The Farr 11s , design #613, represents the culmination of intense discussions with a client, who previously owned a Farr 36 One Design. His carefully prepared brief called for an inshore boat with sufficient freeboard for coastal race capability, legs out hiking and minimal interior. The goal was to produce a very fast keelboat for its size (35 to 38 ft) crewed by no more than 6 or 7 intermediate level sailors. Racing venues included Key West, the Great Lakes and a variety of other regattas.
The challenge was to incorporate as many go-fast features as possible while staying within sensible limits of price, ease of operation, and meeting safety standards of category 3 Offshore Special Regulations including stability and fit out requirements. The obvious goals are to provide high stability to carry a powerful sail plan, keep the whole package as light as possible, reduce drag, and produce a boat that will break out into high speeds in a controllable manner. These goals are blended with the desire to be a good all-round buoys racer in a wide range of wind speeds, good in coastal type races where reaching performance and handling are important, and avoid any glaring weaknesses that are seen in some attempts at this concept.
The Farr 11s has a 45-degree canting keel with twin asymmetric dagger boards and twin retractable rudders on a hull with high form stability. This combination has been explored in our research work for the Open 60, Volvo 70, Cookson 50 and the 30meter canting-keel Maxi Leopard 3 and this project presented fertile ground to draw from our experience. The hull shape combines the demands for minimizing light air (low speed) drag with high-speed stability and excellent handling qualities. Twin rudders will help control in extreme conditions while the raked bow offers better wave jumping/piercing control.
The rig is developed from a skiff-rig concept with highly swept spreaders and no backstay allowing easy tacking and jibing of the large square-headed mainsail. The concept should provide some automatic de-powering, and minimize demands on the crew during maneuvers, leaving hands available for keel/canard manipulation and sail handling. The retractable bowsprit stretches the sail plan to allow ample downwind sail area in the form of asymmetric spinnakers.
Construction calls for carbon fiber skins with honeycomb core sandwich. The keel fin is also carbon fiber with a 1,090 Kg lead bulb with an overall displacement of 2400 Kg. Motoring power comes from an 10 HP outboard that is retractable in a well that opens to the cockpit. Keel canting is activated by an electro-hydraulic pump system requiring 10 seconds for full keel articulation in tacks and jibes. 
