History of the Victory 21
The Victory sloop was designed by Ted Carpentier, naval architect, and first manufactured by Henry R. McCune in 1959. It was designed as a one-design class boat, fully competitive in any range of of comparable boats. Some 126 boats were manufactured before it was sold to Wesco Marine. Wesco Marine started with boat #150, leaving a gap from #127 through #149. Wesco began their production in 1964. They produced two boats: the Victory 21 and the Aurora 21.
The Aurora and the Victory share the same hull, but the Aurora has a cruising configuration for the cabin. The Victory displaced 1350 lbs. while the Aurora was somewhat heavier, displacing 1800 lbs. The mast is placed in a different location for these boats and the sails are not the same size.
1969 (or 1968, hull number 552, verified Coronado built, was purchased new in July 1968) saw the introduction of these boats under the name of Coronado Yachts (along with Avalon 25, Coronado, 25 and Coronado 34) as a division of the Whittaker Corporation. Whittaker had been in the boat production business since 1963 as Columbia Yachts. They produced some other interesting marine related products such a life pods used for emergency evacuation from offshore oil rigs. The Coronados were originally produced only in the plant in Costa Mesa, CA..
Larger boats would eventually be built at the Columbia plant in either Portsmouth or Chesapeake, VA. It appears that Coronado production only lasted a year or so. Hull number 598, built no later than 1971 and possibly earlier, is a verified Catalina produced boat.
In 1970, the Victory 21 (and the Aurora 21 and Avalon 25) was dropped from production. In fact Catalina ran ads as early as December 1969 with the Catalina Victory 21 as one of their boats. Regardless, at about this time Catalina Yachts acquired the manufacturing right to the Victory 21. I am uncertain if they began production immediately, but they apparently had production through 1973 or early 1974. At this time they ceased production for a period of more than a year with the board of NAVSO (National Association of Victory Sloop Owners) asking Catalina Yachts in December 1974 to make a policy statement concerning the future availability of new Victory 21 sailboats.
The company resumed production through the early 1980’s. The latest documented information I have shows the boat’s standard price was $3,295.00 as of November 15, 1980. The final number of boats produced is about 690. The highest reported hull number is 688, a vessel located in Oklahoma.
Catalina sold the Victory as a Capri Victory 21. They used the “old style” Catalina 22 mast. It has an oval shape, and was shortened about a foot. It should be 23 feet 6.4 inches long maximum. The boom is slightly over 10 feet. The official NAVSO measurement certificate shows the specifications.
There have been some measurement and specification changes over the years in an effort to increase its speed and ease of handling. However, the basic qualities of measurement and specifications remain the same as the original. In 1968, Wesco Marine made the boat self-bailing, redesigning the cockpit and installing a sliding hatch on the cabin. The cabin entrance was redesigned so it could be secured with a lock. These changes were made in the #490-500 area.
The above history is compiled from correspondence with other Victory owners, from Coronado Sailboat History (formerly located at http://www.concentric.net/~Cs-cb/Sailing/history.shtml) and from information which I was able to obtain through the courtesy of David Graas at Catalina Yachts
