Sailboat News

In 1851, the New York pilot schooner America sailed to England, beat the Brits at their own prestigious yacht race (which came to be known as the America’s Cup), and launched an evolution of the East Coast’s pilot craft into vessels that were the envy of the world. Their ...read more

Every year, sailboat manufacturers around the world launch their latest models, and every year, SAIL magazine’s experienced boat reviewers spend days and weeks learning what’s new, talking with boatbuilders, examining the boats top to bottom dockside, and finally taking them ...read more

Kenichi Horie, who undertook his most recent voyage last year at age 83, sailing solo from San Francisco to Chiba, Japan, in an 18-foot sloop, is the latest winner of the Cruising Club of America’s Blue Water Medal. The famed Japanese sailor and environmentalist joins a rarified ...read more

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

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

At the request of the Newport Bermuda Race, US Sailing has conducted an investigation into the fatal crew-overboard incident during this summer's race. Last week, US Sailing concluded their investigation and released a report. The report concludes that the fatality was the ...read more

It should come as no surprise that lots of owners want a boat that can do it all. Monohull sailors, in particular, tend to love the idea of a performance cruiser that will be as at home on a racecourse as it is anchored off some remote island. Along these same lines, if there’s ...read more

The Hanse 460 combines easy sailing with easy living, making for an all-around simple, luxurious package. All the sailhandling can be done from the twin helms via a single set of winches, keeping the rest of the cockpit clear for entertaining or stretching out in. The option of ...read more

The Neel 47 trimaran bridges the gap between the Neel 45 and Neel 51. It also shares the same outstanding interior volume and clever use of space as seen aboard not only these two boats, but also the flagship of the line, the Neel 65 Evolution. Standout features include a pair ...read more

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

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

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

The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. Some of it is timing. Some of it is just the way of the world. Either way, it can be fascinating to see the evolution of the boatbuilding industry over the years, as has been evident in SAIL magazine’s annual Best Boats ...read more

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

Though they don’t reel off the miles like a performance-cruiser, I would argue that some of the purest, best sailing can be found aboard small boats. Frankly, when it comes to being an expert in trimming sails, balancing loads and steering clean courses, a responsive small boat ...read more

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

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

Dufour, long one of France’s most well-respected builders, has been producing sailboats in La Rochelle since the dawn of fiberglass boatbuilding. Having recently merged with another La Rochelle-based builder, Fountaine Pajot, Dufour has now joined other European mass-production ...read more

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

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

From “cockloons” to “SmartRooms” and innovative nav stations, today’s multihull builders are fine-tuning the layouts of their mid-sized cruisers in increasingly interesting ways. Not only that but as the cruising multihull market continues to mature, the new features are not just ...read more

In the following excerpt from Wild Seas to Greenland — A Sailing Adventure with Ocean Racer Ross Field, veteran mariner Rebecca Hayter, recounts how Field prepared the aluminum-hulled Rosemary, which he bought in France, for a try at the Northwest Passage “People often ask: why ...read more

120 children enrolled in Brooklyn Boatworks’ STEM and life skills-focused program launched their hand-built optimist prams on June 14 from Pier 2 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The launch is the culmination of years of student work, with boats in process before the pandemic caused the ...read more

Thousands gathered in Bath, Maine over the weekend to see the replica Virginia hit the water for the first time. The tall ship, which is expected to be fully operational by next year, was built almost entirely by volunteers over the course of 25 years. It is an estimation of ...read more

With so many manufacturers dreaming up bigger production boats, more and more mid-sized cruisers fall on the smaller end of their lines. However, “smaller” does not mean less, and the tricks for optimizing larger models have helped with squeezing more enjoyment into less LOA. As ...read more

Although the 1903 defender of the America’s Cup, Reliance, was deemed a “racing freak”—the boat pushed design rules to their limit and couldn’t be beaten, at least in very specific conditions—designer Nat Herreshoff was nonetheless onto something. A century later, purpose-built ...read more

Trawlerfest Anacortes (Pssst, Sailors. You Should Come Too) 29 ‘Propulsion Agnostic’ Seminars Destinations, Solar Electric, Weather, Power Systems, Satellite Communications, Repairs & Maintenance... Even though the event is called Trawlerfest, and it’s brought to you by ...read more

With an increasing number of truly massive yachts on the docks at boat shows these days, it would be easy to assume that the boatbuilding industry is going all in on the “bigger is better” approach. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. As demonstrated in these three ...read more

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

After a year off due to Covid-19, the Miami International Boat Show starts February 16 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The show will run for a total of five days and features both on-land and in-water exhibits. The event will be following all CDC guidelines, local ...read more

In case you hadn’t heard, the fall 2021 boat show season was one for the record books. If there was ever any doubt the sailing public still enjoys making its way to Newport, Rhode Island, or Annapolis, Maryland, to see the latest in boat design, those doubts were put to rest ...read more

After a year without boat shows, 2021 proved to be a blockbuster summer and fall for events around the globe, and the International Mulithull Show is looking to continue that trend in 2022. First held in 2010, the show, which takes place in La Grand-Motte, France, on the shores ...read more

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

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

For all the consolidation in the boatbuilding world in recent years, there remains plenty of variety out there, as can be seen in these two new monohulls. The products of two very different boatbuilders offer two very different takes on performance-cruising, even as they also ...read more