this era. The ambience is functional without feeling too spartan, while a recently fitted diesel Eberspacher heater ensures you’ll remain warm and snug below. The fact that the Atalanta has a centre cockpit means that the saloon isn’t huge, nevertheless, there is adequate room for four to sit there. Headroom is also pretty good for a boat of this size, coming in at about 1.7m (5’7”) aft. The original Atalanta saloon tables were clearly dreamt up in one of Uffa’s more wildly eccentric moments and folded out onto the sofas. Chris has replaced these with the more conventional central table, which still allows ample room to manoeuvre.

The interior is simple and uncluttered and wooden construction means that headlinings are thankfully not required. The area is dominated by the massive galvanised bulkhead, which supports the deck stepped mast, anchors the shrouds and the pivots for the two lifting boards. When under construction, the whole boat was hung off this single bulkhead and with its immense strength absorbing most of the stress points, the rest of the hull can be kept very light. There is something almost industrial about the saloon area and in some ways, the boat seems to bear a strong resemblance to one of Fairey’s famous aircraft rather than a cruising yacht.

Navigation area Heading down into the saloon from the cockpit, the navigation area is immediately to starboard, so it’s pretty handy if you need to dash down and work out where you’re going in a hurry. The table is another of Chris’s little additions and pulls out from an area directly underneath the cockpit, which also doubles up as a very snug quarter berth. Aft cabin The aft cabin has a very generous double berth, which is designed for athwartships sleeping. Headroom in the cabin is limited to around 0.65m (2’2”), but with the generously proportioned companionway hatch slid back, the cabin is easy to access and feels much more airy than you would expect. Chris also opted to put the heads at the forward end of the cabin, meaning that you have the, surely unique, feature of being able to helm the boat while using the toilet.

Forepeak The forepeak was traditionally where the heads were located. Following Chris’s reshuffle of the interior, however, this is now an empty space with a large stainless steel chain locker.

Galley Heading down the main companionway, the galley is situated directly to port and benefits from a very shiny new Taylors pressurised paraffin stove, which was fitted by Chris recently, but was also in Fairey’s original specifications for the Atalanta. A small sink with hand pumped water is located next to the cooker, but there isn’t a vast amount of room to prepare your food unless you use the nav table on the other side of the saloon.

ON DECK Cockpit Stepping out of the saloon, you find yourself in the hugely spacious cockpit area. You could comfortably seat eight in here and the high coamings mean you feel very safe and contained, while cockpit cushions for the two long, wide benches mean you are also extremely comfortable. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the unusual whipstaff steering arrangement. Just as on the old galleons, the whipstaff emerges vertically from the cockpit sole. It looks a bit odd, but it does free up valuable cockpit space. The Atalanta also benefits from an excellent cockpit tent, which can be utilised by raising the mainsheet traveller to create a really roomy enclosed space.

Deck space The curved sidedecks and cabin top make the foredeck a little bit tight on the Atalanta, while her smooth, uncluttered decks, mean there aren’t that many decent hand grips forward of the cabin top. Wandering forward to attach a fender, I was grateful that Chris had recently fitted some guardrails, which give you a little bit more security. One interesting feature is the circular hatch fitted far forward in the bows. Back in the dark days before roller furling jibs, you could handle the jib from the comfort of the forepeak, simply by lifting up the circular hatch. It’s also possible to prepare the anchor from the safety of the cabin. It’s a typical feature of a boat that was clearly put together with a great deal of thought and ingenuity. Abaft the cockpit you have a wide after deck, ideal for a spot of sunbathing. This can also provide adequate room to lash a small dinghy down.

Rig The aluminium mast is deck stepped and, at first glance, the rig looks ridiculously small for a 26-footer, until you remember her light displacement. She’s fractionally rigged with a wire main halyard that is handled by means of a small winch on the mast with a rather fiddly little handle that looks like it would disappear over the side at some crucial moment. The stainless steel shrouds are secured to chainplates bolted through the topsides, which give the boat a pleasingly old school look, while a whisker pole and spinnaker pole ensure the boat is fully equipped for downwind sailing.

Sails Jaunty had a fairly new (2007) set of Jeckells sails, which set very nicely. Chris had dispensed with the original hank on headsails in favour of roller reefing, while the main had a roller boom reefing system, which was easily operated from the cockpit, although it did threaten to brain you if you were on the aft deck. On hoisting the sails, you are struck by how small the sail area appears – the Atalanta is reputed to be able to carry full sail in a Force 8 and, at 270ft², it’s pretty modest, but a displacement of 2 tons, there isn’t much weight to push along.

UNDER WAY Under way We headed out of Chichester Harbour with about 15kn of wind, although this slackened off as the test went on. Considering we were in a boat that looked like a cross between an old school RNLI lifeboat and a submarine, I was very intrigued to see how she would perform.

