Peter Brett designed the first Rival, the 31 in 1967, and the hull design was later lengthened to become the 32. In 1972 the 32 was replaced with the 34, which rapidly became known for it's seaworthiness: the designer's own Rival 34 'Wild Rival' won the OSTAR singlehanded transatlantic race in 1976.
In 1977 the Rival 38 and Rival 41 were added to the range, all these designs sharing the general character of moderate displacement, fin and skeg hullform, and solid build. They also have a pronounced and distinctive sheerline. The Rival 41 is the biggest of the Rivals, and was built with two different deck layouts, aft (AC) or centre cockpit (CC), and a choice of sloop or ketch rigs. 57 Rival 41s were built in total.
This Rival 41 is a sloop rigged aft cockpit (AC) model. The interior layout has up to 9 berths, though a more typical crew would be two to four. There is a double aft cabin under the cockpit, with separate companionways from aft cabin to cockpit, and from saloon to deck. She is cutter rigged, but normally is sailed as a sloop, with roller furling genoa: the inner forestay is used only for mast support and to set a small heavy weather staysail if needed. The original 48 hp engine was replaced in 2000 with a 65 hp Perkins Sabre diesel. |
