Off to the Races: Meet the New Hinckley Bermuda 50

At 1600 hours on Wednesday, June17, Hinckley’s Bermuda 50 sailed away from the company’s Southwest Harbor boatyard bound for her homeport in Rhode Island. The excitement and the champagne that would surround the launch of the first new Hinckley sailboat in over ten years would have to wait, as the Bermuda 50 was all about the business of making it to the start of Block Island Race Week. The boat, Watermark out of Jamestown, Rhode Island, will have fulfilled her dual purpose as cruiser and competitor before the first week under her new burgee is over.

Her plumb bow, flush deck, and long bowsprit are a new look for the 87-year-old Hinckley, but then, the Bermuda 40, built out of fiberglass in 1960, was modern in her day. The Bermuda 50 is designed by Bill Tripp III, whose father, Bill Tripp Jr., designed the Bermuda 40. Hinckley and Tripp announced the Bermuda 50 collaboration at the end of 2013. Two have been built so far.

The Hinckley Bermuda 50 is designed as an advanced performance sloop that captures the best of design and technology. For sailors who wish to have a yacht they will be proud to cruise and race over many years, with the head-turning beauty and elegance that is unmistakably Hinckley, the Bermuda 50 is the modern day evolution of the Bermuda 40.

On deck and below, this vessel embodies all the finish qualities that have characterized a Hinckley yacht in the past, but with crisp modern lines. This new Hinckley will define dual-purpose sailing for generations to come in much the same way as its predecessor, the Bermuda 40, did. Or perhaps, does. A modified Bermuda 40 won the Newport Bermuda Race in 2014.

Utilizing carbon fiber throughout hull, deck, and spar; high-tech construction techniques; and the latest in sail handling systems, the versatile sloop can be comfortably handled by a couple but will also easily accommodate a family, or another two couples for safe, luxurious, performance cruising. With a hydraulic lifting keel, the Bermuda 50 will access shallow anchorages from the Chesapeake to the Bahamas, and will sail swiftly from harbor to harbor even on challenging offshore passages.

The simple geometry of this modern rig is easy to handle and is well suited for competitive racing under IRC and ORR rules. The Bermuda 50 will excel in a broad range of events from regatta race weeks to the Bermuda Race.

Hinckley Bermuda 50 Specifications

LOA: 49’10”/1520 m

LWL: 44’11”/13.69 m

Beam: 14’3”/4.35 m

Draft: 6’6”/1.98 m (keel up); 11’6”/3.50m (keel down)

Cruising Displacement: 25,353 lbs./11.5 tonnes

Sail Area (up wind): 1,624 ft2/151 m2

Fuel Capacity: 79 U.S. gallons/300 liters

Water Capacity: 118 U.S. gallons/450 liters