Closehauled Pinning in the sails, she heeled to the breeze nicely and with about 15kn apparent wind on the nose, she pointed well enough and fairly scooted along at five knots or so. She was also very responsive to the whipstaff and actually felt more like a dinghy than a cruiser. Despite her relatively narrow beam, she felt fairly stiff and certainly didn’t heel excessively given her modest 25 per cent ballast ratio. The whipstaff steering was simple enough to control and took all of a minute to master, although there was a bit of weather helm during the gusts. She tracked well enough and there wasn’t a vast amount of leeway until the breeze slacked off. It was, however, important to ensure that you tacked her around relatively quickly to stop her stalling mid-tack. Doubtless the twin keels contributed to this problem and, although this issue may have been eased by raising the leeward keel, this would have involved a lot of raising and lowering as we tacked.

Reaching After a beat out of Chichester, we reached across the harbour entrance with the breeze easing all the time and we started to pay the price for the Atalanta’s small sail plan. Nevertheless, her light displacement continued to push her along at a respectable 4kn or so.

Running There were some veiled threats from Chris that he was going to dig out the spinnaker, but the baking June heat ensured that we were sufficiently lethargic to leave it safely stowed in the locker. Instead we settled on the whisker pole and this pushed us along at about 3.5kn in about eight or so knots of wind. We raised the boards and enjoyed the pleasure of creeping over Chichester Bar while conventional yachts eyed us enviously.

Under engine Jaunty had recently been re-engined with a 12hp Mitsubishi Vetus diesel inboard. This pushed us along very rapidly at anything up to eight knots. Considering that it has a two bladed folding prop, you wonder how fast she would go with a more powerful prop.

The Fairey Atalanta is unquestionably one of the oddest boats I have ever looked over and her appearance is something you’ll either love or loathe. Yet despite her offbeat design, she was very comfortable and well behaved under sail or power and also surprisingly roomy for her size. A family of four could cruise her fairly comfortably and the boat gave you the impression that she’d been very carefully thought out. Her hot moulded mahogany construction has withstood the test of time very well with some owners claiming that it is more durable than glassfibre. Nevertheless, as with any wooden boat, you can expect there to be a bit of maintenance work. Apart from that, this is an incredibly versatile boat: you can tow her on a trailer, creep up the shallowest estuaries and still enjoy a good sail on a roomy, well thought out yacht, stamped with the indelible mark of true genius.

Fully Equipped LOA 26ft (7.9m) LWL 25ft (7.6m) Beam 7ft 8in (2.34m) Draught: Boards raised 1ft 8in (0.5m) Boards lowered 5ft 9in (1.75m) Displacement 4000lb Ballast 950lb Sail area 270ft² Berths 5 (+2 cockpit berths) Engine 12hp Mitsubishi Vetus Designer Uffa Fox

Historically significant design Decent sailing qualities coupled with shallow draught Roomy and comfortable

Quirky looks will be too much for some Slow to tack Higher maintenance than modern GRP boats

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Designed by Uffa Fox, built by Fairey Marine in 1955 . Length: 24’, draft: 20” keels up, 5’ 10” keels down. Displacement: 1.6 tonnes.

Rewarding to sail, Atalanta can be trailed to the cruising locations of your choice and will get you involved in conversations everywhere you go!

Atalanta is a piece of yachting history. A1 Atalanta was the prototype for Fairey Marine’s remarkable Atalanta class and was exceptional for her time. Launched when most yachts were of traditional deep hull form and heavy timber construction she is a lightweight scaled-up dinghy, with innovative accommodation and strong construction derived from aeronautical engineering. Her twin lifting keels give her a good ballast ratio and leave the accommodation space clear.

Completely restored and renewed in 2016-2019 (see CB November 2020). She is extremely well equipped for safe, serious coastal cruising: • New working sails by Jimmy Lawrence, and genoa by Jeckells • Beta diesel engine • New standing and running rigging • Chart plotter, echo sounder and domestic electrical systems • Bunk cushions • Winter and Summer covers • Galley with Origo 3000 stove and crockery for 4.

Slightly smaller than the production Atalantas which followed Atalanta delivers the original Fairey Marine intent of safe, comfortable, cruising. She has proved herself throughout her sailing life with cross-channel trips, coastal cruising and creek-crawling. The centre cockpit provides a secure home at sea and puts all lines easily to hand. Atalanta has accommodation for three across the fore and aft cabin. (The fourth berth, in the aft cabin, is now a spacious galley since her restoration).

Contact, Viewing and Delivery Atalanta can be viewed afloat in Ipswich. Delivery, by road, to anywhere in mainland UK is possible, subject to agreement.

More photographs, detailed inventory, and restoration details at a1forsale.atalantaowners.org

Contact Seller by Email button, Call 07775 690726

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