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Boat Review: Beneteau Oceanis 37.1
I could feel the boat find her groove and settle in at 7.2 knots on a beam reach with the code zero flying. It was a crisp autumn day on Chesapeake Bay and we were hauling the mail with one finger on the wheel and twin rudders gripping below the waterline. This was the kind of ...read more
New Boat Hallberg-Rassy 40C
Hallberg-Rassy builds carry a reputation of solid offshore cruising boats. However, the forecast for my date with the 40C was among the lightest air the Annapolis area could offer. Arriving at the boat, a few more ripples danced across the water than expected, but this vessel ...read more
Boat Review: Hanse 510, Top 10 Best Boats 2024 Winner
You never quite know what’s going to happen on a test sail; often, these boats are fresh off the presses, so to speak, still being set up when we’re invited along. So, it wasn’t overly surprising when our plan to unfurl the genoa on the new Hanse 510 came to an abrupt halt when ...read more
Seawind 1170: Top 10 Best Boats Nominee
Seawind Catamarans owner and CEO Richard Ward started building cats in Australia in 1982 and over the years became that country’s largest multihull builder. Now he has put that experience and expertise into the new Seawind 1170, at 39 feet on the smaller end of the company’s ...read more
Hanse 46O: Top 10 Best Best Boats Review
Technology and disposable income are changing sailing and making luxurious boats available to more people than ever. The Hanse 460 is a perfect example. Not many years ago, a 46-foot production model performance cruiser with electric winches, apartment-like accommodations, and a ...read more
Dufour 41: Top 10 Best Best Nominee
You can take the sailor out of racing, but you can’t take racing out of the sailor. So, when Nicolas Berenger, product and commercial director of Dufour Yachts, tells me that we might have to tuck in a reef as we head out for the afternoon on the new Dufour 41 on the Bahia de ...read more
Boat Review: X-Yachts X4.3
In an alternative universe, I might be writing about how I test sailed the new X4.3 performance cruiser in a super-scary thunder squall, and the boat handled great. For it is true that when I sallied forth onto Chesapeake Bay with X-Yachts dealer Bob Rodgers aboard his new X4.3 ...read more
Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47
For more multihull reviews and stories, subscribe for free to Multihull Power & Sail at sailmagazine.com/multihull Fountaine Pajot knows a thing or two about the mid-40-foot sweet spot for cruising multihulls, and with the launch of the new Tanna 47 cat, they’ve dialed in their ...read more
Excess 14: Top 10 Best Best Nominee
For more multihull reviews and stories, subscribe for free to Multihull Power & Sail at sailmagazine.com/multihull I first saw Beneteau’s Excess brand of sailing catamarans in 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, with a room full of marine journalists, some of whom, like me, weren’t ...read more
Oyster 495: Top 10 Best Best Nominee
Southern California was serving up a strong dose of its May Grey/June Gloom weather when I arrived in Santa Barbara. With a thick marine layer and cool temperatures, the breeze was light and the seas were flat. I had arrived to test the Oyster 495, a new model from a family of ...read more
Video: Italia 14.98
It should probably come as no surprise that a major philosophical design element behind the new Italia 14.98 is simply beauty. “The boat was designed around the concept of being…an elegant boat, going fast through the water,” says designer Maurizio Cossutti. “We’re seeing some ...read more
NEEL 43 Trimaran
For more multihull reviews and stories, subscribe for free to Multihull Power & Sail at sailmagazine.com/multihull Just when monohull purists have become accustomed to catamarans, there’s a cosmic shift to three hulls. Trimarans certainly aren’t new, but their popularity is ...read more
Rapido 40: Top 10 Best Best Nominee
For more multihull reviews and stories, subscribe for free to Multihull Power & Sail at sailmagazine.com/multihull The new Rapido 40 trimaran is designed by Morrelli & Melvin, whose portfolio includes multihull rockets ranging from America’s Cup contenders to Steve Fossett’s ...read more
Top 10 Best Boats Review: Dufour 37
French builder Dufour Yachts has rolled out another new design bringing their line to eight models from 32 to 61 feet. The new Dufour 37 slots in just above the 32-foot baby of the family, and it replaces the previous Dufour 360 from three years ago. Although the hull actually ...read more
Top 10 Best Boats Review: Balance 442
Features include: • Daggerboards for upwind performance • Option for Integrel power generation • Versa-Helm serving upper and protected lower helm When you do multiple boat tests in a short period of time the experiences can blur, so when a design sticks out, you know it’s ...read more
Boat Review: Fountaine-Pajot Aura 51
If you can sell more than 150 catamarans off-plan before the resin has even hit the fiberglass, you must be doing something right. Despite costing around $1.1 million once fitted out and on the water, Fountaine-Pajot’s new 51 has done just that. The French yard has been at it ...read more
Boat Review: Lyman-Morse LM46
Lyman-Morse has been building fine yachts in Thomaston, Maine, ever since Cabot Lyman first joined forces with Roger Morse back in 1978. With experience creating and modifying boats built of various materials, backed by its own in-house fabrication facility, the firm has ...read more
Boat Review: Beneteau Oceanis 34.1
