Sail area / displacement
How much sail the boat carries for its weight — its power in light air.
- not published: sail area
How it is worked out
sail area (ft²) ÷ (displacement as ft³ of seawater)^⅔
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Bestevaer 36 exterior at anchor — Bestevaer
Design
- Naval architect
- Dykstra Naval Architects
Summary
- Length overall
- 35.9 ft
- Beam
- 12.5 ft
- Draft
- 2.3–7.9 ft
- Air draft
- —
- Displacement
- 19,401 lb
* A standard reference image, not the actual boat — shown to help visualise this model's published dimensions.
Sailing Ratios
Classic yacht-design ratios worked out from the builder's published figures, each shown against the bands designers read it by.
Displacement / length
How heavy the boat is for its waterline length. Lower is lighter and quicker; higher is steadier and roomier.
- 203· Moderate
How it is worked out
displacement (long tons) ÷ (0.01 × waterline length in ft)³
Ballast ratio
The share of the weight carried in the keel — a rough guide to stiffness, though how deep that weight sits matters as much.
- not published: ballast
How it is worked out
ballast ÷ displacement × 100
Comfort ratio
Ted Brewer's measure of how gently a boat moves in a seaway. Higher means a slower, easier motion.
- 29.3· Coastal
How it is worked out
displacement (lb) ÷ (0.65 × (0.7 × LWL + 0.3 × LOA) × beam^1.333), lengths in ft
Capsize screening
A guide from the inquiry after the 1979 Fastnet race: below 2 was taken as suited to ocean passages. It ignores hull shape and where the ballast sits.
- 1.86· Below 2
How it is worked out
beam (ft) ÷ (displacement as ft³ of seawater)^⅓
Hull speed
Roughly the speed a displacement hull reaches before it has to climb its own bow wave.
- 7.9 kn
How it is worked out
1.34 × √(waterline length in ft), in knots
Most builders publish a light displacement. The ratios were defined on a loaded boat, so every boat here reads a little lighter than a surveyor's figure would — all alike, which keeps them comparable.
Tanks
What the builder publishes about how fast, how strong and how much the boat carries.
Fuel and water on one scale: a tank twice the height holds twice as much.
- Fuel34 galWater53 gal
Design Category
Certified CE design category A (Ocean): the wind and waves the EU Recreational Craft Directive says this boat is designed to take.
- D
Sheltered waters
- Wind
- up to Beaufort 4
- Waves
- up to 0.3 m
- C
Inshore
- Wind
- up to Beaufort 6
- Waves
- up to 2 m
- B
Offshore
- Wind
- up to Beaufort 8
- Waves
- up to 4 m
- AThis boat
Ocean
- Wind
- above Beaufort 8
- Waves
- above 4 m
Design limits set by the EU Recreational Craft Directive (2013/53/EU), in significant wave height. A category covers the conditions of those below it. It is the limit the boat was designed to, not a promise that it is safe in any conditions within it — that judgement stays with the skipper.
A figure marked with a quote mark was read from the builder's page. Open it for the exact line, the page and the date.
Dimensions
- LOA
- 35.9 ft (10.95 m)
- Hull length
- —
- LWL
- 34.9 ft (10.65 m)
- Beam
- 12.5 ft (3.8 m)
- Draft (min)
- 2.3 ft (0.7 m)
- Draft (max)
- 7.9 ft (2.4 m)
- Air draft
- —
- Displacement
- 19,401 lb (8,800 kg)
- Ballast
- —
- Cabins
- —
- Heads
- —
- Berths
- —
Sail Plan
- Main sail
- —
- Jib
- —
- Genoa
- —
- Sail area
- —
- Downwind sail area
- —
- Rig type
- Sloop, fractional 9/10
Engine and Tanks
- Engine
- 29 hp
- Engine count
- 1
- Engine manufacturer
- —
- Propulsion type
- —
- Fuel capacity
- 34 gal (130 L)
- Fresh water capacity
- 53 gal (200 L)
- Black water capacity
- —
Construction
- Mast material
- —
- Hull material
- Aluminium
- Deck material
- —
- Keel type
- —
- Rudder type
- —
- Steering wheels
- —
Builder's Own Figures
- Waste Water
- 1 x 50 L
- Rigging
- Sloop (9/10)
Figures read fromthe builder's page
About Bestevaer
Semi-custom
Dutch builder of go-anywhere aluminium explorer sailing and motor yachts, designed by Gerard Dijkstra since 2003 and built by KM Yachtbuilders in Makkum.
The line began with a naval architect building for himself: Gerard Dijkstra, a polar sailor as well as a designer, drew the Bestevaer II as his own ideal boat -- unrestricted short-handed sailing, safe, comfortable and good-looking -- and brought to it what he had learned racing, designing and sailing in ice. What followed became a family of go-anywhere aluminium yachts built by KM Yachtbuilders. Tranquilo, a 56-footer meant for singlehanding, has sailed the Northwest Passage alone twice, in 2012 and 2017, explored Patagonia and the Antarctic peninsula and wintered ten months in the frozen seas of northern Canada. The first 49-footer, Katharos, came in 2009; Morning Haze, a 55-footer with a lifting keel, left on a world voyage straight from delivery, has been to Greenland three times and crossed the Northwest Passage in 2018; and the 66-foot Anabel was the first able to reach the far corners of the world entirely self-reliantly, on batteries, deck solar and two telescopic wind generators. The semi-custom Pure series, derived from the Bestevaer II and offered at 45, 49 and 53 feet, arrived in 2016, and the 45 was nominated Sailing Yacht of the Year. A 53-foot explorer motor yacht followed in 2020, drawn on the same principles; the 72-foot Symbiose is the largest one-off; and the Bestevaer 36, the smallest and greenest, shallow enough to dry out in the Wadden Sea, won a European Yacht of the Year 2024 special mention for sustainability.
Visit brand pageThe Bestevaer Range
Every model Bestevaer publishes, by length — where this one sits in the range.
- Bestevaer 53 S/Y53.1 ft
- Bestevaer 49 S/Y49.1 ft
- Bestevaer 45 S/Y46.8 ft
- Bestevaer 42 S/Y44.8 ft
- Bestevaer 36 S/Y· this model35.9 ft