Brochure

Text and pictures from an Achilles 24 brochure.

Achilles 24 has become recognized as the classic high performance sailing cruiser of her size. Her seaworthiness is outstanding; whilst the quality of the fitting out is far beyond the normal standard. As a club racer, your assurance of her high performance is that fin keeled Achilles 24 is a Portsmouth Primary Yardstick with a number of 114 I.O.R. Mark IIIA rating is approximately 18ft for the standard craft.

Yet Achilles is not an expensive craft; she just looks it. The reason for this is simple. Since her inception the original design has been refined more and more until the optimum has now been achieved. Refinement of design coupled with a high degree of production engineering has made possible such a yacht at a reasonable price, and this policy has been rewarded with a fast growing class already numbering nearly six hundred.

Achilles 24 combines a very satisfactory degree of cruising comfort with the kind of seaworthiness and speed that is normally associated with yachts 28 feet and over. Her smooth waterlines and moderate beam are allied to a low wetted surface area giving a hull that is very easily driven. As a result, she needs only a moderate sail area to achieve a sparkling performance which is retained in all wind conditions.

Achilles 24 is an oceangoer. "Songeur", sailed by Rod Kendall who built her from a primary kit, was raced singlehanded to the Azores and back in the AZAB 75, and was the smallest boat to finish in the disastrous Transatlantic Race, OSTAR '76. Having reached America, Rod Kendall continued singlehanded in "Songeur" to New Zealand, meeting Sqdn. Ldr. Zotov in the Cook Islands, who was also sailing his Achilles 24 from England to New Zealand.

Achilles 24....for getting around the world.

Achilles is a beautiful yacht. But she's not just beautiful, she's tough. Achilles is built of hand laid glassfibre reinforced plastic (GRP) and the hull is built stronger even than Lloyds require. The deck is a GRP sandwich with balsa as the core - no polyurethane foam in an Achilles deck!

A steel section, heavily galvanised, reinforces the GRP skeg, while the rudder has a stainless steel bearing tube. The anodised alloy mast is supported by 5mm stainless rigging at the masthead where normally only 4mm would be used.

Such is the strength of the Achilles. And strength means safety. But there is safety equipment too. The pulpit, double lifelines and pushpit are standard equipment. Even fire extinguishers are standard equipment.

Whichever way you look at it Achilles is a well equiped boat - just add a compass and you may safely take to the sea.

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