SAIL.SailMagazine

The Summer Sailstice is here again! This Saturday, June 22, marks the longest day of the year and therefore, the day with the most possible hours of sunlight during which sailors can enjoy their boats with their fellow sailors. 

Three Somali pirates are standing trial on charges of murdering four U.S. yachtsmen in February 2011. Jean and Scott Adam, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay were taken hostage at sea when 18 Somali pirates boarded their yacht.

Who among us isn’t a sucker for pretty overhangs, a sweet sheerline and a flush deck? There isn’t a boat in Morris Yachts’s M-series line of Sparkman &Stephens-designed modern classics that’s not a head-turner, and the new M46 is no exception. There’s more to this beauty, though, than meets the eye: good performance was near the top of the design brief.

Something has happened to the Strictly Sail component of the Miami International Boat Show over the last five years. Each February, I’ve seen a drop in the number of monohulls and an increase in the number and variety of multihulls. This year, I twice attempted to count the number of catamarans; each time I was distracted and lost track somewhere around the mid-20s. Granted, there were a few brokerage boats in there, but it was an impressive turnout nevertheless, with plenty of new models amongst the evergreens. 

Pity the poor boat cover that gets coated with an assortment of filth, including grit, mold, bird droppings and any filth that happens to fall from the sky.