SAIL.SailMagazine

It will be interesting to see how long Richard Schotte stays faithful to his latest boat, Isobel, a custom Stephens Waring performance deck-saloon cruiser that was launched at Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine last July. Schotte, it would seem, is the sort of client designers, builders and brokers dream of.

Back in 1935, the young Olin Stephens designed a 30-foot sloop called Babe. It was design #97 from his prolific pen, crafted to the rules of the Miami-Nassau race. Stephens drew a hull with a fairly plumb bow and squared-off stern, not at all in keeping with the ‘30s fashion of long overhangs on a short waterline.

Two weeks after declaring victory in its battle to defend GPS, BoatUS is cautioning sailors and other GPS users that they’re not “out of the woods just yet,” following a Federal Communications Commission decision to extend the public comment period on the issue to March 16.

Gunboat, manufacturer of high-end racing and cruising catamarans, announced the opening of its new boatyard in Wanchese, North Carolina. The company will employ 71 people at the new 30,000 square foot facility, from which it will be able to haul, launch, sea trial and service boats year round.

Recently launched boats boast of high-performance, luxury and quality that sailing enthusiasts can't miss out on. Think high-performance sub-30-foot racer/ cruiser multihull and you think trimaran. But the imminent arrival in the United States of the Rackam Wing 26 Xtreme could quickly change that.