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Discovered in the S&S files on March 6, 2007 was this unsigned, undated drawing # 1497-C1 for a Dolphin w/ Fixed Keel , displ 4640 lbs, draft 4’2”. The boat designed for a Douglas Bremner - a New Zealand client of S&S's. The was no other information in the S&S files that I saw.scovered in the S&S files was this unsigned, undated drawing # 1497-C1 for a Dolphin w/ Fixed Keel , displ 4640 lbs, draft 4’2”. The boat designed foles.
This page, started as a item of technical interest, has developed into a progressive investigation of our Dolphin's New Zealand cousins, the S&S 24, and its local offspring, the Falcon 24. With the help of Alan Mountford (Blue Gum) , Stefan Sebregts (Whistler), Steve Summerville (Festina Lente) and others we have identified many of the 50-60 boats built. They have been included in the Alphabetical Roster section.
Doug Bremner was the owner of Sea Nymph Yachts/Marine Plastics, the company that built these boats. Cruising around the New Zealand yachting websites your webmaster found a news article about the 1970 Auckland Boat and Caravan Show and the S&S 24 winning the Boat of the Year award. A partial copy of that article follows:
Alan Mountford, our first investigative reporter from Down Under owns Blue Gum, a Falcon 24, sent in the following email and a copy of a Boating New Zealand Magazine article that tells us a lot about the S&S 24 and the Falcon 24.
August 30, 2007
I received information relating to the S&S 24 Falcon a couple of days ago from Boating New Zealand Magazine. I spoke to them on the phone while I was in Auckland, NZ, and they said they would send what they had. Attached (below) is the article which they have sent me. It appeared in their magazine in December 2003 edition. I have also been able to track down Ferris de Joux's phone number. So hopefully I will be able to get in contact with him at some time.
Regards,
Alan
S&S 24_FALCON
(From Boating New Zealand Magazine, Dec, 2003)
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
Design number 1497 from Sparkman and Stephens (S&S) was the Dolphin 24, designed in 1960 for American boatbuilder, O'Day Corporation. Marketed by US Yachts Inc from 1960 until 1966, O’Day built the 24s, until Yankee Yachts took over production and renamed the boat the Yankee Dolphin. In the early 1970’s the Pacific Yacht Company took over production and renamed the boat the Pacific Dolphin. S&S could not provide exact numbers built in the USA; research suggests several hundred.
Doug Bremner of Sea Nymph introduced the Dolphin to the New Zealand market in 1968. Sea Nymph built nearly 20 of them marketing them as the S&S 24. Then in 1973, Wallace McNair wanted one for himself but he didn't like the standard deck/cabin shape and had car designer Ferris de Joux redesign the cabin/deck.
Eventually, de Joux set up production of this modified version as the Falcon 24, with Sea Nymph laminating the hulls on contract. De Joux built around 35 boats, before the 1979 Muldoon sales tax forced him and McNair' to give up boatbuilding, they drifted back into car design, building and racing.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
As designed, the Dolphin was a trailerable centreboarder, but the New Zealand, boats had a longish, fixed keel. The S&S has a deep underbody, balanced ends and a lively sheer. Displacement is generous at two tons, with a 35% ballast ratio. The lay-up specifications were provided by S&S, and consisted of a solid GRP hull, with a balsa core decks and cabin. The original versions had an outboard engine mounted in a well aft with a cut-out through the transom, effective but hardly pretty. The Falcon version mounted the outboard on a transom bracket. Some boats have inboards; the Vire petrol engine was popular for a time. The layout of the later versions has twin quarter berths, the galley to starboard, seating opposite, and with the, head and twin V berths in the bow.
HANDLING AND BUYING
The S&S performs best upwind. The mainsail is quite low aspect and requires reefing reasonably early, but the boat is forgiving and predictable. Boatings's photographic editor, Mike Hunter, part-owned one some years ago, and is an enthusiastic advocate of the Falcon's heavy weather capabilities, having been out in all sorts of weather condition teaching his wife to sail. He considers it ideal for family cruising.
When buying, the de Joux model is the more stylish, and attracts a price premium over the earlier model. However, it is not a genuine S&S design if true classic status is required. When purchasing avoid examples requiring lots of work; it's considerably cheaper to buy the best than have to titivate the worst. The S&S 0wners Association disbanded some years ago. It once numbered more than 90 members.
CONCLUSION
The S&S 24 is a classic 1960s design, while the Falcon 24 is the modernized version. With more displacement than local equivalents, they provide a decent sized interior and easy handling in most conditions. Either version is an ideal pocket cruiser for two.cle.
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Click here to see the sail and arrangements plan as they appear in the above article for mber, 2003 article.
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The following is a comparison of specifications (compared to O'Day and Yankee/Pacific Dolphin 24)
| Specification |
S&S 24/ Falcon 24 |
O'Day Dolphin |
Yankee/Pacific Dolphin |
| LOA (ft -in) |
24' 2" |
24' 2" |
24' 2" |
| LWL (ft - in) |
19' 0" |
19' 0" |
19' 0" |
| BOA (Beam ft - in) |
7' 8" |
7' 8" |
7' 8" |
| Draft |
4' 2" |
5' 2" |
5' 2" |
| Board Up |
n.a. |
2' 10" |
2' 10" |
| Displacement (lbs) |
4640 |
4544 |
4250 |
| Ballast (lbs) |
1680 |
1440 |
1650 |
| Sail Area (working sq ft) |
331.4 |
296 |
296 |
| Number built (approx) |
53 |
75 |
175/50 Total 225 |
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Below is a picture of Alan's Blue Gum and receiving it prompted an exchange of emails that appear below.o note the high aspect main - also adopted by the Wilmette Harbor Dolphin fleet."
