Sailors Stopped Buying Ketches. Here's What Changed

Summary

The video argues that declining ketch demand (especially in newer boats) isn’t mainly about “bad engineering.” Instead, it’s driven by:

1. Tax/racing-rule history that artificially boosted split-rig popularity, then later removed those advantages.
2. Modern sail-handling technology and changing boat design/market preferences, which reduced the ketch’s practical benefits while increasing cost and resale risk.

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1) The ketch boom was helped by rules—and later shut down

• Rating-rule incentives: Historically, yacht rating rules favored ketches and yawls because a second mast effectively “discounted” sail area on certificates.
  • Example figures cited: yawls evaluated at 93%, and ketch/schooner at 90% under older universal rules.
• US-focused advantage (CCA rules): Under CCA rules, certain mizzen staysails were not counted, creating a “free” source of downwind power on paper.
  • The video points to designs like Olin Stephens and Carlton Mitchell’s Finisterre and its racing record as beneficiaries of this environment.
• Rules changed: When measurement methods for mizzen/flying sails changed, the “free sail area” incentive disappeared.
  • As a result, yawls/ketches faded from regattas—many had been built for rule-derived advantages, not pure performance.

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2) Aerodynamics: the mizzenmast hurts close-hauled performance

The video’s core aerodynamic claim is that the mizzen mast sits in disturbed airflow—air already turbulent from the mainsail is diverted or affected before it reaches the mizzen.

• Effect on sailing upwind: Instead of producing thrust, the mizzen tends to add resistance and wind load, making split rigs generally less effective upwind than sloops.
• Height/turbulence penalty: The short mizzen mast operates in more turbulent air and can’t benefit from stronger, cleaner wind aloft.
• Sail-area distribution matters: Ketches often allocate a larger fraction of sail area to the mizzen (commonly ~20% or more) than yawls (~10–15%), amplifying the upwind penalty.
• “Radar mounting” verdict: The video repeats what many ketch owners reportedly conclude: the mizzen is often best thought of as “an excellent place to hang radar,” reflecting its limited contribution when winds come from bow-to-beam.

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3) Modern tech removed the original labor reason for ketches

Historically, ketches fit a pre-modern sail-handling world where:

• changing sails required multiple people,
• gear was heavy or non-powered,
• labor was a major constraint.

The video argues that today’s equipment reduces that advantage because:

• self-hunting winches,
• furlers,
• battened mains with low-friction carriages,
• lazy jacks/stack packs,
• electric winches,

make single-mast rigs much easier to manage.

So, if the ketch’s original “simplify labor” purpose is automated, a sloop/cutter can often do the same practical job with less complexity and hardware.

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4) Economics and manufacturing: two masts mean higher cost and worse resale

Key cost and market points:

• More standing rigging infrastructure: Compared to a sloop of similar length, a ketch typically needs additional mast sections, booms, chainplates, deck reinforcements, extra halyards/sheets, winches, and sometimes another furler.
• Rising fixed costs: Some expenses increase non-linearly—cranes, mast removals, reassembly, adjustments, inspections often effectively occur twice.
• Insurance replacement cycles: Standing rigging is commonly treated as a wear item with replacement intervals roughly every 10–15 years. With split rigs, the same cycle runs on two sets of components.
• Resale effect: Fewer buyers want ketches, so they:
  • sit longer on the market,
  • take bigger price cuts,
  • and those cut prices become the “comparable sales” that pull future offers downward.

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5) Modern design layouts also make the mizzen a competitive disadvantage

The video frames a market/design preference issue: the mizzen mast placement can force compromises with premium aft-deck space and modern features such as:

• open transom and swim platforms,
• wind rudders,
• solar panel shadowing,
• clearer cockpit-to-water flow.

The takeaway: buyers may not just avoid underperforming designs—they may pay less for designs that interfere with the ergonomics and layout they want.

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6) Where ketches still make sense

The video acknowledges that ketches can genuinely be superior for a narrower user profile, including:

• Long voyages with mostly downwind sailing, where both masts can be used effectively and balance/stress handling may be advantageous.
• Bad-weather configurations, such as reduced-sail setups relying on jib + mizzen.
• Practical redundancy / expedition-style needs, including living aboard with smaller crews, downwind routes, and prioritizing redundancy/optionality over close-hauled speed.
• Sailors who hoist/lower the mizzen early/late to shape boat behavior.
• Sailors who value the mizzen for sail stability under engine-assisted navigation.

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7) Best-performing exception: the Amel Super Maramu

To support the idea of “only ketch that overcame everything,” the video highlights:

• Amel Super Maramu
  • Built 1988, renamed 2000 in 1999, produced to ~2007
  • ~52-foot center-cockpit ketch
  • ~450+ hulls
• Resale claim: It allegedly retains strong resale values compared to typical ketches of similar age.
• Why (as presented): Amel “sold a system,” not just a rig. The entire vessel was engineered around motorized handling and two-mast sail management designed for couples sailing without extra crew—everything operable from sheltered conditions.
• Buyer takeaway: Value holds when the boat was designed as a ketch (proper mizzen sizing/placement and systems built around it), not when a mizzen mast is merely a factory “option” on a hull that could function as a sloop.

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8) Buyer checklist / “what changed” message

Overall message:

• The market no longer rewards split rigs the way it used to.
• Modern handling and buyer preferences favor single-mast designs.

Before buying a used ketch, the video suggests checking:

• Whether the boat was designed as a ketch (not a sloop-with-a-mizzen).
• The cost of duplication across the second rigging maintenance cycle:
  • inspecting two mast bases/chainplates,
  • and paying for two crane removals/rigging replacements.
• Whether there is a triadic stay (warned as potentially defeating dismasting redundancy by coupling the masts).
• Whether your real sailing use matches ketch strengths—for example, if you mostly weekend cruise and sail close-hauled/headwind, the mizzen may mostly be “radar mounting,” not performance.

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Presenters or contributors

• The video presents as a single narrator; no other named presenters/contributors appear in the subtitles.
• Names/design references mentioned:
  • Peter Blake
  • Olin Stephens
  • Carlton Mitchell
  • Charlie Morgan (and Morgan design/Out Island 41)
• General references to designers appear without specific names.