Which One Design?

I think stefans point about finding crew is to the point....an X332 needing 8 and in no big numbers anymore, plus an expensive sail wardrobe.....

Another thing in favour of the Impala, but some are pretty tatty and yes they aren't as well made as the very robust sigma 33- and it is better for offshore in the channel (fastnet 79 showed that)

Impalas are more broachy but the mast does bend with kicker! despite the lead shoe over the orignial design they will still luff very hard and stall if you are overcanvassed. Improvement on before- they would actually self-tack!

both the impala and the sigma 36 are superior boats to the 33 in terms of helming and crewing.

What the impala lacks in interior comfort is made up for in the cockpit and deck which are a hek of a lot less bruising and uncomfy than the 33, which was always meant to be a sit in the cockpit channel racer and not a round-the-cans hike bitches racer!

The 33 had numbers and quality sailors but fleets are down except Dublin funnily enough.

Coming into a leeward mark in the top third of the fleet at Cork week, on the one windy-ish day in 97, it was near carnage with everyone daring to go by the lee a little to avoid gybing onto port. Many hair raising broaches about.

The two boats I sailed on had both regular crew and lists which ran into the mid twenties in numbers! So yeah, I think the days of attracting people to something which is exciting are passed for the sm33

Sigma 33 -  helm/mainsheet -  it's a bit cramped at the back of that small cockpit - but that's a reflection of the boats  age and design.

the topic is,  OD racing in yachts in which you could sleep  aboard. 

I don't think there's another class that actually caters for that.    31.7s are OD,  X332s possibly are but are still pricy,  apart from that I don't think there's anything else apart from sigma38s!    

Yachts of  that size,  you otherwise have to race under IRC...   

other alternatives-  go a bit smaller -

• J24 possibly or
• melges
• impala
• sonta

you could always  race  folkboats -  there very competative - and I think they are strict about mesurements as well.  .   They accommodate crew,  sleep 3, 4 at a push...