The largest of the lifting-keel Etaps, launched in 1981, the 26 manages a
proper heads compartment amidships and an inboard engine powering
a saildrive. She is designed to right herself with the keel fully up, but many
owners tend to sail with it permanently down, because the mechanism
for lifting this large chunk of ballast manually requires a good 15 minutes
of winch-grinding at the foot of the mast. Some 26s have an electric servo
motor to relieve this burden. The deck-stepped 7/8 fractional rig has swept-
back spreaders and an adjustable backstay. All sail controls are led back to
the cockpit. She is fast and commendably stiff under sail, and goes well to
windward with a tacking angle of 75-80º, but needs to be sailed fairly flat
to avoid weather helm. She has an unusual cabin layout, dictated by the
large lifting keel. The chart table is at the forward end of the saloon and the
navigator is obliged to work sitting sideways-on. She has four sea-going
berths, or potentially five at anchor: two straight settees in the saloon, one of
which converts to a double, and a vee-berth in the forepeak.

LoA 7.8m (25ft 5in) LWL 6.6m
(21ft 7in) beam 2.8m (9ft) Draught 1m to 1.6m (3ft 1in to
5ft 3in) Displacement 2,270kg
(5,000lb) YM test report
February 1982