These days, when boats are selling like hotcakes, it may be tempting to sit back and ease up on the innovation process. After all, why spend R&D money developing something new when it’s easy to sell what already exists? Thankfully, Beneteau has chosen a very different path as it ...read more
Boat Review: Bavaria C38
Following a change of control and reorganization in 2018, Bavaria Yachts, one of Europe’s biggest builders, tapped a new design team and started updating its entire range of boats. The first new “C-Line” Bavaria, the C42, designed by Maurizio Cossutti and Alessandro Ganz, was a ...read more
Boat Review: Dufour 470
Annapolis may be the sailing capital of America, but if you looked around the United States Sailboat Show last fall, you would have no choice but to conclude most sailboats are now built in Europe. The Dufour 470 is a good example of a modern French performance cruiser. DESIGN & ...read more
New Boats: J/9
Although they don’t generally make it into print, there’s often a backstory to the boat tests we do at SAIL: case in point my sail trial of the J/9, winner in the “daysailer” category of SAIL’s 2022 Best Boats” awards. Checking the forecast before setting out from Boston for ...read more
Boat Review: Saffier SE 27 Leisure
As a former dinghy racer, I can be hard to please when it comes to “bigger boats.” And while the 27ft Saffier SE 27 Leisure is hardly “big,” I’m always skeptical the freedom and performance that made me fall in love with sailing will still be there in any boat that weighs more ...read more
Alubat Cigale 16
Aluminum cruising boats from French builders like Garcia, Boréal and Alubat have been gaining traction in the United States over the past several years. These heavy-duty so-called “adventure cruisers” are versatile and, of necessity, conservatively rigged, with centerboards that ...read more
Boat Review: Xquisite X5 Plus
The Xquisite X5 Plus is a major update of the boat that SAIL awarded Best Large Multihull and Best Systems titles in 2017. The changes were not just cosmetic, but genuine improvements to an already fine boat, making it lighter, faster and less dependent on fuel. The builder’s ...read more
Boat Review: Elan GT6
Elan’s first sporty “Grand Turismo” yacht, the 43ft GT5, launched in 2017, and was actually a bit of a mash-up. It combined an existing go-fast hull from Elan’s sexy E5 racer with a new deck and interior optimized for cruising comfort, and a somewhat detuned rig to create a ...read more
Best Boats: Balance 482
I’m sure many readers have heard of the dinghy test, in which it’s considered important you be able to admire your own boat as you’re dinghying ashore. Taking things up a notch, I’d say there’s also a kind of vanity test underway, whereby it ain’t half bad finding yourself ...read more
Boat Review: Fountaine Pajot Samana 59
Imagine a sailboat under 60ft with private en suite accommodations for five couples plus professional crew. Add to that enough space to allow those same lucky guests their own private lounging areas outside. That’s a lot of room. That’s the Fountaine Pajot Samana 59. DESIGN & ...read more
MiniCat 460 Elite
The new MiniCat 460 Elite is the largest of the four MiniCat models, and it’s a souped up version of 460 Esprit. We had a chance to test it on the Gunpowder River on the Chesapeake, and the consensus was that this is one smart boat that’s also a kick in the pants to sail. ...read more
Boat Review: Corsair 880
I’ve often written in boat reviews over the years that pretty much any boat sails well in 15 knots of breeze (typically as a word of explanation as to why sail trials done in drifting conditions are as relevant as those done in a small gale). However, it recently occurred to me ...read more
Boat Review: Dufour 530
Dufour Yachts seems to have shifted its strategy with the introduction of the new 530. Previously, the French builder maintained two lines: Performance and Grand Large, with the latter targeted at the cruising crowd. With the Dufour 530, however, Dufour decided to combine the ...read more
Boat Review: Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 54
The new Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 54 shares a lot of DNA with the company’s First Yacht 53, introduced last year and reviewed by SAIL in its May 2020 issue. The Oceanis Yacht 54, however, is both more luxurious and carries a slightly different rig for sailors who lean more toward ...read more
Boat Review: Happy Cat Hurricane
I’m not sure what I expected from my daysail on the Happy Cat Hurricane. One thing I do know is that the day didn’t go as planned. The SAIL staff was invited by Alex Caslow from Redbeard Sailing to Gunpowder State Park on Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. We were to test several ...read more
Boat Review: Dehler 30 One Design
I’ve long believed that while they may not be as much fun, the best sail trials are the ones that take place in drifters since it’s then that a boat’s performance—or lack thereof—really becomes evident. Pretty much any boat is fun to sail in 15 knots of wind. That said, there’s ...read more
Boat Review: Excess 15
Groupe Beneteau, builder of Lagoon Catamarans, debuted its new Excess multihull line at the Dusseldorf boat show in Germany in 2018. At the time they held a press conference where I may have been a bit of a pain as I asked what I thought were appropriate questions about the ...read more
New Multihulls for 2021
Lagoon 55 “Our experience tells us that people ignore a design that ignores people. That’s why we wanted to draw a beautiful boat that would be immediately identifiable as being a Lagoon,” says designer Patrick le Quément. And indeed, the new Lagoon 55 is a boat with an ...read more