Beneteau Figaro 2

The Beneteau Figaro 2 or Beneteau Figaro II, officially designated as the Figaro Beneteau II, is a French sailboat that was designed by Marc Lombard as a one design, single-handed, off-shore racer for the Solitaire du Figaro race and first built in 2003. The boat and the race are named for the race's sponsor, the French newspaper Le Figaro.

The boat replaced the Beneteau Figaro in the Solitaire du Figaro and was in turn replaced by the Beneteau Figaro 3 in 2016.

Production
The design was built by Beneteau in France, from 2003 to 2018 with 96 boats completed over the 15 year production run.

Design
The Figaro 2 is a racing keelboat, built predominantly of glassfibre, carbon fibre and Airex foam. It has a 7/8 fractional sloop rig, with a deck-stepped mast, two sets of 20° swept spreaders and a carbon fibre mast with an aluminium boom with stainless steel rod standing rigging. The hull has a plumb stem, an open reverse transom, twin internally mounted spade-type rudders controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel with a swept, weighted bulb. It displaces 6724 lb and carries 2425 lb of ballast. The ballast consists of lead in the keel and two lateral hull water ballast tanks, which each hold 58.1 u.s.gal.

The boat has a draft of 6.50 ft with the standard keel.

The boat is fitted with a Swedish Volvo MD2020 diesel engine of 20 hp for docking and manoeuvring. The fuel tank holds 10 u.s.gal.

The design has sleeping accommodation for four people in a minimalist interior. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical spinnaker of 915 sqft. The design has a hull speed of 7.61 kn and a PHRF handicap of 57.

Operational history
The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the Classe Figaro Bénéteau.

In a 2016 interview, the designer explained the boat's philosophy, "that's pretty simple: We had to find the balance between the task of meeting the tight selling price of 100.000 Euros ex VAT and at the same time the obligation to offer the best technology and innovation we could afford in that budget. You know, for an A category CE-boat at this time the minimum weight possible was three tons. This also meant we´ve had to go for a relatively high draught, had the minimum weight and a certain stability requirement with full ballast and a minimum length of 10 meters to fit the A category. We also wanted lateral ballast, because a canting keel was at that time far out of target budget – yet high stability was needed for single- or double-handed sailing. For that same reason we have not been able to convince the people at Beneteau to go for a bowsprit with high roach main, asymmetrical spinnaker. In the end, we nevertheless kept innovation factor high: The Figaro II features a double rudder for large directional stability and controllability single-handed, it's still a very light construction. We can add stability with the ballast system and have a carbon mast for speed – to sum it up, it´s a strong one design-rule for having a boat for a good, exciting competition."

In a 2013 review for boats.com, Rupert Holmes named the design one of the best Beneteau yachts, stating, "the Figaro ll, however, was conceived in 2003 as an out-and-out racer for the high profile annual 1,500 mile single-handed Solitaire du Figaro race. It is now seen as an iconic, especially in France, where the race has a strong public following and successful skippers are household names. The boat combines light weight with plenty of power and twin rudders for downwind control at high speeds – skippers will continue to sail with spinnakers in near gale-force conditions, often achieving speeds of more than 20 knots."