SAIL.SailMagazine

The new Farr 400 is all predator, a no-holds-barred one design that can ghost through 5-knot holes and still stand tall in 25-knot gusts. As the heir apparent to the Farr 40, this all-carbon lightweight speedster reveals an up-tick in commitment to performance and an upgrade in the commitment to technology.

Among this year’s 2012 Best Boats Award winners are a cat with two cockpits, another cat with two tillers, a variable-displacement daysailer and a pair of red-hot raceboats. Clearly it takes more than a little bad economic news to keep the boatbuilding industry down!

Among the many large, expensive sailing vessels at this year’s Annapolis show, the crowd-stopper was this diminutive 23-footer with a tall pilothouse. Something about it—perhaps the proportions, perhaps the novelty, perhaps the accessibility— made people pause, do double takes and smile.

Passport has been creating strong, beautifully detailed cruising boats at its yard in Xiamen, China, for 20 years and each new model evolves slightly from the previous one. Looking at the new Passport Vista 545 CC at Annapolis made us wonder if the factory locks a man inside the boat each night and gives him breakfast only after he has come up with some small improvement.

Britain’s Southerly Yachts has been building shoal-draft cruisers for decades, so the 49 has a serious pedigree. Designer Rob Humphreys also works for Oyster, so there is a generous splash of luxury in the 49’s detailing and accommodations.