I have seen this set up several times and have always wondered how you paint the very bottom of the keel. Usually, I fall asleep before I find a solution. So I asked Alan how do you do it? His reply came in a couple of days ago"
August 30, 2007
Hi Ron,
Just had a look at your website again.
I see you are asking a question about cleaning the bottom of the keel. Most marinas in NZ today have a travel lift for hauling boats out of the water so it is easy to have the bottom of the keel water blasted along with the rest of the hull. The boat is then set up in a steel cradle ashore or put back in the water.
The set-up in the photo I sent is as follows.
A couple of heavy hardwood posts (piles) about one foot in diameter are set permanently in the sea-bed. Next to these piles are a number of spaced hardwood beams running at right angles to the piles to form a grid on which the keel sits when the boat dries out. This grid is permanently fixed to the sea-bad so that it doesn't move or float away when the tide comes in.
With this set-up one ties the boat to the piles at about high tide and movable weights (eg jerry cans of water) are moved outboard so that the boat lists slightly towards the piles as she settles on the falling tide.
It is not possible to get to every single square inch of the bottom of the keel as where the keel sits on the grid, the bottom is inaccessible, but you can reach between the wood beams of the grid and get some of the fouling off. The rest you don't worry about. The amount of fouling left is quite insignificant to performance and you just learn to live with it.
Most of these grid set-ups were free to use in NZ when I lived there. As more marinas have been built the number of grids has declined.
There has been some terrible accidents where boats have fallen off grids in the past, usually due to not taking care that the boat is leaning towards the piles as it settles.
I saw a forty - odd footer once with a ferro hull that had fallen off when the ropes tying it to the piles broke. It had been leaning away from the piles. A guy was water-blasting the hull when the lashings let go. He had the presence of mind to dive under the boat as she came down and he escaped because of the space between the curvature of the hull and keel gave him sufficient room.(full keel yacht)
The side of the boat was stove in where it hit the sand. They managed to get it afloat again later using fire pumps to hold the water level down in the hull.
Kind regards,
Alan
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Another Internet cruise located the following 2001 listing of 21 S&S 24's by the NZ Yachting Association. Since we know some of these boats are actually Falcon 24s it seems that the S&S 24 and the Falcon 24 may have the same rating? Also, the link indicated under the boat name appears to no longer be available.
Webmaster Note: The following boats have checked in with the website. Click on their names to go to them.
BlueGum Falcon 24, Alan Mountford, Logan City, Queensland, Australia, checked in July 20, 2007.
Whistler Stefan Sebregts, Auckland, NZ, checked in October 30, 2007.
Glass Spider Siobhan Hall, Auckland, NZ, K1019, checked in on Feb 4, 2008
Pelagos Kim and Nick King, Nelson, South Island, NZ, K1052, checked in on March 30, 2008
Davarsa formerly Natine David Le Mestre, Brittany, France (and Morocco) checked in October 18, 2008
Talia - Checked in February 18, 2009
Festina Lente - Steve Somerville, Whangarei, NZ, checked in May 2, 2009
Falcon - Photos only
Maneri - Photos only
Summer Haze Rod Carey, Auckland, NZ, checked in October 1, 2007
Watermark - Photos only
Kitty Sark John Dragovitch, Auckland
Coq au Vin - 1977 Falcon 24, Trade me/NZ For Sale ad November 1, 2009
"Opua" (No Name) - 1978 Falcon 24, Trade me/NZ For Sale ad November 1, 2009
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We received the following email from Stefan Sebregts (Whistler) in Auckland and a copy of the referenced Falcon 24 review in the magazine Yachting and Boating
October 30, 2007
Hello Ron,
Interesting website!
I too own a S&S Falcon 24, named Whistler, here in Auckland, NZ. I've owned here now for just over a year and she has given me very enjoyable times. And I have come to appreciate her heavy weather sailing ability!
There doesn't seem to be a heck of a lot of info around on these boats, and I think it is a shame that the owners association got folded. Anyway, I do have a review of the Falcon, out of a boating magazine. Unfortunately, it is not dated, so I don't know exactly when it was published. I think visitors to your website might be interested in reading this.
I know I sure was happy reading a bit more about what I think is a boat that deserves a bit more attention! So, attached you will find a PDF file of the article. (Click here to go to it)
I also have a number of photos that I've accumulated of various Falcons. (Some of them showing different interiors). If you are interested in these for the website, let me know.
Enjoy.
Happy sailing,
Stefan
Auckland, New Zealand
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On September 28, 2008 we received an inquiry from David Le Mestre who lives in Morocco but vacations in Brittany, France where he saw a boat that caught his interest. David was looking for information that could help him get a European Certification for a Falcon 24 built in New Zealand. He sent in a picture which is below. This had the potential for an interesting story.
We subsequently found out this boat's name is Natine and she had been sailed from New Zealand to to Brittany, France. Later, David advised he bought her and renamed her Davarsa. To go to the boat click on the names.
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January 2, 2009
David LeMestre sent in an interesting article from a June, 1970 issue of NZ Yachting and Boating Magazine entitled "We Test S/S 24" by Cedric Allan and Lex Kempton. The copy leaves a little to be desired and we are working on getting a better one. Click here to go to it.
Also, David sent in an undated "Used Boat Test" for the Falcon 24 and a spec sheet from S&S for the Falcon 24. They follow here:
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