how big is a schooner
A “schooner” can mean two different things, and the size depends on which one you’re asking about.
1. Sailing schooner (the ship)
In nautical terms, a schooner is a sailing vessel with two or more masts, usually fore‑and‑aft rigged. There’s no single fixed size; “schooner” describes the rig, not the exact length. In practice, classic schooners commonly fall in this approximate range:
- Length overall: about 70–160 feet (21–49 m), depending on the design and purpose.
- Beam (width): roughly 16–26 feet (5–8 m).
- Draft: often around 6–16 feet (2–5 m), deeper on larger ocean‑going schooners.
Some concrete examples:
- Schooner Zodiac: 160 ft overall, 26 ft beam, 16 ft draft.
- Schooner Grace Bailey: 118 ft overall, 23 ft 5 in beam, 6–14 ft draft depending on centerboard.
- Schooner Excelsior: 87 ft long, 25 ft beam, 7 ft depth.
- Schooners Woodwind & Woodwind II: about 74 ft overall, 16 ft beam, 7 ft draft.
So if someone says “a schooner” in a sailing context, they usually mean a medium‑to‑large traditional sailing ship in roughly the 70–160 ft range.
Size examples table (ships)
| Schooner | Length overall | Beam (width) | Draft / depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grace Bailey | 118 ft | 23 ft 5 in | 6–14 ft (centerboard up/down) |
| Excelsior | 87 ft | 25 ft | 7 ft depth |
| Woodwind | 74 ft | 16 ft | 7 ft draft |
| Zodiac | 160 ft | 26 ft | 16 ft draft |
| Morrissey (large schooner) | 152 ft LOA | 24 ft 5 in | 13 ft draft |
2. Schooner as a beer glass
In some English‑speaking places (especially parts of Australia and Canada), “schooner” is also a term for a large beer glass. Exact sizes vary by region and bar, but it generally means:
- A larger‑than‑standard beer glass, often somewhere around a pint or a bit more.
The key idea is that in bar slang, a schooner is a big pour of beer compared with a regular glass, while at sea it’s a fairly large, multi‑masted sailing vessel.
TL;DR:
- As a ship: typically about 70–160 ft long, 16–26 ft wide, depending on the specific schooner.
- As a beer glass: a large beer serving (size varies by region, but larger than a standard glass).
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.